Prospect Heights Music & Arts Festival featuring Mar Sal? + Haiti Cultural Exchange + Sami & Sarah + Dawn Drake & ZapOte @ The Way Station

Buskers:
4pm- Martina Fiserova
For fans of: Joni Mitchell, Suzanne Vega

Unusual chord voicings and interesting harmony combined with intimate yet emotional performance brought to you by an experienced singer/guitarist/songwriter. Originally from Prague, Czech republic, Martina is now based in New York City finishing an eponymous record of her original material.

“Her voice is graceful, and her phrasing and delivery are right on tempo.” - James Nadal, All About Jazz

“Her biography is impressive. (...) Jazz pop? Folk jazz? Either way it’s cool, and if this is the sort of stuff she is capable of writing then I hope there is more on the way.” - Tony Emmerson, Prague Jazz Blogspot

http://martinafiserova.cz/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8ml8b8s8K8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZr0Re7U0Fg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmsQwmkSu84

5pm- Mary Elaine Jenkins
Genre: Blues/Roots/Rock/Americana
For fans of: The Delta Blues, Lucinda Williams, Cat Power, Ryan Adams

Mary-Elaine Jenkins is a New York-based blueswoman. A South Carolina native and lifelong musician, she began performing live when she moved to Washington, DC for college. She came to New York by way of Madrid, where she spent two years teaching English, roaming around, and playing a whole lot of music. Her sound is a delicious and ever-evolving mix of blues, Americana roots, soul, and rock ‘n roll, specializing in the sultry/spooky. This ain’t your mama’s singer/songwriter music.

https://twitter.com/MizMEJenkins
https://soundcloud.com/mary-elaine-jenkins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfLgWRMYEqw
https://www.facebook.com/mejplays

6pm- Dyllan
Genre: Alternative Pop
For fans of: Fiona Apple, Lana del Rey, Feist, Laura Marling

LA native DYLLAN (Dylan Nichols) is an honest, passionate lyricist with deep and original music. By way of L.A., New York and Paris, she released two EPs and collaborated with French electro musician Thylacine on “Distance,” which was the iTunes free download of the week in France and recently, “Closing.” Her authentic songwriting and unique sound toe the line between folk and electro pop, evoking the likes of Fiona Apple and Lana Del Rey. She will release her first official music video, “Moments Like These” on March 20th.

…this generation needs an authentic, down-to-earth artist pointing the way to calmer, more soulful times. That voice is Dylan Nichols… Her lyrics […] are filled with sensuous detail and complex emotion accurately conveyed. – Ella Riley-Adams, The Faster Times

(Trans.): Moving with mystery, William chose Dylan Nichols to baffle us even more on “Distance.” Rocking, then summoning, the voice of the young American guides us on this long road to an increasingly attractive unknown. –Fred Lombard, IndieMusic

www.dyllanmusic.com
www.facebook.com/dylanicholsmusic
www.soundcloud.com/dylan-nichols
www.youtube.com/DylanNicholsMusic

7pm- Mother’s Favorite Daughter
Genre: singer-songwriter/folk
For fans of: Neko Case, Aimee Mann, Joni Mitchell

Rosa is an American woman who writes and performs songs. Her songs are acoustic, multi-layered stories that spend time in living rooms, coffee shops and other quiet spaces. Her influences range from Leonard Cohen, to traditional Bulgarian music, to the soundtrack of Final Fantasy VII. Rosa feels happy cooking/eating delicious food, lying on the floor in homey spaces, and singing. She hopes that her music will continue to evolve, and to evoke lost feelings and a sense of warmth to the people who listen to it.

https://www.facebook.com/rtumusic
http://rosatu.bandcamp.com/

Main Stage
4pm- Mar Salá
Genre: Flamenco-pop
For fans of: Rosario, Bebe, La Mala Rodriguez

Based in Brooklyn, Marta Hernández, (aka Mar Salá) is an international singer songwriter, a musician from Seville, Spain. With the collaboration of many accomplished musicians from all over the world, she mixes Latin sounds such as Rumba Flamenca, Brazilian rhythms and Spanish Pop, with Swing and Rock. Marta’s original compositions are a cross over between the Flamenco air of Seville and the eclectic sounds of New York City.

She has a total of 3 albums in the market: Primavera (2008) Take Me to Bahia (2009) and her third album, Entre 2 Rivers (2014), produced by Alejandro Zuleta, an accomplished composer, musician, singer and producer from Colombia, has the collaboration of LA SHICA in her version of LOS CUATRO MULEROS.

She will be touring Europe in June presenting her last work: I Am The Forest.

