2 TWILIGHTSANTAMONICA.ORG REASON 1 #1 in Transfers for 27 Years APPLY AT SMC.EDU SANTA MONICA COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT BOARD OF TRUSTEES Barry A. Snell, Chair; Dr. Margaret Quiñones-Perez, Vice Chair; Dr. Susan Aminoff; Dr. Nancy Greenstein; Dr. Louise Jaffe; Rob Rader; Dr. Andrew Walzer; Alexandria Boyd, Student Trustee; Dr. Kathryn E. Jeffery, Superintendent/President Santa Monica College | 1900 Pico Boulevard | Santa Monica, CA 90405 | smc.edu TWILIGHTSANTAMONICA.ORG 3 2018 TWILIGHT ON THE PIER SCHEDULE SEPT 05 LATIN WAVE ORQUESTA AKOKÁN Jarina De Marco Quitapenas Sister Mantos SEPT 12 AUSTRALIA ROCKS THE PIER BETTY WHO Touch Sensitive CXLOE TWILIGHT ON THE PIER Death Bells SEPT 19 WELCOMES THE WORLD ISLAND VIBES f you close your eyes, inhale the ocean Instagram feeds, and serves as a backdrop Because the event is limited to the land- JUDY MOWATT Ibreeze and listen, you’ll hear music in in Hollywood blockbusters. mark, police can better control crowds and Bokanté every moment on the Santa Monica Pier. By the end of last year, the concerts had for the first time check bags. Fans will still be There’s the percussion of rubber tires reached a turning point. City leaders grappled allowed to bring their own picnics and Twilight Steel Drums rolling over knotted wood slats, the plinking with an event that had become too popular for water bottles for the event. DJ Danny Holloway of plastic balls bouncing in the arcade and its own good. Police worried they couldn’t The themes include Latin Wave, Australia the song of seagulls signaling supper. properly protect a growing audience that Rocks the Pier, Island Vibes, Eclectic Indie, Pier Director Negin Singh hears something spilled out onto the sand. Meanwhile, local Afro-beat and R&B and South Asian Sounds. else: the sound of people feeling welcome. music fans fought to preserve the beloved sum- Music fans can take a deep dive into their SEPT 26 “It feels like any day walking down The mer tradition. The shows were in a strange favorite genres by hearing new acts descend- ECLECTIC INDIE Pier you can hear every language in the predicament – how to reign in a free event, ing on Santa Monica from around the world. world,” Singh recently said from her office yet keep it awesome and remain inclusive. “Because we are devoting an entire night BRAZILIAN GIRLS in the Looff Hippodrome. The global nature With that underlying tension as the back- to one theme and expanded to three stages, of the iconic destination’s 8 million annual drop, a group of interested partners (includ- we can pick people who are doing new SUDAN ARCHIVES visitors has inspired a watershed year for ing Negin, The Santa Monica Pier things in that particular music culture and Capyac the landmark itself and the 34th year of the Corporation, RH&S Concerts and the City of pushing the envelope and representing a yOya concert series that calls it home. Santa Monica) came up with a new theme new generation,” Singh said. If the Statue of Liberty is the face that that can be reimagined year after year: Now she’s waiting to see how Santa greets visitors and signals the American Local Meets Global. Monica’s locals embrace a global theme. dream to the world, the Santa Monica Pier Instead of one stage, there will be three “Change is always difficult,” Singh said. OCT 03 is the hand that waves, its cracked and knot- along the Pier, where the team has carefully “The intention here is that we have Twilight AFRO-BEAT ted boards unfurling like suntanned skin curated a custom blend of music, immersive for decades to come. It’s going to take every AND R&B toward the Pacific Ocean. Its blue welcom- art and unique vendors to transform locals one of us to make sure that happens.” ing arch peaks behind smiling families in into tourists themselves, sampling and learn- There may be no better time for an FELA! THE CONCERT countless photo albums, frames sunsets on ing from other cultures through art and music. American icon to open its arms to the world. Tiffany Gouche Twilight Drum Circle DJ Nnamdi OCT 07 SOUTH ASIAN SOUNDS RED BARAAT Vidya Vox DJ Rekha Discostan 4 TWILIGHTSANTAMONICA.ORG 2018 TWILIGHT ON THE PIER BIOS SEPT 05 LATIN WAVE ORQUESTA AKOKÁN Jarina De Marco Quitapenas Sister Mantos ORQUESTA AKOKÁN – FEATURING JOSÉ "PEPITO" GÓMEZ JARINA DE MARCO Orquesta Akokán is a big band collective of Havana’s top musicians both young and old, joining forces with some of the most cre- ative and spirited talents of New York’s Latin music scene. Born out of a shared vision by singer José "Pepito" Gómez, producer Jacob Plasse, and arranger Michael Eckroth, the group reinvigorates the sound of the golden era of Cuban mambo with a bold new energy. José "Pepito" Gómez began his musical career in Cuba, where he cut his