Juan Chavez y Arco Kemao will play the Comcast San Jose Jazz Festival.
Berklee College of Music salsa octet Juan Chavez y Arco Kemao will perform twice on Saturday, August 9 as part of the Comcast San Jose Jazz Festival in San Jose, California. Chavez—whose violin, singing, and dancing with his salsa big band Díle were a highlight of the 2007 Kennedy Center Conservatory Project series in Washington, D.C.—brings to San Jose Araco Kemao, a fresh band of top Berklee students whose salsa delivery system features the triad of violin, viola, and cello. Rounding out the group are piano, saxophone, trombone, congas, and timbales.
A native of Dallas, Chavez began Arco Kemao—literally "burnt bow"—to honor salsa traditions and to help create some new ones. The group includes students from Korea, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the continental U.S., many of whom grew up with Latin music, and others who simply could not keep away once they'd heard it.
Juan Chavez y Arco Kemao perform at 11:00 a.m. on the festival's Latin Jazz Stage, at Post and Market streets, and again that night at the Fairmont Hotel, from 9:00 p.m. to 12 a.m. On Sunday at 10:00 a.m., the group will give a youth master class on salsa rhythms and the use of strings at Camera 3, located at the corner of 2nd and Fernando streets.
Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music was through the study and practice of contemporary music. For more than half a century, the college has evolved constantly to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business. With more than a dozen performance and nonperformance majors, a diverse and talented student body representing more than 70 countries, and a music industry "who's who" of alumni, Berklee is the world's premier learning lab for the music of today—and tomorrow.
