San Jose’s own Bollywood bluesman, Aki Kumar, has long cut a distinct figure in the South Bay. Blending American blues with Hindi lyrics and elements of Indian bhangra, Kumar creates a cocktail like no other before. On 2021 single “Zindagi” (“Life,” in Hindi), Kumar and crew throw Jamaican roots reggae into the mix for a truly global sound with few comparisons. Following the deep-indigo blues of 2020 single “Self-Made Man,” “Zindagi” marks an exciting new direction for the group. Poor House Bistro celebrates Kumar’s birthday this weekend with a special appearance from the soulful singer.

Aki Kumar
Sat, 6pm, Free
Poor House Bistro, San Jose

Cellist Abel Selaocoe bends parameters of tradition and style as gracefully as his bow bends the strings of its instrument. The South African musician has performed as a chamber musician and as a soloist across the UK, played as part of a virtual celebration of Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s 90th birthday alongside classical legend Yo-Yo Ma and most recently released a three-part BBC radio show called Cello Retold. Peppering his performances with vocals, improvisations and body percussion, Selaocoe delivers his electrifying blend of classical, jazz, folk, traditional African music and more to the Stanford campus.

Abel Selaocoe
Sun, 2:30pm, $32+
Bing Concert Hall, Stanford

Exhibit Z in NorCal’s oft overlooked contributions to the hip hop world: Solesides Records. In the early ‘90s, the label and collective helped to first define and then spread the sound of alternative hip hop, bringing the world such luminaries as DJ Shadow and Blackalicious’ Gift of Gab, both of whom changed the rap game forever. Lyrics Born may not quite have the same household name recognition, but Bay Area heads know that gold often stays underground; ever since the breakthrough Later That Day…, the Berkeley-based MC has brought big funk and a cool lyrical flow that nails a unique NorCal sound.

Lyrics Born
Fri, 7pm, $34.15
Guild Theatre, Menlo Park

Puerto Rican singer and rapper Bad Bunny—Spotify’s most streamed artist for 2020-21—is set to grace the SAP Center this Thursday on his “El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo 2022.” Named after the Grammy winner’s chart-smashing No. 1 album, “El Ultimo” is the North American leg of his first-ever world stadium tour. Celebrated by Rolling Stone for his “conversational tone,” the reggaeton artist is heavily influenced by trap and hip hop, and blends in elements of soul, pop and R&B into his music to “unite audiences, unite countries…(and)… unite people.”

Bad Bunny
Thu, 8pm, $175
SAP Center, San Jose

Ever since Shannon Taylor’s cinematic take on emo helped give birth to the genre’s much-discussed fifth wave in 2018’s low self-esteem (full album title shortened for space), her project awakebutstillinbed has helped re-establish San Jose as a DIY capital. Taylor is an expert at capturing the audience’s attention; at first listen, any moment in an absib song seems like it could be one where she goes from 0 to 60, going from patient sad chords to nuclear licks and the kind of intense, earnest semi-screamed vocals that emo fans crave.

awakebutstillinbed
Sat, 7:30pm, $10
Playback Studios, San Jose

An evening of music, poetry, live painting and more brings BIPOC artists into the spotlight. The School of Arts & Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza presents this First Saturday event, featuring local poets Yosimar Reyes and Arlene Biala, singer-songwriter TÉA and headliner DeAndre Brackensick. Brackensick grew up in San Jose before his dulcet R&B falsetto made him an American Idol finalist at the age of 16. Doors open for Colour Me GOLD at 5pm with a Black & Brown Vendor Market for those looking to buy a new favorite art piece and score good seats at the same time.

Colour Me GOLD
Sat, 5pm, $10
Mexican Heritage Plaza, San Jose

Just Friends is a band that has been basking in the light of two suns. Coming up from the DIY punk circuit, their early material could reductively be called “emo with horns,” but they outgrew all their musical limitations basically overnight. Now their music is a whirlwind. The guitars jangle, the horns blare, there’s rapping, there’s belted vocal melodies. The hyphy-inspired style keeps the party going, but they don’t compromise on empathy and sensitivity to do it. The group’s newest album, Hella, comes out Friday on Pure Noise Records, and represents another great leap forward in the band’s journey.

Just Friends Hella
Out Fri
Pure Noise Records

Looping—the use of digital equipment to record and play back sounds in real time for musical self-accompaniment—has been around for decades. It’s most often used within the realm of guitarists and vocalists. But Portland, Ore., artist Joe Kye obviously didn’t get that memo: his chosen instrument is the violin.

