Arts & Entertainment
Video: Marimba Band Plays Traditional African Song on Pacific Avenue
Singing Wood plays traditional marimba music of Zimbabwe. It gets really good at the 50 second mark.
On Friday evening a nine-piece marimba band called Singing Wood played a full set of traditional African music on Pacific Avenue, in front of O'Neill Surf Shop.
It was hair-raisingly good. Enough to stop pedestrians in their tracks, and walking away, you could hear the energetic warm wood tones for blocks. Picture 18 hands sending separate yet harmonious rhythms to reverberate off of Urban Outfitters and down the avenue. It was enough to melt frowns for blocks.
The video is of a song called "Rugezo," a traditional water purifying song.
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Walking the length of Pacific Avenue on any given night you'll encounter a dozen street performers. There is the masked accordion man, the umbrella guy (has anybody seen him lately?), tarot card readers, transients playing three stringed guitars, and many more, at all levels of talent.
It's one of the many things that makes Santa Cruz special. Especially being pleasantly surprised by a wall of talent like Singing Wood.
