Black Masala and John Papa Gros Band

Black Masala

You want to have a good time? You need brass.

This is what DC’s Black Masala blasts to the world, harnessing all the good times sunk in the Romany, second-line, bhangra, and funk horn parts that have gotten huge swaths of the planet up and dancing. With rock drive and a willingness to be as weird and wonderful as the party demands, Black Masala woos fans and new listeners with Trains and Moonlight Destinies, a tribute to the ins and outs of love, fate, and wanderlust.

The band evolved from a duo project in drummer and vocalist Mike Ounallah’s basement. “I got together with a trombonist friend of mine because we were both obsessed with gypsy brass music from Romania and Serbia,” he recalls. They studied the repertoire, one that reminded Ounallah of his childhood listening to his father’s Arabic pop records. 

It just got crazier from there. The duo expanded rapidly, finally finding a stable roster of skilled players and the instrumentation that captured the full energy of the music they loved. Along the way, they recruited versatile, gutsy vocalist Kirsten Long and everything from a tuba player to an electric guitarist. 

https://www.blackmasala.com/

John Papa Gros

Born in New Orleans, John "Papa" Gros has spent more than a quarter-century championing the music of the Big Easy. He's played it all — New Orleans funk, rock & roll, jazz, blues, Americana, pop/rock — and he swirls those styles into a genre-bending gumbo that pays tribute to his influences while still pushing ahead into new territory. Like Allen Toussaint and Dr. John, Gros is a proud local who carries on the tradition of New Orleans music, both honoring its past and helping to shape its future.

http://johnpapagros.com/?fbclid=IwAR15-nOVI3V5iao8Z_Q6mtOcEajw58fCUsd-Cp...