Afro-Nuyorican by birth, Avotcja is a Bay Area treasure now & has been for decades!  Hear her radio shows on KPFA and KPOO, and catch her performances of music & poetry around the Bay and you’ll know why.  She’s a brilliant and deep poet, a champion of la cultura, an inspiration to countless young, creative artists of color– in fact performers of all colors, even that pinkish one we quaintly call white.

Bird & Beckett is always proud to lead off another year in our “which way west” concert series with an annual performance by poet/small percussionist Avotcja and her award-winning ensemble Modupue — a band that attracts some of the most exciting world music instrumentalists in the Bay Area, including at any given point the likes of Sandy Poindexter, Yancie Taylor, Jon Carlos Perea, Coto Pincheira, Hafez Modirazdeh, Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto, Eugene Warren, Billy Dunn, Jimmy Biala and Francis Wong.  For today’s performance, Modupue is a quartet, with Avotcja being joined on talking drum and vocals by Baba Ken Okulolo — a Nigerian performer with a long pedigree who has now been based in the Bay Area for nearly three decades, along with the justly acclaimed pianist and composer Jon Jang and Trinidadian musician Val Serrant on steel drum and djembe.  Top musicians all!

Modupue was named Bay Blues Society Hall of Fame Jazz Group of the Year in 2005 and again in 2010!

Modupue is an important part of what makes the Bay Area culturally crucial!  Don’t miss the boat on this band!

Below, a picture from last year’s performance at Bird & Beckett, when vibes player Yancie Taylor and bassist Eugene Warren were on the gig: