LOS ANGELES, CA—The Skirball Cultural Center is pleased to announce the return of live, in-person concerts, with the 24th season of the free summertime live music series, Sunset Concerts. This year’s lineup features both veteran and rising talents of the LA music scene who amplify the Skirball’s values to pursue justice, build community, show kindness, and honor memory. Hailing from all corners of Los Angeles and drawing influences from a variety of styles including son jarocho, ska, Afrobeat, and indie rock, the ensembles form a cross-section of the LA cultural fabric. 

Presented since 1997 in the Skirball’s idyllic hillside courtyard, Sunset Concerts – now sponsored by the Bilger Family – draws music fans of all ages from across greater LA and beyond.

The 2021 Sunset Concerts schedule is as follows: Quetzal (August 5); Run River North (August 12); The Delirians (August 19); and Extra Ancestral (August 26).

“We are extremely delighted to welcome back audiences through the power of live music to once again gather as a community in the Skirball’s outdoor courtyard,” says Jen Maxcy, Director of Programs. “We are especially honored to present four of LA's most sought after and influential bands – artists who fuse their own cultural backgrounds with the unique flavor of Los Angeles – who are also passionate about the intersection of music and platforms for change. This moment is the perfect time to amplify the music of our own city and to celebrate part of what makes Los Angeles so special – that we embrace musical influences from all over the world, and support artistic communities.”

The 2021 Sunset Concerts are presented free of charge, and an RSVP is required. As the guidance from the County of Los Angeles is rapidly changing, information on social distancing and/or mask requirements will be clarified closer to the beginning of the series. For updated information about safety protocols, please visit: https://www.skirball.org/ticketing-and-safety.

Visitors are invited to arrive early to savor delicious food and drinks in the Skirball’s stunning Taper Courtyard. Guests may also bring their own food. No outside alcoholic beverages or chairs are permitted.

For more information about Sunset Concerts and to RSVP, please visit https://www.skirball.org/programs/sunset-concerts.

Parking will be available on-site at the Skirball for $10 with advance purchase or $20 upon arrival.
 

About the Artists: 

Thursday, August 5, 8:00 pm, Doors at 6:30 pm
QUETZAL 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plqlNu0sFA0

Grammy Award–winning Quetzal kicks off the 2021 Sunset Concerts series. Founded in East LA by Quetzal Flores in the wake of a particularly contentious time generated by events including the 1992 Los Angeles uprising, the 1994 Proposition 187 campaign (to deny medical and public services to undocumented immigrants and public education to undocumented children), and the Zapatista insurrection in Mexico, this relentlessly innovative ensemble vividly portrays how music, culture, and sociopolitical ideology come together in a specific place. NPR notes, “Quetzal is respected and admired as much for its commitment to social justice, activism and education — lead singer Martha Gonzalez has a Ph.D — as for its folk-infused music.” On their latest album Puentes Sonoros, released by Smithsonian Folkways, the band draws from cultural roots to craft echoes of the future. Quetzal’s live performances and recordings are renowned for their creative fusions of both traditional and contemporary genres, including son jarocho, Afro-Cuban music, R&B, and rock ‘n’ roll, supercharged by the dynamic vocals of lead singer and composer Martha Gonzalez.

For more information about Quetzal, please visit quetzaleastla.com.
 

Thursday, August 12, 8:00 pm, Doors at 6:30 pm
RUN RIVER NORTH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12Cv3bpj2a4   

Run River North is an indie-rock band formed by Korean American friends from the San Fernando Valley. The band creates a hypnotic combination of dreamy melodies and vocal harmonies with an alt-rock edge, and the members infuse their second-generation Korean American identities into their music. Since their founding in 2011, the band has performed internationally (including festival appearances in Japan and South Korea), toured the United States, released three full length albums, and performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live and Late Night with Seth Meyers. At the Skirball, Run River North will perform songs from their long-awaited third album, Creatures in Your Head, recorded during 2020’s safer-at-home mandates and released in February, 2021.

For more information about Run River North, please visit runrivernorth.com.
 

Thursday, August 19, 8:00 pm, Doors at 6:30 pm
THE DELIRIANS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv8f__C51Kw 

Founded in the East Los Angeles neighborhoods that produced Lalo Guerrero, Los Lobos and Quinto Sol, The Delirians are among the forerunners of a new generation of bands paying tribute to (and putting a modern spin on) the sounds of 1960s Jamaican ska and reggae. With elements of soul, jazz, mambo, and boleros as well as lyrics in both English and Spanish, The Delirians create an irresistible sound featuring rich vocal harmonies, warm brass tones, and feel-good rhythms that Billboard describes as both “infectious” and “solidly Californian.”  El Remedio (The Remedy), The Delirians’ third album, is a mix of sweet love songs, party anthems with a political message and instrumental dancefloor cookers. “We want to be able to spread our message of love, unity, and the power of music,” frontman Angel Salgado says. “[Reggae] makes people feel good, no matter what color of skin or language they speak.”

