La Ruya ft. Melissa Cruz

La Ruya is delighted to present an evening of Near-East Flamenco at Yoshi's San Francisco!

Come join us for an electric evening of dance and music; Andalusia meeting the Black Sea, Arabic and Turkish Makam meeting the modes and tonalities of Flamenco and Gypsy Jazz... and what exactly is NearEast Flamenco? In this day of proliferating genres and sub genres, crafted sound bytes and targeted audiences, it's best to let the music speak for itself. What can be said however is that this newcomer to… Show more the bay area world music scene brings the house down with each new performance.

La Ruya initially formed as a collaboration between local rock drummer and world music enthusiast Sam Foster and renown Flamenco dancer and instructor Melissa Cruz. Things began to really take shape however with the first meeting of oudist Gary Haggerty and guitarist David Paez during the first fledgling practices of early autumn last year. The oud is the precursor to the guitar (the word 'lute' being derived from Arabic), and in the meeting of the two sounds new paths opened onto more ancient harmonies. Rhythms and melodies once intimate, separated in space and time, reunited again in a modern context, defying neat genre driven classifications. When native Turkish percussionist Murat Bayhan was brought into the fold, the die was cast and La Ruya became a force to be reckoned with.... but it's in the dance, primal and almost ritual, that La Ruya truly lives.

Bringing her years of experience to the project, dancer Melissa Cruz brings the La Ruya sound to a vivid colorful life of flesh and blood, rendering comprehensible this challenging and exciting new music. We are also delighted also to have Rebecca Kelinamn rejoining us on flute for this Yoshi's appearance. Not to be missed....

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