Malika Zarra Quartet
Bar LunÀtico486 Halsey Street, New York 11233
Malika Zarra leads a quartet in two sets, singing and playing percussion with JC Maillard on guitar and voice, Mamadou Ba on bass, and Yayo Serka on drums.
Born in Ouled Teima in southern Morocco and raised in France, Zarra is a singer, composer and producer whose work brings jazz together with North African traditions. She sings in Amazigh, Moroccan Arabic, French and English, and has worked with John Zorn and Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra. JazzTimes praised her “impressive range” and “improvisational acumen.”
A basement club in Bedford-Stuyvesant, LunÀtico is a musician-owned space where live music starts at 9pm nightly, following dinner service. The stage is modest, with a single chair for the band, and the audience sits on wooden booths or the floor, close enough to feel the energy. The room is lit by dim bulbs, with walls lined with vintage posters and a few well-worn speakers. There's a bar with original cocktails, craft beer, and wine, and a dinner menu available from 6pm to 11pm. Shows are donation-based, with a $10 recommendation in cash. It's a place where people listen to music and talk afterward, in a familiar, unpolished setting.