2024 Exploring Our Roots Music and Art Festival Series

Fall, 2024

Humboldt Asians & Pacific Islanders in Solidarity (HAPI) presents performances by touring and local artists whose music, poetry, film and dance illuminate and reflect the histories, culture, and stories of Pan-Asian and BIPOC people.

FALL SCHEDULE

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Bobby Alu, Arcata Playhouse, Arcata

Bobby Alu is a Samoan-Australian musician, singer-songwriter, drummer and ukulele player. His music blends elements of tropical folk, roots, reggae and Polynesian rhythm, drawing on his Samoan heritage and life by the sea.

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

“Many Moons” film screening and discussion with filmmaker Chisato Hughes, Minor Theater, Arcata

Arcata native filmmaker Chisato Hughes presented the Humboldt premiere of their short documentary, “Many Moons,” about Chinese immigrant Charlie Moon, the fabled “last Chinese Man of Humboldt County” after the purging of its Chinese community in 1885– and his descendants, known as the Moons, whose families touch all local native tribes in the area. This film has been shown at the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival, and recently at the CAAMFest at SFMOMA. After the screening, there was a Q&A with the film’s director about the local filming of the documentary with the help of Yurok, Hupa, and Asian American residents, and with Sheila Moon, relative of Charlie Moon, who shared about her great, great uncle’s legacy and her family’s memories.

Saturday, November 16, 2024

Hiroya Tsukamoto, Arcata Playhouse, Arcata

Hiroya Tsukamoto is an internationally renowned guitarist and songwriter. He is a one-of-a-kind composer, guitarist and singer-songwriter from Kyoto, Japan. He began playing the five-string banjo when he was thirteen, and took up the guitar shortly after.

The festival was cosponsored by Humboldt Area Foundation and Wild Rivers Community Foundation, Playhouse Arts, and Humboldt Folklife Society.