Doors are at 7:30 pm; Show at 8:00 pm

Tickets are $10 

Oakland and Berkeley funk-jazz-Afro-reggae bands Zamico and Scionic headline tonight’s dance, with some guests joining in: San Francisco MC Judah joins Zamico for a few tunes, and East Bay MC Cyberclops and singer Barbora Buzinskaite will guest on some songs with Scionic. 

Berkeley’s Zamico serves up irresistible dance music that it labels “Tropidelic”: Afro-Brazilian-Caribbean dance grooves that smoothly blend reggae, Afrobeat, funk, soul, tropical, Brazilian, and Caribbean. If there’s a connection among such artists as Desmond Dekker, Jorge Ben, Bob Marley, and Os Mutantes, Zamico delivers it. The band is singer-guitarist Andrew McKleroy, drummer Miles Lathan, saxophone and flute player Sean Norris, guitarist Kevin Glaz, and bassist Waddell Bell. Former Zamico drummer Dave Eagle will sit in on percussion tonight. The band of friends (“amico” means friend in Italian) plays music in hopes of generating wider social interaction and change in the Bay Area.

Oakland soul-funk-jazz trio Scionic makes its Ashkenaz debut with a mix of original and cover songs with lots of improvisation for dancing to what the group terms “sexy, sultry and savory grooves.” That includes mixing in Afrobeat, Ethiopian jazz, hip-hop and R&B, with guest singers and MCs. Tonight rapper Cyberclops joins for a few songs, as does singer Barbora Buzinskaite. Scionic is keyboardist Andrew Kunz, bassist Alex Riddle. and drummer Max Denny.