Determined to stoke the musical fires of everyone, regardless of age, lifestyle, race or income, Musical Charis—charis is Greek for gift—is a Puck-ish band of minstrels in love with the road and the collective creative spirit. It prides itself on being able to musically connect with everyone; to “play any room and any audience” from small acoustic sets to house rocking dance parties.
Hailing from both Sacramento and Orlando, the band is a cabaret-style, get-in-where-you-fit-in, multi-instrumentalist wonder-band with a mission to bring joy, creativity and music to all the land. Initially a male/female 4-piece, the band has grown into a 7-piece conglomerate that always has room to squeeze just one more instrument or guest musician on stage.
The band has its musical finger on the indie, pop, folk and rock world, but their family-style, everyone-is-in-the-band approach leaves plenty of room for spontaneity and improvisation. The band members all play numerous instruments, their songwriting is catchy and uplifting, their harmonies are tight and well-developed and their overarching theme is one of collaboration, chemistry and creative freedom.
Their commitment to celebrating the muse has even led the band to create the Musical Charis Music School in Sacramento, where local kids can take affordable or free (scholarships are available) guitar, bass, piano or vocal lessons from one of the band members.
In the spirit of musical inclusion, Musical Charis plays plenty of free shows, and their tours generally include a stop in San Jose. So if light-hearted, feel-good pop-folk music made by a rotating cast of stage-show revival-looking youngsters is your thing, check these guys out. They won’t disappoint.
Musical Charis plays a free in-store concert at Streetlight Records in San Jose on March 4 and a show later that night at Britannia Arms in Cupertino.
Review: ‘Swan Lake’ 
Bobcat Goldthwait 
