Afrolicious
SUNDAY, August 14 2PM 19th Avenue and Sloat, San Francisco
What started out as a club night in the famed Mission district Elbo Room in 2007, Afrolicious has since grown into a collective of dynamic and skilled funk, soul, and electronic musicians. Since 2010, the group has been playing for packed crowds with a party-ready combination of soulful vocals, funky bass, and lively horns and beats with classic funk, soul, disco, Latin, and Afrobeat.
Afrolicious was formed by brothers Pleasuremaker and Señor Oz with MCs and musicians accompanied by multiple DJs spinning the latest dance music hits from Afro-House, broken beat, modern funk, and disco genres alongside remixed classics and Salsa music. Local electronic musicians and fellow funksters took note of the club night’s growing popularity, and over the years the DJ brothers partnered up with various artists to produce original music under the Afrolicious name. In 2010 the Pleasuremaker band began performing this ‘Afrolicious’ material and added fellow musicians and percussionists who they met through the weekly party, adding 8-12 live musicians to what is now known as the Afrolicious band.
Afrolicious today continues the party — not at the Elbo Room, where the final Afrolicious club night took place in 2014, but in the recording studio and on stages around the country. Afrolicious has played alongside such artists as Thievery Corporation, Jimmy Cliff, Fishbone, Balkan Beat Box, Rob Garza, Novalima, The Pimps of Joytime, Nickodemus, Johnny Osbourne, See-I, Ghostland Observatory, Beats Antique, J.Boogie, and DJ Smash.
In the following years the collective released two EPs of original music (Dub for Mali, 2011, and Pleasuretime, 2012) produced by Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation with ESL Music, garnering critical acclaim across the country among fans and support from radio, club, and top industry DJs. Remixes and original productions have been released on a variety of labels across the country, and in March 2013 Afrolicious debuted their first full-length album, California Dreaming,on their own label, Afrolicious Music.
While at the core of the performing group are the DJ duo, the collective is an opportunity for artists from a wide spectrum of musical backgrounds to combine their skills and mutual adoration of high-energy electro and funk beats. Some of the artists come from as far away as Trinidad and Brazil. The youngest is 20, while the oldest moved to the US in 1970 and toured with Stevie Wonder. Some have had music in their veins since childhood, while others found it later in life. But what all have in common is love of live performance and a passion for music.
Afrolicious is participating in the 79 season’s Local Artist Commission Series, titled “Interplay: In Concert with Nature”. Afrolicious is one of ten local performing groups that will debut a piece made specifically for the Stern Grove stage.