Zili Misik, in 2023 (Celebrating 23 years!), is blessed to have survived Covid-19, with core membership, and, to continue performing with an incredible roster of amazingly talented musicians! We hope to see you soon!!
Zili Misik 2023
Founder, Band Leader, Kera M. Washington
Kera M. Washington, Zili Founder, multiple percussion, strings, vocals, — photo credit: Bethany Owens
Kera Washington
Zili Founder and Band Leader, Kera M. Washington has been performing and teaching music, using Boston as her base, for over twenty years. Her first love is percussion, which she found while studying ethnomusicology at Wellesley College, Wesleyan University, Brown University, and in Interdisciplinary Studies at Tufts. She studies with master musicians from Haiti, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Brazil, and the United States, and has traveled to Haiti, Brazil, Cuba, Sierra Leone, Palestine, Cape Verde, Vietnam, and Greece to advance her studies. She is on faculty in the Music Department of Wellesley College, and, there, is Artistic Director of Yanvalou Drum & Dance Ensemble. She has taught in Boston-area colleges and universities, including MIT and Northeastern University. She is also full-time Music Teacher at the Mather School in Dorchester, was elementary school music teacher at the Emerson School in Roxbury, at St. Peter School in Cambridge, and has presented numerous workshops and music residencies in Boston and surrounding area Public Schools through Arts in Progress and as a freelance artist. She was semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Hand Drumming Competition, and performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, DC, Sept 2001. In addition to Zili Misik’s releases, CrossRoads (2012), Zee’lee Mee’seek (2009), New World Soul (2007), her work is featured on “Zili Roots” self-titled 2002 release; Lance Martin’s, forthcoming album; Rumbarocco’s Latinas in Fusion (2018); “America’s Music: Songs from American History,” produced by McDougal/Littel in May 2000; “Free to Dream,” Patrice Williamson’s 2002 release; her own From the Harbor, Freedom Sings: Boston Harbor[RE]CREATION Artist Residency Program (2018), and a self-produced CD, african roots, released by mama maembe, September 2001. She is also featured on Houghton/Mifflin’s “The Best American Short Stories” 2001 release. Throughout her residence in Boston she has performed and toured internationally with Zili; with Tjovi Ginen, featuring Haitian mizik rasin (roots music); with Mystic Jammers, reggae; with Sistahs of the Yam, all female R&B covers; with Patrice Williamson, jazz; and with In The House, 60s-90s Motown, R&B, & Funk. She founded “zili roots,” performing roots music of the African diaspora, in 2000, which became “Zili Misik” in 2005. www.kerawashington.com www.projectmisik.com
Core Members
Becky Bass, steel pan & vocals — photo credit: Huong Nguyen
Becky Bass
Becky Bass, who hails from the beautiful island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, is a locally renowned vocalist, steel pannist & actor, based in Providence, Rhode Island, and has been a member of Zili Misik for two years! As a 2013 graduate of Brown University in Theatre Arts & Performance Studies, Becky received Brown’s Weston Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre. While at Brown, she toured with the AntiGravity Theatre Project, and performed at the infamous LaMaMa Experimental Theatre Club. Upon graduation, she has continued her passion for the arts by performing in many musicals and productions, regionally. Favorite Credits: A Night with Lady Day as Billie Holiday (Norwich Arts Center, CT); Hairspray as Motormouth Maybelle (Silver Center for the Arts, NH); The Van Meder Trust (Connelly Theatre, NY); RENT (J.H. Back Bay Events Center, Boston); Aida (Strand Theatre, Boston); Ophelia’s Cotillion (Rites & Reason Theatre, RI).
A two-time New England Urban Music Award winner, Becky’s beautiful, angelic voice and skillful steel pan playing can be heard in her solo project of Caribbean Soul music, as well as with several New England based bands, such as Natural Element and Sidy Maiga & Afrimanding. She also lends her musical talents to Rhode Island’s own RPM Voices, a cross-cultural, multi-generational gospel choir led by Dr. Clarice Thompson. Becky has traveled nationally to perform music, in the past two years, to Chicago, Pennsylvania, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. as well as to Florida’s Treasure Coast. Becky appears as a guest steel pannist on numerous recordings, and debuted her first solo album, My Love Is Real, as lead vocalist in 2013. She is currently working on her second album comprised of all originals, set to be released next year.
During her free time, Becky teaches music & theatre to students every chance she gets because she believes giving back and mentoring youth are extremely important aspects of being an artist in the community. She is currently the Youth Choir Director for RPM Voices in RI. She extends a huge thank you to Kera Washington and to her friends and family for their continued love and support! www.beckybass.com
Ririka Tokoshige, sax, flute — photo credit: Huong Nguyen
Ririka Tokushige
Ririka Tokushige has been in the music scenes of greater Boston area for the last 20 years. She plays sax, clarinet and flute, and has been actively performing these instruments in many different styles of music.
