It's been quite a ride for Aphrodesia since their birth in 2003: a pilgrimage
to the legendary Shrine nightclub in Lagos, Nigeria in 2006, a cross-country voter-registration
tour in a vegetable oil-powered bus in 2004 and accolades everywhere from National
Public Radio to USA Today. Through it all the San Francisco-based 11-piece ensemble
has won audiences over with an eclectic, unique sound- a blend of rich, female lead
vocals and slamming horn-laden polyrhythmic funk that Global Rhythm Magazine called
“a Pan-African mash-up.”

While the members of Aphrodesia are admirers of West African styles like afrobeat
and Highlife- enough so that the group spent a month performing and living in Ghana
in 2006, in the process journeying through Togo and Benin to Nigeria to perform 
at the Shrine with Femi Kuti- the group's sound has always included touches 
of funk, dub, Zimbabwean trance, hip-hop and global pop. The band's new studio
album- “Lagos By Bus” to be released in November of 2007 by Cyberset Music and packed
with songs written during and about their month in Africa- further solidifies their
diverse sound.

Birthed in 2003 in the backyard shack of bassist Ezra Gale, Aphrodesia quickly recorded
“Shackrobeat Vol. 1”, a disc heavily influenced by singer Lara Maykovich's experience
living in Ghana and Zimbabwe which was picked as a top record of 2003 by the East
Bay Express. The following year the politically outspoken group launched the “Just
Vote Tour”, a cross-country swing-state voter registration tour undertaken in the
group's vegetable oil-powered bus that landed in New York City during the Republican
National Convention.

The group's second album, “Front Lines”, was recorded soon after and featured
the layered lead vocals of Maykovich and Maya Dorn, several bold originals penned
by the group and eclectic guest performers ranging from Tom Waits sideman Ralph 
Carney to former Sierra Club president Adam Werbach. Featured on National Public
Radio, the album was also ecstatically reviewed by outlets from Global Rhythm Magazine
to the Village Voice.

Meanwhile, the group's reputation as a show-stopping live act continued to spread.
With a lineup that includes singers Mayokovich and Dorn, bassist Gale, guitarists
David Sartore and Chris Mulhauser, the horns section of Henry Hung, Liz Larson, 
Mitch Marcus and Sylvain Carton, percussionist Paul Sonnabend and powerhouse drummer
Jason Slota, Aphrodesia delivered stunning, high energy sets at the 2004 and 2005
High Sierra Music Festivals, the 2005 Earthdance Festival, the 2005 and 2006 Aspen
Jazz Festival, the 2006 and 2007 Harmony Festival and many more. The group's
near-constant touring saw them build a fan base all over the U.S., playing venues
from San Francisco's Fillmore to New York City's S.O.B.'s, while opening
slots for Maceo Parker, Steel Pulse, the String Cheese Incident, the Sierra Leone
Refugee All-Stars, Konono no. 1 and several others broadened their reach even further.

Aphrodesia’s music carries with it a strong sense of social justice, and the band’s
commitment to social change extends offstage as well. Having headlined numerous 
benefits for causes ranging from AIDS prevention to Tsunami Relief to anti-Iraq 
War organizations, the group has also made a point of traveling on alternative fuels
like biodiesel and recycled vegetable oil. It may be a small start, but the group
believes that its actions, like its music, can have a huge effect.

CONTACT- contact@aphrodesia.org