Oakland Tribune Outtakes

Feel the love at the “Dub Culture sessions”  described as a new experience in modern roots reggae. Every first Sunday 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. All ages welcome for $5 a pop.

Saturday, February 16
Doors at 8:00 p.m.; Dance lesson at 8:30 p.m.; Show at 10:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 ($12 in advance). Ashkenaz hosts an Afro-Peruvian festival with food, dance and music. After a dance lesson given by Gabriela Shiroma and Carmen Roman, De Rompe y Raja offers the best of its Afro-Peruvian music and dance repertoire. Come and enjoy the energy of Festejos, the cadence of Lando accompanied by tasteful and syncopated cajones, quijadas and cajitas in an evening designed to uplift spirits and souls. www.derompeyraja.org
I stumbled across a CD of Afro-Peruvian music a while ago and fell in love with the sound.  
Advance tickets are available during evening shows, or (for a fee) through Ticketweb, http://www.ticketweb.com or 866-468-3399. http://www.ashkenaz.com

Tuesday, February 12
JEFFERY BROUSSARD AND THE CREOLE COWBOYS
Doors at 7:30 p.m., Cajun/Zydeco dance lesson with Diana Castillo at 8:00 p.m., Show at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $12.
Southwest Louisiana’s Jeffrey Broussard & The Creole Cowboys return with their fresh approach to the Creole dance music traditions they are dedicated to preserving. Its leader, accordionist, fiddler and singer Jeffery Broussard, was a mainstay in the famous Zydeco Force, a group that took zydeco and Cajun roots and updated them for modern dance crowds without losing the feel of the original Creole zydeco gumbo. Broussard’s Creole Cowboys take the music into the next generation, still linked to the great roots music of such masters as legendary fiddler Canray Fontenot and Jeffery’s well-known accordionist father Delton Broussard. Joining Jeffery in the band’s frontline is fiddler and guitarist D’Jalma Garnier III, a one-time student of Canray Fontenot. With Fontenot’s passing in 1995, Garnier has made it his mission to keep alive and spread this unique style of fiddle playing. The band’s debut CD, “Keepin the Tradition Alive,” was named top zydeco album of 2007 by Blues and Soul magazine.
www.jefferybroussard.com. Advance tickets are available during evening shows, or (for a fee) through Ticketweb, http://www.ticketweb.com or 866-468-3399. http://www.ashkenaz.com.