Performance venues include Mechanics Hall, Top of the Hub, Acton Jazz Cafe, the Museum of Fine Arts, DeCordova Museum, Harvard and Brandeis Universities. She also teaches woodwind instruments and piano.
Heron Russell, percussion — photo credit: C. Aileen Ditunno
Heron Russell
Heron as been playing music since she was six years old, but she did not find passion for music until she began playing percussion while at Wellesley College. Having grown up in Richmond, Vermont, Heron now calls Boston home. Heron teaches music (and sometimes math) in two schools in Boston.
Ivanna Cuesta Gonzalez, drums — photo credit: Huong Nguyen
Ivanna Cuesta Gonzalez
Drummer, Composer and Arranger born in the Dominican Republic, October 26 of 1991. Ivanna began her studies in Music at the age of 12, and learned classical percussion while she was in high school. In 2009 she entered the National Conservatory of Music, with Drums also being her instrument, with Professor Rafael Diaz, and also taking classes in composition with professors Javier Vargas, and Antonio Brito.
Ivanna has had the opportunity to play and be part of different groups in DR such as Carijazz, Gustavo Rodriguez Trio, Javier Vargas, and Atre, The Great Band of the Conservatory of Music directed by Javier Vargas, Ejazzon, etc. Also in important events in DR such as Dominican Jazz Festival in Cabarete (2014 and 2015), Musical High School Music On Stage (2009) Soberano Awards 2015 (Big Band and Urban performances), Santo Domingo Jazz Festival Casa de Teatro (2014), Stella Artois Fest (2015), in addition to recording with personalities like Gustavo Rodriguez. Ivanna received a scholarship from the Berklee Five-Year Summer Program at Berklee On The Road 2015, and in the same year she won a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music where she is currently pursuing a dual major in Performance and Contemporary Writing and Production.
Ivanna has had the opportunity to play in different events in Berklee (Women in Jazz, Black Gold Edition, Harry Potter BPC, Divas Latinas, Women Musician’s Network) and groups in Berklee with presentations by artists such as Leo Blanco (Regatta Bar), and Nando Michelin quartet. Also, she studied with Neal Smith, Henrique de Almeida, and others. Ivanna this year represented the percussion department (Berklee) in the Jazz workshop in the conservatory of Amsterdam taking classes with the amazing drummer John Riley; also she is playing with groups like Zili Misik and Maqueque (three times nominated for the grammy).
Lexi Havlin, guitar — photo credit: Huong Nguyen
Lexi Havlin
Guitarist Lexi Havlin was born in Pueblo CO, grew up in Gardner, MA, and has since landed in Boston. She has been playing music her whole life starting with the piano and clarinet. She graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2005 for Guitar Perfrmance. For more info on Lexi, check out lexihavlin.com.
Zili Sometimes Includes…
Soohee Moon
Soohee was born and raised in CheJu, South Korea. She was studying music and playing piano at an early age and went on to earn a degree in music composition from Ewha Woman’s University, South Korea. Upon graduation, Soohee began working editing music arrangements at a music publishing company, but her strong interest in Jazz and improvisational music led her to major in piano performance at Berklee College of Music. Soohee is currently performing music covering a wide variety of interests and styles. In addition to performing with Zili, Soohee provides private piano instruction and is the piano accompanist for the Boston-based women’s chorus “Voices Rising”.
Ksenia Vasileva
Ksenia Vasileva is a professional bass player from Saint Petersburg, Russia. After years of touring Europe and Russia with numbers of bands, she moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of music to learn Electronic production and sound design.
Sharon Renold
21 year-old bassist, singer and producer, Sharon Renold, hailing from Switzerland, already has credits on 6 albums and performances with Jazz greats such as Randy Brecker, Mike Mainieri and Billy Cobham, to name a few. Sharon, a graduate of Berklee College of Music (‘18), will soon release a duo album with Tom Bar (HAGO, Bar Morach) in the electric Jazz style and a debut album in her own name of her original music.
Kana Dehara McCoy
Kana was born in Osaka Japan. She studies classical music under Noriko Ikariyama and Shuji Tanaka. After she graduated from KC college as classical performance major, received a substantial scholarship from Berklee College of Music and she was able to begin her studies in the Jazz field.
Since graduating from Berklee College of Music, Kana’s professional career has been defined by performing and composing in musical styles such as Jazz, Classical,Funk, R&B, Reggae and World music. Her musical experience consists of countless live concerts and recording sessions in venues and recording studios across the country. She has shared the stage with many great musicians such as George Garzone, Thomas Fallon, Hal Crook, Alain Mallet, Tiger Okoshi and Greg Hopkins. In June of 2008 she performed her original music at Carnegie Hall, in New York City; the concert was well received and had positive reviews.
She released her leader album “ Burning steps” from Disc Union in 2016, performed many concerts with Takuya Kuroda, Keita Ogawa, Zac Zinger. “Burning steps” is available on iTunes and other streaming service.
Currently Kana Dehara continues to perform in the United States and Japan and teaching at North Eastern University in Boston MA.