Conversations in Rhythm

Kazemde George

Saxophone

Kazemde George is an Jazz saxophonist, composer, and educator based in Oakland, California. Raised in Berkeley by Caribbean parents, Kaz attended college in Boston where he completed the Harvard/New England Conservatory (NEC) Joint program, receiving his Bachelors in Neurobiology (Harvard) and his Masters in Jazz Composition (NEC).

Through his travels, Kaz has expanded his focus from Hip-Hop and Jazz to include the full spectrum of musical styles which blossomed from the African Diaspora, including Afro-Cuban, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Brazilian, and African-American traditions. As he sees it, the study of these musical styles serves as a way to regain cultural histories that were lost through the processes of African-American Slavery.

Kai Lyons

Tres Cuban Guitar, Hollow-body Jazz Guitar

A San Francisco native, Kai anchors the group's sound with the interplay of traditional Cuban tres and the warmth of hollow-body jazz guitar, bridging Bay Area jazz sensibility with Cuban string tradition.Ever since returning to the Bay Area in 2015, he has freelanced extensively and also traveled frequently to New York City, New Orleans, Brazil, Cuba and the Caribbean on music trips. In 2018 he participated in Master Class: Orff-Afrique 2018 in Ghana, Africa.

Einar Leliebre Nuñez

Percussion

Also from Santiago de Cuba, having toward the United States and Europe in traditional Afro-Cuban folkloric ensembles Einar fronts the band with powerful lead vocals and drives the rhythm section with authentic Afro-Cuban percussion, carrying the clave, syncopation and polyrhythm that ties every song together.

Ernesto Mazar Kindelán

Cuban Baby Bass, Backup Vocals

Born in Santiago de Cuba, graduate of CUBA‘s top music conservatory ‘El instituto superior del arte’, and basic for one of Cuba’s top groups, La Charanga Habanera, Ernesto brings the deep, funky pulse of the baby bass — the heartbeat of son and timba — along with rich tenor-alto vocal harmonies, plus a way of captivating the audience that will get you singing along and dancing in your seat.

Ahkeel Mestayer

Percussion

Ahkeel Mestayer is a professional musician and ethnomusicologist from San Francisco. His research and performance interests are Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian music. Ahkeel has traveled across Europe and Latin America performing and is a voting member of the Grammy Academy. His current research project is a comparison of musical transculturation processes in Matanzas, Cuba and Salvador, Brazil. Specifically, he is interested in exploring the concept of Black Cosmopolitanism across African ethnic groups in Cuba and Brazil and its relationship to music.