Malika Zarra Quartet
Bar LunÀtico486 Halsey Street, New York 11233
Malika Zarra leads a quartet for two sets, joined by JC Maillard on guitar and voice, Mamadou Ba on bass, and Yayo Serka on drums. Zarra sings and plays percussion, bringing songs in Moroccan Arabic, Amazigh, French and English.
Born in Morocco and raised in France, Zarra is a singer, composer and producer whose work brings North African traditions including chaâbi and Gnawa into conversation with jazz. Her credits include John Zorn’s vocal quartet Mycale and Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, as well as work with Makoto Ozone, Gretchen Parlato and Jacques Schwarz-Bart. John Zorn calls her “a rare and special voice, a natural-born musician who sings as easily as we breathe.”
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.