On the Stage

At 10am, Pastor Chris Casimere  will deliver an opening message.

Christopher is a Realtor in the East Bay who has consistently been a multi-million dollar producer, helping his clients realize their real estate dreams in both the residential and commercial markets.  A stellar community member, Christopher has coached little league baseball and Miramonte High School football in Orinda and donates to many charities. Christopher serves as the Executive Pastor of Shiloh Church of Oakland. Christopher lives with his wife Kelley and their two children in the Lamorinda area.

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Akilah R. Carter-Francique

11am

We have the honor of being joined on June 19th by Dr. Akilah R. Carter-Francique, who will be giving our keynote address. Join us at the Albany Juneteeth Celebration for an afternoon of music, art, poetry and more! Info at yestojuneteenth.org

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Dr. Akilah R. Carter-Francique (Ph.D., University of Georgia) is the Executive Director for the Institute for the Study of Sport, Society, and Social Change (ISSSSC) at San Jose State University. She is also an Associate Professor at SJSU in the Department of African American Studies. Her scholarly endeavors and field of focus encompasses the intersection of sport, society, and social justice that is inclusive of issues of diversity, social movements, and the dynamics of social change and development.

Carter-Francique served as the 2018-2019 President of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS), currently serves as a member of Laureus “Sport for Good” Research Council in the U.S., and she is the co-editor of Athletic Experience at Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Past, Present, and Persistence and Critical Race Theory: Black Athletic Experiences in the United States. 

Don't miss a dynamic performance by soulful classical string quartet Unicorn Breeding Ground this Juneteenth! June 19th, at 12pm. Admission is free.

More about the group here: www.unicornbreedingground.com

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KEITH “LAW” LAWRENCE
VIOLIST. VOCALIST. ARRANGER. COMPOSER. PRODUCER. CREATOR.

BIO.
Keith “Law” Lawrence, a Pittsburgh native, accomplished violist, vocalist, composer, arranger, and producer began his musical studies at age 10, later receiving his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Viola Performance from the Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College and DePaul University's School of Music– now specializing in various alternative styles of string playing and improvisation, has been Grammy nominated for his work with Quartet San Francisco, performs with the Berkeley and Santa Rosa Symphonies, on television, video game and movie soundtracks, and has performed with the likes of Solange, Peter Gabriel, Bjork, Diana Krall, Quincy Jones, Tony Bennett, Josh Groban, and Andrea Bocelli, to name a few. Currently residing in San Francisco, California, Lawrence is violist, vocalist, composer, arranger for Cosa Nostra Strings, founder/owner of Unicorn Breeding Ground/UBG Strings, and violist and contractor for FeverUp Candlelight Concerts (SF/Bay Area), always engaged, challenging perspectives, and breaking barriers through his limitless creativity.

Vocalist Kenya Moses embodies the essence of Brazil's bossa nova in her warm and heartfelt sound. Born in the United States, yet connected to her Afro-Brazilian roots, Kenya fell in love with the sounds of Brazil after 15 years performing as a classical vocalist and flautist. Kenya's vocal resonance has allowed her the opportunity to perform throughout the Western and Eastern United States, in addition to Italy and France. With acclaimed musicians by her side, Kenya will release her first album of bossa nova duets in late 2022.

Swing and soul vocalist Tiffany Austin brings her fiery quartet to Albany's Juneteenth Celebration on June 19th, at 2pm. Featuring Tammy Hall (piano), David Ewell (bass), and Jayla Hernandez (drums).

Vocalist, composer, educator and Juris Doctorate Tiffany Austin combines classic jazz tradition with a deep love for blues, spirituals and contemporary soul and a storyteller's knack for narrative. She's performed on bandstands internationally including at both Birdland and Dizzy's Den in NYC, Walt Disney Concert Hall in her native Los Angeles and the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco.

Nothing But Soul, Austin's debut album from 2015, earned raves for its bold recasting of Hoagy Carmichael standards. Her sophomore album, Unbroken (2018), was hailed by All About Jazz as a "fully formed masterpiece."

Since releasing her first two albums, Austin has remained active on the live and commissioned artist scenes. In 2020, she helped titanic tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders celebrate his 80th birthday as part of an all-star concert at Zebulon Cafe in Los Angeles. She was organist/Black Jazz Records leader Doug Carn's special guest at the 2021 San José Jazz Summer Fest and also launched the Con Alma Music Creative Intellect Scholarship for BIPOC high school students that year. In 2022, she was named a Yerba Buena Gardens Festival Seeds Commissions Artist and became Director of the Healdsburg Freedom Jazz Choir.     

A graduate of UC Berkeley’s Boalt School of Law, Austin decided to forgo a career as a lawyer to focus on music, her true passion, and she’s been raising the bar ever since.