Kye’s uptempo, complex yet delightfully accessible music serves as a vehicle for his lyrical themes of empowerment, equality and the American immigrant experience. At the heart of Kye’s music is the tension between these seemingly opposing forces. A classically trained musician, Kye nonetheless developed a deep and abiding love for improvisation, though he almost left his instrument behind entirely in college.

“I stopped playing,” he recalls. “I got sick of playing music that [another] person—usually white, male and dead—had imagined 200, 300 years ago.”

After spending some time in an a cappella group, he came back to the violin, this time with a completely different approach.

“Every individual has their unique experience,” he explains. “And what I learned through improvisation is that I was free to bring my worldview into reality.”

More than anything, Kye says that he found improvisation to be liberating. “It allowed me to express how I viewed my experience—as an American, as an Asian American and now as a father.” 

Looping also allowed him to further expand his sonic capabilities. 

“I got a looping machine mostly to practice improvisation,” Kye recalls. However, he quickly found that he could treat the device as an instrument itself. “It became a part of what it means to give voice to the many different melodies and identities that I have within me.”

To date, Kye has released two albums—2016’s Seed to Sprout Live and 2018’s Migrants—along with an EP and several singles. While his work is varied, taking in textures from pop, classical, hip hop and beyond, there’s a playful spirit that ties it all together. His debut album documents a live set that sandwiches a reading of Gloria Gaynor’s disco hit “I Will Survive” between a spiritual (“We Shall Overcome”) and “The Star Spangled Banner.”

Kye laughs when that’s pointed out, but insists there’s no disconnect. 

“I grew up here as a son of poor immigrants,” he explains. “‘I Will Survive’ was one of my mom’s favorite songs. It gave her strength to continue to build a home for our family.” Gaynor’s anthemic hit, he says, goes hand in hand with a song adopted by the civil rights movement.

The interactivity that Kye pursues isn’t limited to his work with the looping device. His concerts are a give-and-take experience with the audience as well. 

“I want to elicit introspection and vulnerability,” he says, “and then develop that into a sense of communal wonder and curiosity.” 

Before COVID, Kye would wander into the audience, microphone in hand. “I would ask people questions, and when there was an answer that struck our communal fancy, the band and I would riff on that and create a looping song based on that moment.”

Social distancing has made that approach more difficult, but Kye remains committed to finding a workaround. “We just ask audience members to yell stuff out,” he laughs.

Kye’s recent single, “The Way Out,” is a collaboration with choreographer Diego Garita. Begun as a project with New York City-based Young Dancemakers Company, the track addresses the immigrant experience from the perspective of Latin Americans.

“Diego’s mom was undocumented,” Kye explains. “Because of that, he had to go back and forth between [here] and his home country in Mexico.” Garita’s story resonated with Kye, whose family emigrated to the U.S. from Korea when he was a child. “‘The Way Out’ was born out of that conversation,” he says. “I tried to bring attention to the plight of refugees at the American border who are escaping sadness, poverty and the legacy of colonization.”

Even with serious themes, a Joe Kye concert is a fun, uplifting experience. And Kye is in his element onstage, interacting with both the audience and—on this tour—multi-instrumentalist Machado Mijiga on percussion and keyboards. 

“Machado will have a looping pedal, too,” Kye emphasizes. “We’ll be building large sound waves and exploring different instrumentation depending on what each song—and the moment—calls for.”

Joe Kye Duo
Thu, 7:30pm, $25+
SJZ Break Room, San Jose

Indie-rock outfit Enjambre calls Zacatecas their original home, but the band has lived, developed and flexed their infectious sound in Southern California and Mexico City over the last decade. When the group was unable to tour their album Próximos Prójimos in either country due to the pandemic, frontman Luis Humberto Navejas decided instead to begin writing an EP in English. Ambrosia’s single, the power-poppy “Delorean,” evokes a smooth and bright ’80s nostalgia fitting to the song’s title. San Francisco synth-rockers Kavarzee open, matching the retro-future tone with dark, dancey bilingual jams.

Enjambre
Thu, 8pm, $27.50
The Ritz, San Jose

In a few short years, La Santa Cecilia has gone from playing SoCal coffee shops to becoming “the voice of a new bicultural generation.” The LA-based act is often described as a rock band, but effortlessly pulls in bossa nova, cumbia, rumba and tango into its identity without compromising any part of their sound. Their success since the release of 2013’s Grammy-winning Treinta Días has even led to an appearance on a Disney soundtrack. Their captivating songwriting and silky smooth guitar licks will ensure that the vibes at this year’s San Jose Jazz Winter Fest are in peak form.

La Santa Cecilia
Sat, 7pm, $35+
Mexican Heritage Plaza, San Jose
Photo Courtsey of: Julieta Alvarez, CC BY-SA 2.0