Just as Berkeley starts settling into its pleasingly sleepy summer rhythm, the 9th Annual World Music Festival takes over Telegraph on Saturday, infusing the avenue with a jolt of energy. Running from noon to 9 pm, the free musical fest brings an international array of music to cafés and shops south of campus, with the action centering on the Amoeba-sponsored People’s Park stage from 1-6 pm.

While the music is global in scope, the artists are local, highlighting the wealth of talent, homegrown and adopted, that abides among us. Maria Muldaur headlines at People’s Park, kicking off the last set at 4:30 pm. While still best known for her 1974 pop hit “Midnight At the Oasis,” she’s an authoritative blues singer with a good feel for jazz who has honed a rootsy Gulf Coast sound with her Red Hot Bluesiana Band.

Other featured acts include the ferociously grooving Cuban dance music of Fito Reynoso y su Ritmo y Armonia (People’s Park 2:45 pm); the sensuous tangos of Trio Garufa (The Village 7 pm); the joyous Manouche swing of Duo Gadjo (Caffé Mediterraneum noon); the incantatory Shona percussion and thumb piano of Sadza Marimba & Mbira (Haste and Telegraph 1 pm); and the Moroccan trance rhythms of percussionist Bouchaib Abdelhadi with oud master Yassir Chadly (Rasputin Music 4 pm). … Continue reading »