2:00 - 2:45
Travel around the world musically with a Filipina American led music collective with roots in soul, jazz, blues and improvisation.
Free Press Music is a Filipina American led San Francisco based music collective with roots in soul, jazz, blues and improvisation. Vocalist/songwriter Christie Aida and her group conjure a deep and dynamic repertoire that constellates sounds from around the globe. Singing in Spanish, Tagalog, English, French and Italian, Aida deftly interweaves her wide ranging influences to create a delightful and surprising mix of classics, deep cuts, and original numbers. Those originals often are informed by her sensitivity and advocacy for community organizing, social justice, and housing as a human right. As such, the stories, struggles, and everyday life experiences of Tenderloin and SOMA residents, in particular Filipinos and other communities of color, crop up in FPM’s music; for example, the narrative of the Tenderloin Museum’s physical home, the Cadillac Hotel, is the subject of a song “Reality House.” The song celebrates the residents and the history of the Cadillac, including one resident who practices harm reduction by using Narcan regularly to help others in crisis. Original songs such as Reality House, Vespertine and Avalon music/lyrics by both Christie Aida & Dave Mihaly, (Dave will be playing guitar and percussion on 5/13 and 5/27/23). We will be joined by the amazing Emmett Van Leer, pianist on 5/13/23.
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