Yerba Buena Gardens Festival Season Kick-Off w/ Pedrito Martinez & La Dame Blanche (SF)

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Yerba Buena Gardens Festival’s 24th season kicks off with a sensational afternoon of Cuban soul.

Season Kick-Off: Pedrito Martinez & La Dame Blanche
Saturday, May 4, 2024 | 3:00pm – 5:30pm (updated time due to weather – originally was 1pm)
Yerba Buena Gardens | Mission St. & 3rd St., SF
FREE

Pedrito Martinez arrived in New York City from Havana in 1998 just as the Buena Vista Social Club was reintroducing the world to the glories of mid-20th century Cuban music, reviving the careers of masters who came of age before the revolution. It wasn’t long before he came to embody the future of Cuban music in the 21st century. A master of Afro-Cuban folkloric music and the sacred batá drum, he’s also the world’s first-call rumbero with more than 100 albums to his credit. Sought out by the world’s greatest artists in jazz, Cuban music and far beyond, he’s collaborated with everyone from fellow Latin music visionaries Chucho Valdés, Paquito D’Rivera and Eddie Palmieri to pop stars Paul Simon, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Elton John, and James Taylor. Martinez returns to the Gardens leading the latest version of his blazing band, which he introduced on his eponymous, Grammy-nominated album in 2013. The group has served as a launching pad for several brilliant young Cuban musicians, like his current pianist/keyboardist Ahmed Alom, a virtuosic powerhouse quickly gaining international renown.

Opening the program is La Dame Blanche, an explosive Paris-based Cuban combo led by singer, flautist and percussionist Yaite Ramos Rodriguez (daughter of trombonist Jesus “Aguaje” Ramos, the artistic director of the Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club). Steeped in the Afro-Cuban rituals and folklore, La Dame Blanche has honed a singular blend of hip-hop, cumbia, dancehall and reggae, all filtered through the sacred practices of Santería. 

Yerba Buena Gardens Festival 2024

May 4 – November 2, 2024
Yerba Buena Gardens, Mission btwn Third and Fourth, SoMa, SF
FREE

Directions & Parking | Admission-Free Seating | Performance Times | See the Full Calendar

2024 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival Programming Highlights

All events are free and take place outdoors in Yerba Buena Gardens, off Mission Street between 3rd and 4th Streets, and the Yerba Buena Children’s Garden located at Howard & Fourth Street.

APRIL 2024 – Pre Festival Events

• Earth Day 2024 – April 20
• Bay Area Dance Week Kickoff – April 27

MAY 2024

• 2024 Official Season Kickoff w/ Pedrito Martinez – May 4
• Balaklava Blues & Kitka: Songs for Ukraine – May 11
• CAAMFest – May 18
• Islands by the Bay Festival – May 19

JUNE 2024

• Native Contemporary Arts Festival – June 16
• RAWdance: Drawing on a Decade – June 14-15
• Circus Bella – June 21-22
• SF Uke Jam – June 29

JULY 2024

• Get Free Festival – July 6
• Yerba Buena Gardens ChoreoFest – July 13 & July 20
• Color Your Mind Festival – July 27

AUGUST 2024

• San Francisco Mime Troupe – August 4
• Pistahan – August 10-11
• Brazil in the Gardens – August 15

SEPTEMBER 2024

• 5th Annual African Arts Festival – September 7
• YBG Dance Day – September 28

OCTOBER 2024

• San Francisco Indigenous Peoples Day – October 14

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.