teeth singing with local groups and playing trum- pet in the municipal band. His first profes- sional break came when he auditioned for QUITAPENAS the legendary group Maravilla de Florida and was hired as their new lead singer. From there his career expanded and he was asked to join musicians from the famed group Irakere as a founding member of Habana Ensemble. It was through this renowned group that he met the legendary César "Pupy" Pedroso. Pedroso asked Gomez to be the lead singer in a new group he was form- ing called Pupy y Los Que Son, Son. He con- tinued to travel and sing where he would often sub in for as lead singer was Los Hacheros, lead by Jacob Plasse. Gómez would forge a friendship with Plasse over their shared love of Cuban music. Together they would rediscover the sounds that Gómez knew from childhood on a journey that would culminate in the creation of Orquesta Akokán. Jacob Plasse was playing tres for the musi- cal "Celia" about the life of Celia Cruz, where he met pianist Mike Eckroth. Realizing ORQUESTA AKOKÁN SISTER MANTOS their shared musical affinities they began making albums together. However it was his Cuban recordings. With his knack for sung by Eddie Venegas and Luis Soto. hers featured on the show. Pitchfork and friend, pianist and arranger Michael Eckroth, arrangement and his intimate familiarity with Though Plasse himself rose to the occasion to FADER were among her early supporters as who lent him the Beny Moré album that the sounds of Cuba's great big bands, play a bit of tres, and Eckroth handled the well as Mark Ronson and Major Lazer who would inspire the next chapter in his love Eckroth was the final piece of the puzzle. lion's share of keys with inspired prowess, have collaborated with her as a vocalist for affair with Cuban music. The trio got together and worked on some they did convince Pedroso to lend an their projects. Michael Eckroth is an accomplished arrangements however initial sessions with inspired piano performance on "Cuidado Following the success of “Tigre”, she pianist, composer and arranger from New York musicians left the trio flat. It was- con el Tumbador." These musicians, armed released "Release The Hounds" in support Phoenix, Arizona who has recorded and n't until Gómez invited the duo to accompa- with Eckroth's hard-boiled arrangements and for the people of Standing Rock’s movement toured internationally with numerous jazz ny him on a trip to Cuba that the project fronted by Gómez' soaring vocals, were to to protect their land against the Dakota and Latin music greats including Johnny began to come to life. be the backbone of Orquesta Akokán. pipeline. Rosario Dawson, Chris Rock, Laura "Dandy" Rodriguez, Andy Gonzales, Nelson Gómez had enlisted his old friend César Gomez, and others joined in the cause to Gonzales, Pedro Martinez, and John Lopez from Irakere, and together they had create this moving visual piece. Scofield. He earned a PhD from NYU with a assembled a group of some of the greatest JARINA DE MARCO Jarina’s childhood and family inform her thesis on Cuban piano solos of the '40s. musicians of Cuba, many of which had long Jarina De Marco and her sound embody genre-defying sound and politics. She was Through his academic work, he gained been heroes and inspirations to Plasse and the multi-ethnic future. Her work defiantly born in the Dominican Republic and spent access to an expansive archive of rare Eckroth: A saxophone section made up of transcends categories and borders. She is a her early years traveling in remote parts of Jamil Shery and José Luis "El Chewy" creative visionary who sings in four lan- the Amazonian rainforest and Dominican Hernandez on tenors, with Evaristo Denis on guages and spearheads all aspects of her countryside, cataloguing indigenous sounds baritone, and of course César Lopez on alto. project: songwriting, production, visual and rhythms with her parents, both On trombones, Carlos "Afrokán" Alvarez design and video direction. She’s supported renowned musicologists and musicians. As Guerra of Cubanismo fame, Heikel Fabián by a creative and politically left leaning part of the resistance against the brutal dic- Trimiño, and Yoandy Argudin. Santiago community of like-minded globalistas, Jarina tatorship of Joaquín Balaguer, her parents Ceballos Seijido and Harold Madrigal Frías is out to make a difference through her art performed a protest song in front of a large on trumpets. Itai Kriss on flute. Eduardo and music. public gathering and had to immediately Lavoy Zaragoza on bongo, with Otto Jarina's first single "Tigre" was released flee the country and were forced into exile Santana Selis on conga and sharing timbale as part of the Broad City (Comedy Central) where they relocated to Montreal until it duty with Carlitos Padron.