Dawn Drake & ZapOte World Music Band from Brooklyn, NY

DESCRIPTION: "ZapOte" is a Female-forward Global Mash Up band. We specialize in World Music, Salsa, Cha-Cha, Cumbias, Kompa, Soukous, Afro-beat, Samba, Bossa Nova, Dancehall, Caribbean grooves and more. Taking its name from a luscious fruit in Cuba also known as "mamey", "ZapOte" delivers non-stop dancing to the irresistible grooves of Latin percussion, funky bass, swinging horn lines and improvisation. PRESS: "This tropical pop ensemble played with Hearts Blood"! -Walliser Bote, Switzerland. "[They] were the hit of the season!" - Beth Flusser, Talent Buyer for The Third Street Music Summer Concert Series "This saucy debut by soul sistah Dawn Drake is an incredible gift to the world of world music! She skillfully weaves together her bold poetic lyrics, melodic vocals, and a fusion of danceable rhythms performed by herself and a very talented band of musicianados. You'll love the horns, the deep bass, the compelling percussion..." Luis Da Silva, Jules Bistro, NYC "Dawn Drake and her band ZapOte are at the beginnings of a fascinating journey to enthusiastically bridge chasms of cultural and gender disconnect that plagues so much of pop music's body politic. To hear them is to imagine early period jam sessions between Laura Nyro and Carole King with Sly Stone and Sergio Mendes sitting in. Theirs is a playfully intense dynamic that needs to be seen more"-Darrell McNeill, Director, Black Rock Coalition, Curator Brooklyn Academy of Music Cafe Events Played: Huntington Herschel Stage opening for Tito Rodriguez Jr. 2023 Babylon World Music Festival 2023 Honk NYC Department of Transportation Concerts 2017-2023 The Ice House, Morgan Arts Center, Berkeley Springs WVA Concert Series 2023 The Bright Box, Winchester Va, 2023 Brooklyn Arts Council 2020-2022 Taproot Gala, Philadelphia PA 2022 US State Department Art and Culture Seminar, New Mexico 2019 Club Bonafide, NYC 2019 Kimmel Center, Philadelphia PA 2019 Gwynned University, PA 2020 Belize International Jazz Festival 2017, 2018, 2019 Arts Envoy in Belize US State Department 2018 Various concerts NYC and beyond 2016-2022 Subrosa, NYC 2016 Brooklyn Bowl, NYC 2016 The Way Station Saturday Night Music Series Residency, Brooklyn, 2015 The Prospect Heights Music and Arts Festival 2015 Provence En Boite Bastille Day Celebration, 2015/2016 MNN Channel 56 Manhattan 2014-2015 Brooklyn Academy of Music Cafe Live Series, 2015 Silvana Harlem, NYC Residency 2015/2016 United Nations DP Management Meeting in Westchester County, NY. March 2014 Mafrika Festival, Shrine World Music NYC 2014 Frauentstimmen Festival, Brig, Switzerland, June 2014 Danbury Concerts on the Green, CT, August 2014 Mamapalooza Festival 2010, 2011, 2015 Brooklyn Botanic Gardens Chili Pepper Fest 2010 Third Street Music Settlement Summer Concert Series 2012 and 2013 Sister Space Weekend 2013 Brooklyn Academy of Music's BAMCafe Live! Series 2007, 2010 Virginia Bluemont Concert Series 2008 Wisteria Cornstalk Festival 2009 Downtown Berkeley Music Festival 2009, 2010 Iowa Women's Music Festival 2011 FOX News Cleveland, Channel 8, 2011