“In an ever-changing Global Community, preparing future generations through international education, gives us our greatest hopes for a better world.”
In celebration of Saint Rita School's new journey, the implementation of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program, the school will be hosting the inaugural International Music Festival 2014 featuring this year's Grammy Winner for Best Tropical Latin Album, PACIFIC MAMBO ORCHESTRA on May 10th, 2014 at the Pavilion Dance Hall in Fairfax, California.
On this evening we invite all our friends from the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond to a Special Performance by PACIFIC MAMBO ORCHESTRA - The dynamic 19-piece Big Band that honors the sounds of the great Latin Big Bands of the 1940s through 1960s. Joining PMO are the amazing talents, Brazilian Samba band BOCA DO RIO and the California Soul of THE ATOMIC BEAT SOCIETY, Cuban/Salsa specialists Royland Lobato and Efren Buzzo, Salsa Libre and the Brazilian Goddess Maisa Duke on this not-to-be-missed night of Salsa, Mambo, Samba and Soul!
Come out and support the Saint Rita School Global Initiative at the inaugural International Music Festival 2014 as we celebrate Saint Rita Schools International Baccalaureate Program aimed at exposing students to other cultures and prepares our students to compete in the global market place.
But if not for the music and dancing, then come for the food!
BRAZIL MARIN CAFE will have the fire going for the BBQ in our Brazilian Themed Food Court that includes traditional delights. We will also have our own "Little Havana", so you can play for a chance to win one of the great International Themed baskets or winning $1500 in the Saint Rita School Spring Cash Raffle.
EVENT SCHEDULE
6:00 PM - Doors Open
Guests will be welcomed by a Cocktail Reception and Hors d'oeuvre at the historic Fairfax Pavilion and start the night out dancing to Brazilian Samba band BOCA DO RIO – who's music inspired by the thousand of musicians and the music lovers that have gone before us and laid the rhythmic foundations of samba-reggae.
7:00 PM Joining Boca Do Rio on the Dance Floor is Samba sensation Brazilian Dance Goddess Maisa Duke and Energia Do Samba. Energia Do Samba shares the Brazilian culture and carnaval through music, dance and colorful costumes with a dance ensemble consisting of 6 experienced dancers who bring explosive energy to the dance floor.
7:15 PM
Rev. Kenneth Weare, Ph.D., Pastor of Saint Rita Church welcome guests with a blessing and brief introduction to the event by Saint Rita School Principal, John Black.
7:30 PM The Atomic Beat Society’s "California Soul" keeps the party going with funky and energetic melodies prove that, even in this day and age of plastic radio sounds, Soul and Funk are alive and thriving. Members of ABS have performed and/or recorded with Boz Scaggs, Tower of Power, Ozomatli, Spearhead, Cold Blood, Bruce Springsteen, Narda Michael Walden, Mark Isham, the Jerry Garcia Band and many others.
Guests will also be joined on the dance floor by Salsa Libre Dance Troupe on this wonderful night of song, dance, tastes and celebration!
9:00 PM CASH RAFFLE ANNOUNCED
9:15 PM PACIFIC MAMBO ORCHESTRA takes Fairfax by Storm!
PMO is a full-blown 19 piece traditional Latin big band featuring some of Northern California’s most talented musicians lead by Christian Tumalan and Steffen Kuehn.
“Just to start having that many people, that much energy on the stage – it really creates something! You can imagine,” exclaimed co-founder Christian Tumalan. “You get up and boogie – -for sure ” laughed his colleague, and the other co-founder of the band Steffen Kuehn.
Founded 3 years ago, PMO's very first album landed a 2014 Grammy award: for “Best Tropical Latin Album”.
ABOUT SAINT RITA SCHOOL'S International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program
The International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Program (PYP) at St. Rita (K-5) is an approach to learning that makes an existing curriculum (such as the Common Core) more meaningful, more useful, and more connected to real life issues. In this program, St. Rita School guide students to think more critically, more independently, and more creatively. They make connections between the different subjects they learn, and they learn how to apply their skills to solve real world problems. Students are taught to care more about the people around them and to see and appreciate their commonalities and differences. The PYP is a project-based, inquiry-based approach to learning that prepares students for the project-based nature of the Middle School Engineering Program.
For More Information on Saint Rita School visit us at facebook.com/stritaschool.fairfax or www.strita.edu
MORE ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
PACIFIC MAMBO ORCHESTRA - "The sound of the new Mambo"
San Francisco 's 19-Piece Latin Big Band
Headlining the 2014 Saint Rita International Music Festival is Pacific Mambo Orchestra, directed by Christian Tumalan & Steffen Kuehn. PMO’s sizzling, self-titled debut honors the sounds of the great Latin Big Bands of the 1940s through 1960s, including Machito, Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez, while infusing them with an intoxicating new energy. Richly textured arrangements flow through the entire production, with exquisite playing by ace musicians. With a repertoire of mostly original scores, the selections move in a frenetic pace, pulsing with the sounds, rhythms and beats that only a true Big Band is capable of producing.
Pacific Mambo Orchestra is currently the only fully active Latin Big Band on the West Coast. PMO’s instrumentation consists of four trumpets, four trombones, five saxophones, piano, bass, timbales, congas, bongos and the female lead singer Alexis Guillen. PMO’s members have performed and/or recorded with the industry’s biggest names, including Carlos Santana, Ray DeLa Paz, Jose Lugo Guasabara Orchestra, Los Adolescentes, Isaac Delgado, Gilberto Santarosa, Tito Rojas, La India, Victor Manuelle and many others.
THE ATOMIC BEAT SOCIETY
"The Retro Beat of California Soul"
The Atomic Beat Society is funk vocals wrapped up in a super-charged horn section with bad-azzed bass & guitar shredded madness anchored by a fat drum beat.
Kevin Welch, Boca’s leader, composer, guitarist, and vocalist, embodies this concept by virtue of his personal and musical history, having lived in the Amazon and become fluent in Portuguese as well as immersed in – and transformed by – samba. In the mid-1990s he started the group Vivendo de Pão, which became a mainstay on San Francisco’s club and festival scene and opened for touring acts like Macy Gray and Los Van Van. For Boca do Rio, Welch has assembled a superb team of Brazilian and American musicians to give voice to his vibrant compositions, which he terms música organica – music that is explicitly influenced by his connection to Brazil but filtered through the sensibilities of his California base, which he shares with his versatile accompanists and musical partners. Band Members include Alex Calatayud (pandeiro), John Evans (bass), Scott Johnson (drums), Kevin Welch (guitar & vocals), Larry De La Cruz (sax).
Maisa Duke
Queen of Carnaval San Francisco 2002
Maisa was born in the America's capital of the African Diaspora, Salvador, Bahia Brazil and as far as she can remember, dancing is what she enjoyed most. Mais 
a started entering and winning dance contests when she was ten years old. Her ability to move her perfectly toned body to the complex, frenetic polyrhythmic beating of samba music has never been done with such beauty and grace in the SF Bay Area.
PRESENTED BY
EVENT SPONSORS INCLUDE:
Cathey Cotten, Event Coordinator events@strita.edu
Saint Rita School | 102 Marinda Drive | Fairfax, CA 94930