Come for handmade Spring products at the market — stay for the one-of-a-kind performances.
Memoried Quartet
Consisting of Guy Gottesfeld, Mahya Hamedi, Rafael Heredia, and Bahar Badieitabar, Memoried Quartet is an effort to compile musical beauty from Eastern and Western musical traditions, inviting pleasurable nostalgia and a relieving journey into the depth of memory.
Mahya, a vocalist and pianist; Bahar, an oud player from Iran; Rafael a percussionist from Japan and Spain, and Guy Gottesfeld a guitar player with Persian heritage from Israel. Their music is a conversation spanning from contemporary jazz to traditional Persian music, from abstract introspection to personal life experiences, resulting in a vast sound rife with meaning, personal and universal.
Nica Albertson
Nica Albertson is a DC-based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. Having grown up in a spiritual Iranian-American household, Nica is drawn to transcendent and expansive melodies. Holding a Bachelor of Arts in Music, Nica studied classical and jazz piano, guitar, and voice, enabling her compositions to dance between genres and conventions.
Her recent album, “Tender Hearted,” captures several stories of transcendence, celebrating vulnerability through compassion and authenticity. Produced alongside her dear friend and musician, Joe Kwartin, Nica recorded 13 songs written over the course of two years in her parent’s guest bedroom. The record opens with a reverberating sound-scape of all-encompassing harmonies, guitar, and Farsi/English lyrics: “Doret Begardam,” is her most popular song which recalls the memories held in a phrase of endearment that Nica’s grandmother always gifted to others. Without a professional record label, management, or studio, Nica hopes to encourage others to share their art through whatever medium they have access to.
Silk Road Dance Company
The award-winning, critically acclaimed Silk Road Dance Company (SRDC) presents an extensive repertoire of more than 200 dances from Central Asia, Iran, the Middle East, South Asia, the Caucasus. and beyond. With the goal of promoting “Cultural Understanding through Beauty and Delight,” their pioneering performances offer a unique glimpse of the life and art of ancient cultures, especially the Islamic World.The ensemble has given performances internationally in Uzbekistan, Qatar, Singapore, United Kingdom and Canada. Based in Washington, DC, the ensemble has graced prestigious national venues including two White House performances and 11 Kennedy Center appearances. They have given presentations for 11 different embassy events.
DJ Crown Vic
Jim Thomson operates Electric Cowbell Productions out of Washington, DC: a multifaceted independent music production agency and record label that specializes in live music events, artist management, booking, and recording. He also DJ's regularly under the moniker Crown Vic, spinning all vinyl records from around the world and across time. He is a founding member and played drums in: GWAR, Alter-Natives (SST Records), Bio Ritmo, and CSC Funk Band and more recently plays drums and percussion in the DC punk band, Time Is Fire.
