RootStock Arts Creates a Hub for Indian Music and Jazz in Oakland
Sameer Gupta has his hands full with RootStock Arts, his new North Oakland cultural center that began hosting music events in May. But that doesn’t mean he’s content to only focus on his own backyard.
The Fremont-raised jazz drummer has a long track record of building grassroots cultural networks, most importantly Brooklyn Raga Massive, a collective that turbo-charged New York City’s classical South Asian music scene over the past two decades. It was through BRM that he started collaborating with the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, producing a series of ambitious events in San Francisco, including 2018’s huge, raga-inflected rendition of Terry Riley’s “In C” with Classical Revolution and 2022’s Alice Coltrane tribute with legendary jazz bassist Reggie Workman.
Since moving to Oakland two years ago, Gupta has trained the same indefatigable energy and scene-building spirit on the Bay Area, bringing classical Indian music to intimate settings outside of South Asian communities. Before opening RootStock Arts on Telegraph Avenue and 58th Street, he started producing monthly shows at Medicine For Nightmares in San Francisco’s Mission District and weekly recitals at Wyldflowr Arts in West Oakland. And he’s still collaborating with Yerba Buena Gardens Festival: On Aug. 2, RootStock Arts will co-present Color Your Mind, a free, day-long event in San Francisco’s SoMa that will feature visual art, textiles, crafts and three sets by a disparate roster of South Asian musicians.
The program includes Carnatic violinist and vocalist Sruti Sarathy, who has infused her South Indian repertoire with North Indian raga. Multi-instrumentalist Siddique Ahmed, a founding member of Afghanistan’s first rock band, Kabul Dreams, presents a set of original material on the lute-like rubab, the national instrument of Afghanistan. And Suhail Yusuf Khan, the scion of a musical dynasty, performs on vocals and sarangi, a bowed three-string instrument.
Surveying the landscape that he’s in the midst of refashioning, Gupta sounds pleased with the view. “Wyldflowr is growing fantastically,” he said. “We’re responsible for about half of their programming. The partnership with Yerba Buena Gardens Festival is great and we got funding from the Zellerbach Foundation for Color Your Mind. The Jazzschool [in Berkeley] continues to show us so much love. The fact that RootStock Arts is spreading out and undefined gives it depth.”
The Jazzschool connection speaks to a larger generational shift that’s taking place in the Bay Area, as a cohort of independent artists in their 40s and 50s take over arts institutions or found new ones. On Aug. 5, Gupta holds forth in Berkeley at the Freight as part of the Brown Bag Jazz Hangs series, created by recently appointed Jazzschool director Lisa Mezzacappa. It’s an informal program that gives artists a chance to discuss topics they’re passionate about. Gupta will be talking about the intersection of jazz and raga.
“We’re about the same age and we’ve both decided to take on administrative jobs running these big community-building projects,” said Mezzacappa, a bassist, composer and bandleader who has infused the Jazzschool with the same more-is-more sensibility that has made her a major creative force powering the Bay Area’s improvised music scene. “I feel so much kinship with Sameer. He’s a force of nature, and we’re so lucky he decided to move back to the Bay Area.”
Gupta has been looking to provide resources and services to artists since he got back. RootStock Arts occupies a long-shuttered real estate office on Telegraph that he and a team of collaborators have built into a multi-use facility. His concept is to work with artists to provide essential infrastructure, whether that means using the building for concerts, classes, instrument repair, office space or rehearsals. He’s designing it as a membership organization and will be announcing rates at Color Your Mind.
“If I was trying to rent out each room that would be an easier and much more lucrative model, instead of a co-working space,” Gupta said. “We’re putting in for a lot of grants. I’ve started getting a team in place and moving it in a cooperative direction, and I’m very open to how it evolves.”
The building has already changed the neighborhood vibe. What was previously a nondescript office space unworthy of a second glance is now festooned with murals by Yasushi Matsui, who’ll be doing live mural work during Color Your Mind. In many ways, the RootStock Arts building is the culmination of an ambition that took root during Gupta’s formative work with Brooklyn Raga Massive.
Carnatic violinist Arun Ramamurthy, who co-founded BRM with Gupta, played one of the early concerts at RootStock Arts while he was in town performing in the hit Berkeley Rep production The Lunchbox. Much of the production’s cast turned out to RootStock Arts on a Monday night to see Ramamurthy’s Natural Elements duo with his wife, violinist Trina Basu. The exquisite performance served as a full-circle benediction.
While BMR forged extended relationships with various venues, “the reality is partnerships like that can only last so long,” Ramamurthy said. “Things may end. The venue goes under. There are so many challenges. Having a space is something that Sameer was always hoping for, and he’s really put his heart and soul into it, transforming a real estate office into a sanctuary for musical experiment and community.”
Color Your Mind Festival, co-presented by RootStock Arts, takes place at the Yerba Buena Gardens (760 Howard Street, San Francisco) on Aug. 2. RootStock Arts’ full event calendar can be found here.