For more information about The Delirians, please visit thedelirians.com.
 

Thursday, August 26, 8:00 pm, Doors at 6:30 pm
Extra Ancestral
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvcFCLQvKWI                                        

Returning to the Skirball by popular demand, Extra Ancestral is set to deliver an uplifting performance to close out the 2021 Sunset Concerts. Founded by drummer, educator and composer Kahlil Cummings, who has performed with the likes of Pharrell Williams, Janelle Monáe, Kendrick Lamar, and Kamasi Washington, this inspiring group of artist pairs traditional African song and dance with a dazzling fusion of Afrobeat, jazz, reggae, salsa and many other musical forms of the African diaspora. Since 2017, Extra Ancestral has continued the tradition of healing through music and dance to elevate and empower communities of color. 

For more information about Extra Ancestral, please visit extraancestral.org.
 

Editors, please note: 

2021 SUNSET CONCERTS
Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049 
(310) 440-4500 • skirball.org

All concerts begin at 8:00 pm. Doors to the concert venue open at 6:30 pm.

FREE concert admission
Reservations required: https://www.skirball.org/programs/sunset-concerts

Parking: $20 upon arrival, $10 with advance purchase.
Street parking is strictly prohibited.
Or take Metro Rapid 734/234.

Grab-and-go light fare, full bar service, and specialty food items will be available. Guests may bring their own food. Note: No outside alcoholic beverages or chairs are permitted.
 

Sunset Concerts at the Skirball are generously sponsored by:

The Bilger Family

The 2021 Sunset Concerts season is made possible in part by additional support from: 

Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles
Los Angeles County Arts Commission
U.S. Bank

Media sponsor:

KCRW 89.9 FM

---

About Sunset Concerts at the Skirball

Marking its twenty-fourth season in 2021, the longstanding summer concert series kicked off just a year after the Skirball Cultural Center opened to the public in 1996. During that inaugural year, the institution drew nearly 300,000 visitors, far surpassing an initial expectation of 60,000. In winter/spring 1997, seeking to build upon this early success, the Skirball began to hold monthly dinnertime concerts inside its restaurant, Zeidler’s Café. The concerts were so well attended that the team immediately rethought the event space. The following summer, upon popular demand, the Skirball launched a free four-concert series on Thursday nights. These performances took place in the Skirball’s much more spacious central courtyard, offering a view of the hillside at dusk. The series was soon named Sunset Concerts at the Skirball. For several seasons in those early years, along with Grand Performances downtown and Santa Monica Pier’s Twilight Concerts, Sunset Concerts represented one of the city’s few free outdoor summer music series. Noteworthy Sunset Concerts performers over the years have included Lila Downs, Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars (US debut tour), Bassekou Kouyate, Yasmin Levy (US debut), Hugh Masekela, Vieux Farka Touré (LA debut), Natacha Atlas, Red Baraat, Conjunto Chappotín y Sus Estrellas (US debut tour), Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, Novalima, Daymé Arocena, Goapele, Kishi Bashi, The Marías, The Klezmatics, and Gaby Moreno. 

When the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Skirball produced Skirball Stages, its first series of live streamed performances. The celebratory concert films pair talents from the local music scene with national and international acts originally booked for the Skirball’s Sunset Concerts 2020 season. The concerts include performances by Yosmel Montejo, Vox Sambou, Joachim Cooder with special guest Ry Cooder, Amythyst Kiah, Las Cafeteras, Xenia França, Mames Babegenush, Dustbowl Revival, Aditya Prakash Ensemble, Rini, Gavin Turek, and Ak Dan Gwang Chil. To watch the six Skirball Stages concerts, please visit http://bit.ly/skirballstages.

---

About the Skirball

The Skirball Cultural Center is a place of meeting guided by the Jewish tradition of welcoming the stranger and inspired by the American democratic ideals of freedom and equality. We welcome people of all communities and generations to participate in cultural experiences that celebrate discovery and hope, foster human connections, and call upon us to help build a more just society.

Visiting the Skirball

The Skirball Cultural Center is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049. Advance reservations are required for all visitors at this time. See admission details and entry times for the exhibition Ai Weiwei: Trace and the family experience Noah's Outdoor Explorers—as well as up-to-date information about visiting the campus, ticketing guidelines, and safety protocols—at skirball.org.

As of June 22, 2021, all other galleries of the Skirball Museum, including Visions and Values and Noah’s Ark at the Skirball, remain closed.

The Skirball is also home to Zeidler’s Café, which serves innovative California cuisine in an elegant setting. Reservations are currently required to dine-in. The on-site Audrey’s Museum Store remains closed but will launch its online store in July 2021.