Dawn Drake & Zapote

• Dawn Drake - bass, vocals, percussion
• Yayoi Ikawa - keys
• Arei Sekiguchi - drums
• Terry Dame - Sax
• Jackie Coleman - Trumpet

DESCRIPTION:

Dawn Drake & "ZapOte":
Female-fronted Latin, Afro-zilian and World Music Duo/Trio/Band. Original dance music simmering in a palate of serious Latin, African and Caribbean rhythms.

Taking its name from a luscious fruit in Cuba also known as "mamey",
"ZapOte" is an original Funk Latin Afro-Beat band lead by Dawn Drake,
the Slovenian-American female bassist/conguera/singer/songwriter and composer, who manages to wear several hats while setting the scene with her own brandof cool. Her original music takes the listener and dancer into a zone where House, Funk, Afro-beat, Samba, Afro-Cuban rhythms and Jazz are right at home. Her poetic lyrics spread messages of universal consciousness, delivered with heartfelt vocals, and are joined with the irresistible grooves of Latin percussion, funky bass, swinging horn lines and virtuosic improvisation.

PRESS:
"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


BIOGRAPHY
About Dawn Drake and ZapOte:
This band has gone far and wide for the short period of time that it
has been together. Formed in 2005 to record the original songs of Dawn
Drake, the band shortly thereafter started to play venues in and around New York City, including the prestigious Brooklyn Academy of Music Cafe Live series, as well as Women's Week at Medgar Evers College, a residency on NYC's legendary Bleecker Street at Wicked Willy's, and DROM, Manhattan's Best World Music venue. Currently, they play funky SOHO's L'Orange Bleue Monday Night DRUMS series several times a month, as well as Jules Bistro, Esperanto, Oliva and NUBLU in Manhattan.
An active musician in New York City's African, Brazilian and Latin
music scene, Dawn Drake started her career as an electric bassplayer
and percussionist, but now she is known first and foremost as a
singer-songwriter, composer and bandleader.
As a Slovenian-American, Dawn's love of a variety of music first came from home. However, she began traveling and studying world music at the University of Ghana, West Africa where she lived for a year. Upon moving to New York City, she started to play bass and percussion with groups which have included Obini Ashe; The Femm Nameless, who opened for The Roots and who toured England; Jojo Kuo, former drummer for Fela Kuti; Páprika who has opened for Patti LaBelle and Toshi Reagon, and Manmzel, who toured Canada and the east coast, with a hit single in the French Caribbean.

Dawn studied and played congas and batá in Cuba, and samba percussion in Brazil, where she played in Rio de Janiero's Carnaval. She has shared the stage with Me'shell N'degeocello, Cyro Baptista, Trey Anastasio, Mo'Guajiro, Los Jovenes del Barrio, Kokolo, Jorge Alabê and
members of Antibalas. She has appeared on The CBS Early Show, and
Telemundo TV, PBS, WBAI, and played stages such as Symphony Space,
SOB's, The Zinc Bar, Rockefeller Center's Rainbow Room, Radio City
Music Hall, BAM CAFE, The Walker Art Center, Michigan Womyn's Music
Festival, the New Orleans Jazz Festival. "Dawn Drake & ZapOte" have
performed live on WBAI, KPFA Pacifica Radio in Berkeley, Ca, KUSP in Santa Cruz, and WTJU in Charlottesville. They have toured Europe, as well as the East and West Coast
playing well-known venues like The Gravity Lounge, in Charlottesville,
Va; Toad's Place in Richmond, Va; Jupiter in Berkeley, Ca.; and the
Brookdale Lodge in Brookdale, Ca. They were featured performers in the
multi-city Bluemont Concert Series in Virginia, 2008, the Wisteria Cornstalk Festival, Culturefest WV and the Downtown Berkeley Music Festival in 2009.

Dawn and the band "ZapOte" have also appeared in the Winchester Star
and the Eureka Times Standard, and Dawn herself has appeared in The
Village Voice, Park Slope 24/7, and GO Magazine. The band's new EP "Love is Love" and Dawn's full-length album entitled "Cross-Crocodiles" are available for purchase at CD Baby.

Anniversaries, Apres Ski Parties, Awards Nights, Bachelor Parties, Bachelorette Parties, Banquets, Bar Mitzvahs, Bat Mitzvahs, Birthday Parties, Children's Birthday Parties, Casinos, Celebrations, Christenings, Christmas Parties, Church Services, Clubs, Coffee Shops, Community Events, Conventions, Corporate Functions, Country Clubs, Cruise Ships, Dinner Dances, Festivals, Fraternity Functions, Fund Raisers, Funerals, Graduation Parties, Grand Openings, Hotels, Jingles, Movie Soundtracks, Picnic, Private Parties, Proms, Resorts, Restaurants, Reunions, Showers, Sorority Function, Studio Session, Temples, TV Soundtracks, Weddings...and more.

• For first contact to completion of the event Dawn was a true pleasure to deal with. Her professionalism and attention to detail are only surpassed by her musical talent. I would highly recommend Dawn to anyone. Thank you, Brian Finn Finley's of Green Street- Huntington, NY -- Brian F, Huntington , NY, 11/13/2011
• We booked Dawn Drake and Zapote for a banquet and they definitely exceeded our standards. Their communication with us was on point, their music and vocals were amazing, and the guests could not stop saying how much they liked the band. We are definitely considering bringing them back in the future. Thanks! -- Carmen R, Saratoga Springs, NY, 11/17/2011

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