SAMA Featured Artists
Promoting cross-cultural understanding and creating space for healing & dialogue
Comprising core members Alex Chadsey (bandleader and keys), Jeff Busch (percussion), and Farko Dosumov (bass), Duende Libre is collectively influenced by the trio’s direct connections with master musicians including Clinton Fearon, Dudley Nesbitt, Dave Hassel, Jesse Bannister, Chucho Valdés, Carlos Santana, Martha Gonzalez, Quetzal Flores, and Joe Santiago.
SAMA: Music + Art presents:
Ustad Naseeruddin Saami & The Saami Brothers with Anil Prasad
A Night of Khayal & Qawwali
“The band is amazing…stepping out of the traditional ‘ukulele approach.”
— Mick Fleetwood, Fleetwood Mac
With a career spanning 25 years, the critically acclaimed all-female Mariachi Divas is celebrated for its innovative and eclectic array of music ranging from mariachi classics to jazz and pop. A two-time GRAMMY Award winner, with eight GRAMMY nominations and three Latin GRAMMY nominations, the ensemble continues to expand the scope of mariachi music with its sophisticated and elegant musical style, delighting audiences from around the world.
“In its nearly 40 years of bringing world-class entertainment to southern Washington State, Water Music Festival presented Diego and Chuchito who were hailed by many audience members as the best concert they have ever attended.” - Diane Marshall, President, Water Music Series
Yagoda is a Ukrainian theater and music group performing in the genre of "ethno-drama" and theatrical performance. Participants of the Ukrainian national selection for the song contest "Eurovision-2024" with the song "Tsunamia".
“Gunhild Carling, Swedish musical sensation performed an outstanding set of swingin’ jazz, which consisted of a mix of originals and jazz standards.” – Big City Rhythm and Blues Magazine
“Traditional Polish songs, with their cutting vocals and meshed fiddles are the foundation of Warsaw Village Band’s repertory. But while their lineup is primarily acoustic – hand drums, hammered dilcimer, violins, cello – their sensibilities are modern. They hear dance -club drive and trancey echoes in the songs and they use recording studio techniques to heighten the central drones and eerie percussive sounds in their songs. Hints of reggae and guests like a scratching disc jockey should further infuriate purists” - The New York Times
iolanda is one of Portuguese music’s rising stars. Her unique, warm sound mixes pop and r&b with traditional Portuguese and Spanish music, influenced by fado and Andalusian music.
Beaming in from the sizzling Addis Ababa nightlife scene, this group shines an experimentalism based in the virtuosity of rooted traditions. QWANQWA, the Amharic word for “language,” is a project creating dialogues between cultures.
Ramo Teder (Pastacas as a solo artist) and Marko Veisson, also known as the Estonian duo Puuluup, bring to life a blend of surrealism, modern folklore, and talharpa magic.
Filipe Sambado composes remarkable songs that start from an indie pop matrix and consolidate a sonic universe that questions us, summons our memory and projects it in an exercise of reconfiguring current Portuguese identity.
HAEPAARY is an alt-electronic duo, consisting of HYEWON (sound producer/instrumentalist) and MINHEE (vocalist/executive producer). With ambient music and techno sounds, they have reinterpreted the melodies and lyrics of Jongmyojereak, the royal shrine music of the Joseon dynasty, and Namchang Gagok, a Korean traditional vocal genre that has always been performed exclusively by men. Their tracks demonstrate Hyewon and Minhee's brilliant disentanglement of formality and disciplines of Confucian music with their rearticulation of rave and trance. Their soundscape of refinement will invite intimate strangers to its secluded party.
🌟 Exploring the Resilient Heart of Ukrainian Music: A Deep Dive with Maryan Krut/KRUTЬ🌟
Maryna Krut, more famous as KRUTЬ, is a renowned Ukrainian singer and songwriter. Sole innovator of bandura (Ukrainian traditional string instrument) in the soul genre. The Voice of Ukraine and The X Factor participant. A unique combination of atmospheric voice and extraordinary musical elegance of bandura.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo has performed for millions of people, singing a message of peace, love and harmony. With their 2024 release, Soothe My Soul…Songs From Our South African Church, the group puts their own spin on gospel music.
Lois Landgrebe, a storyteller hailing from the Tulalip Tribe, carries the torch of her ancestors' wisdom and traditions. As Chairwoman of the Northwest Indian Storyteller's Association (NISA) in 2017 and 2018, Lois played a pivotal role in preserving and promoting indigenous storytelling. She draws inspiration from the words of her beloved mentor, Vi Hilbert, who emphasized the significance of sharing stories as a means to honor and remember the invaluable gifts of ancestors. Through her performances, Lois weaves together the vibrant history and traditions of the Tulalip Tribe, transporting audiences to a world steeped in cultural richness and ancestral knowledge.
Ablaye Badji, a multi-instrumentalist, showcases world music with a prominent West African influence and the unique sound of the kora!
Laboratorium Pieśni – Song Laboratory (world/ethno/spiritual/mystic folk music) is a female group of singers from Poland, created in 2013. Using traditional, polyphonic singing they perform songs from all over the world, mainly: Ukraine, Balkans, Belarus, Georgia, Scandinavia, Poland and many other places.
The Resonance Between (TRB) is the new collaborative album by artists Alam Khan, Arjun K. Verma, and Del Sol Quartet -- an ensemble of remarkably synergistic vision and virtuosity.
Despite their many aesthetic similarities, Indian classical and European classical music have rarely been combined, and generally have been done so in mere juxtapositions rather than with fluid integration. TRB presents a groundbreaking new level of fusion between these cultural genres, crafting a contemporary instrumental sound for this unique original work that is so much more than simply the sum of its parts.
Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations in Angola, author, composer and performer, Paulo Flores has been building for over thirty years a remarkable work, where poetry and melodies sustain a narrative that uniquely makes a translated portrait of the Angolan soul.