More info here:
tiffanyaustin.com 

Shelley Doty - Guitars and Vocals
Bryan Dean - Bass
Vicki Randle - Percussion, Guitar and Backing Vocals
Genesis Valentine - Drums

Shelley Doty is an East Bay gem. Not only does she rule on both acoustic and electric guitar, she also sings with fluid grace and writes songs filled with swagger, tenderness, and joy. “I play rock with a jazz attitude,” Shelley Doty said in an interview in the San Francisco Chronicle. “I'm not interested in playing the same song the same way for 18 years. When I write a song, I think of it as its own universe, and do my best to explore it fully each time I visit.

The Shelley Doty X-tet is an ever evolving group of stellar musicians and on Juneteenth will feature Vicki Randle (Skip The Needle, Mavis Staples Band), Bryan Dean (A Band Called Pain, Kofy Brown Band), and Genesis Valentine (Onyx).

MoonCandy's most impressive work has been as the musical soundtrack for Nicole Klaymoon's Dance Company, the Embodiment Project, providing award winning original music documenting the struggle of African-Americans, systemic racism, and sexism in America. MoonCandy’s music composition for the Embodiment Project’s “Chalk Outlines” won a 2017 Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in music/sound/text. In the spring of 2016 Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company in collaboration with the Embodiment Project and MoonCandy presented “Seed Language: A New Identity,” a groundbreaking performance which combined street dance, live song, documentary theater, and spoken word to illuminate the unseen histories of the war on Black people and uplift the Black Lives Matter movement. Bringing together the young artists, change-makers, and movement leaders, we created this show to engage in critical conversation about dance as protest, Black liberation, cross-generational organizing, and social action. We presented an intergenerational conversation and supported the youth to raise their voices. MoonCandy bridged dance, music, and social action, passing down the knowledge of vocal technique and song delivery. 

MoonCandy created and released our first album: The Struggle is Real, Walk Together Children in 2013: it is a testimony of our people’s lives sung out over grooving baselines and church stomping soulful house rhythms. Dedicated to setting spirits free, the album features harmonies, moving lyrics, and sick beats to engage and align the mind, body, and soul

What is MoonCandy?

"MoonCandy is a live soulful house ensemble that features several inspirational voices and is comprised of some of the East Bay’s most underrated Jazz, Soul, Blues, and Gospel Singers. MoonCandy is a church without walls... soulful, uplifting and fabulous!

MoonCandy Bio:  

MoonCandy has been on the Bay Area music scene since 2010 appearing at many local festivals such as;  Oakland Pride, The Black Eyed Pea Festival, Yerba Buena Garden Festival, Malcolm X Jazz Fest, The Laurel Street Fair, The Oakland Museum and headlining at Oakland's Famed ThePeople Party.  Mooncandy's most reflective work has been as the musical soundtrack for Nicole Klaymoon's Dance Company the "Embodiment Project" providing original music documenting the struggle of African-Americans, systemic racism, and sexism in America.  In the spirit of the Black church, Jazz, The Freedom Singers, and Disco sensation Sylvester, MoonCandy creates an environment for survival music to live and thrive through live performance. Using the dance floor as a it's universal synagogue, MoonCandy's inspirational lyrics and transfixing  grooves gives birth to a "House Church"  where everyone is welcome to dance for love

www.Valerietrouttprojects.com

New website coming www.valerietrouttmusic.com

Formed in 2009 by professional musicians and dancers who migrated from Ghana, West Africa, to the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area.African 

Heritage Ensemble is an energetic group of young performers based in the Bay Area, CA. Using traditional African dance adopted for stage, we bring a  unique theatrical experience to the audience while purveying traditional culture of West Africa, (Ghana). The Ensemble also choreographs unique dances fusing traditional African and modern dance movements. We focus on the preservation and research of West African dancing and drumming through performance and education.

The piece we are performing is called Kpanlogo.

Kpanlogo: originated in Accra, the capital city of Ghana and the traditional home of the Ga people. It is essentially an urban youth dance-drumming and a symbol of the commitment of a rapidly growing Ghanaian urban neighborhood youth in advocating their perspective in shaping the political vision of post colonial Africa.

Performers:

Kwesi Anku

Kwaku  Oppong Manu

Francis Akotuah 

Philip Amo Agyapong

Selasi Morgan

Kokou Soglo  Katamani

We have some female dancers who are yet to be confirmed, that is why their names are not yet included.

The Stage is located at 

1251 Solano Avenue, Albany CA 

10:00am Councilwoman Gary 

10:10am  Pastor Chris Casimere 

11:00am Dr. Akilah R Carter-Francique- Keynote Speaker 

12:00pm  Unicorn Breeding Ground: Strings  1:00pm Kenya Moses

 2:00p Tiffany Austin 

3:00pm Shelley Doty x_tet 

4:00pm Valerie Troutt 

4:45pm  Presentation of the Earthquake Soccer ticket 

5pm African Heritage Ensemble   

5:30pm Closing Remarks