“Mar Salá is pure energy, like a volcano in control” Jose Miguel López. Radio 3.RNE

For press, pictures, latest videos and concerts, please, check www.marsalaband.net

www.facebook.com/marsalaband1
https://soundcloud.com/mar-sal-band
www.reikiwilliamsburg.com

5pm- Haiti Cultural Exchange presents Mizik Ayiti! featuring Taïna Cerat Ligondé
Taïna Cerat Ligondé is a Haitian-American cultural artist with a singing repertoire that includes Haitian vodou, folk and jazz songs. Her life and art have been hugely shaped by the Human Rights awareness and organizing in her New York Haitian community. She is committed to work that advances individual/collective rights as well as cultural art projects that give voice to the silenced. Taïna has performed in The Vagina Monologues, the feminist play by Eve Ensler, staged at the Fourth Universalist Society Church in NYC. In 2013, she played the role of kontèz, the storyteller, in La Troupe Makandale’s drum-driven musical: The Drum and the Seed. She has also performed at the UN for the fourth commemoration of the earthquake in Haiti.

Haiti Cultural Exchange is a nonprofit organization based in Brooklyn, NY, established to develop, present and promote the cultural expressions of the Haitian people.

More information about HCX: www.haiticulturalx.org

6pm- Sami & Sarah
Genre: From traditional country music, early jazz recordings, Brazilian sambas to European movie soundtracks and the golden age of American animation
For fans of: Cliff Edwards, Huayno, Serge Gainsbourg, Ween, Willie Nelson, Tom Ze, Sega Genesis , The Moldy Peaches, Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin, and Johnny Cash & June Carter

Sami & Sarah are a Brooklyn-based vocal duo playing banjo-ukulele, and upright bass. Their whimsical sound has been described as a combination of The Moldy Peaches, Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin, and Johnny Cash & June Carter. Their multi-lingual music draws from influences as varied as traditional country music, early jazz recordings, Brazilian sambas, European movie soundtracks and the golden age of American animation. Since their formation in early 2013, they have played various venues in New York City and Buenos Aires, Argentina, and they can be seen currently every month at The Way Station in Brooklyn, NY. They are in the process of completing recordings for their first EP, which is expected to be released in the fall of 2014

www.samiandsarah.com
http://vimeo.com/77752208
https://soundcloud.com/samisarah/together-1

7pm- Dawn Drake & ZapOte
Genre: Afro-Latin Funk
For fans of: Antibalas, Budos Band, ESG, Jamiroquoi, Chico Mann, Cumbiagra, English Beat, Police

Taking its name from a luscious fruit in Cuba known as “ZapOte”, this band is an original Funk Latin Afro-Beat band lead by Dawn Drake, bassist/conguera/singer/songwriter and composer, who manages to wear several hats while setting the scene with her own brand of cool. Her original music takes the listener and dancer into a zone where House, Funk, Afro-beat, Samba, Afro-Cuban rhythms and Jazz are right at home. Poetic lyrics spread messages of universal consciousness, delivered with heartfelt vocals, and are joined with the irresistible grooves of Latin percussion, funky bass, swinging horn lines and improvisation.

BAM CAFE LIVE –Darrell McNeill
“Dawn Drake and her band ZapOte are at the beginnings of a fascinating journey to enthusiastically bridge chasms of cultural and gender disconnect that plagues so much of pop music’s body politic. To hear them is to imagine early period jam sessions between Laura Nyro and Carole King with Sly Stone and Sergio Mendes sitting in. Theirs is a playfully intense dynamic that needs to be seen more.”

-Darrell McNeill, Black Rock Coalition Director of Operations & CURATOR of BAM Café LIVE, Brooklyn Academy of Music GO MAGAZINE –Jenny Lazar
“Dawn contributes heavy Afro-Caribbean licks on congas, bongós and Brazilian caixa as a partial list...and it’s no amateur hour...”

Dawn Drake –Meewsic Records
“Cuban, African & South American styles mesh together into delicious jazz/pop fusion; a wonderful backdrop for Dawn’s sassy vocals. She also arranged the horns (excellent job), played bass and did all the percussion; a truly multi-talented performer!” Brian Fox, Meewsic Records

Jules Bistro Presents Dawn Drake –Jules Bistro
“This saucy debut by soul sistah Dawn Drake is an incredible gift to the world of world music! She skillfully weaves together her bold poetic lyrics, melodic vocals, and a fusion of danceable rhythms performed by herself and a very talented band of musicianados.
You’ll love the horns, the deep bass, the compelling percussion...”

Luis Da Silva, Jules Bistro, NYC Third Street Music Concert Series Presents Dawn Drake & ZapOte Salsa -

“[They] were the hit of the season!” Beth Flusser, Talent Booker for Music in Abe Lebewohl Park.

http://www.dawndrake.com
http://www.youtube.com/thedawndrake
http://www.facebook.com/thedawndrake