The KTO Project & Jose Roberto and Friends have created one large big band of Bay Area musicians from around the globe to present original music whose roots are from Africa to the Americas. Lots of singers, plenty of percussion, a huge string section and solid bass and keys will pack the stage at the Freight!

The KTO Project is a dynamic, danceable world music ensemble that has been lighting up Bay Area music venues for ten years. Vocalist, percussionist, songwriter, and dancer Kelly Takunda Orphan leads a seasoned lineup of Bay Area musicians who bring a wealth of experience to their play, taking their audience around the world, celebrating the love and dreams that unite us all, decrying the violence, grief, and poverty that tear us apart, and rejoicing in the music that can heal us if we open ourselves up to its blessed rhythms!

Kelly has recorded and toured with Babatunde Olatunji and African Rain, studied music and dance in Zimbabwe, and performed for Nelson Mandela. Since then, she has toured nationally and internationally with Keith Terry and Crosspulse, founded the women’s vocal and percussion ensemble Mutama, performed with the Peruvian group Nosotras, and led the KTO Project. Their high-energy music is personal and political, soulful and spiritual – and it makes you want to get up and dance!

Jose Roberto Hernandez is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer, arranger, producer, musical educator, and ethnomusicologist. His devotion, creativity, and professionallism in the genre of traditional music have earned him the recognition of great musicians from Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and Argentina. He is known for his innovative use of traditional forms and instruments in combination with contempoarary music and has earned much respect as a musician, singer, composer, and producer.