$15 tickets

7:00 PM doors

7:30 PM showtime

Namaste is a band that performs “World Music”. In this case, World Music refers to music that is inspired by Indigenous music from various parts of the world, including, but not limited to, The Middle East, various parts of the African Continent, Central and South America, and The Caribbean. The band does not perform note for note recreations of traditional music, but combines these forms with Western influences to create a hybrid of traditional and contemporary that is both exotic and familiar.

The core of the band came together in the 1980s when three musician friends of various backgrounds started playing together. Lynn Stover, an accomplished percussionist, had just returned from Tunisia, where he lived for a number of years absorbing the culture and learning the music. Julian Aguirre, grew up in Argentina and Uruguay learning guitar and incorporating classical, jazz and rock styles into his traditional playing. Bassist David Moyar had long been playing R&B when he was seduced by the sounds of Soukous music from The Congo which started him on a journey to explore music from many regions of Africa. The three of them began playing together and quickly realized their combined backgrounds and musical interests created a magical sound.

These three continued to play various venues adding musicians that would come and go. Eventually Jeff Coleman joined the band bringing a new level of excitement and musicality with accordion and guitar. In this format they recorded a critically acclaimed CD, “Namaste Colonial Pagoda”. Due to various reasons, the band felt it was time to disband in the Mid 2000s, remaining good friends and in contact. In 2022, all of the members began talking to each other about getting back together. One session was all it took. They have augmented the original core with Victoria Mowrer on percussion and Paul Leash on drums. They played their return performance in January of 2023 at Tellus 360 to much acclaim and a packed house. Since then, Jose Canto Cruz, a Latin Percussionist born in Puerto Rico has joined adding Afro Cuban and Afro Rican rhythms. The band plans to continue performing, celebrating the similarities and differences of us all through music.