"Combining the sensual lyricism of Latin American nueva trova with the rhythmic punch of cumbia and the theatricality of cabaret, the April Fishes' sound is ecstatic and powerfully evocative." - LA TIMES

Rupa & the April Fishes, the celebrated border smashing, genre bending multicultural agitators, are heading to the road this April for the extensive April Fools Tour 2011 which includes shows in San Francisco, Paris, Athens, Zurich, Cologne, the Hague, and New York City. Over the winter, the band has developed a new body of music pulling from roots traditions and continued to hone their craft of cohesive storytelling through music in this world where cultures and ideas are in increasingly paradoxical and striking relationship to each other. The tour kicks off on April Fool's Day with a hometown show at The Independent supporting Voice of Roma (VoR), a non-profit helping give voice to the Roma people. The band has partnered with VoR to bring attention to the uncertain status of the Roma in Europe and beyond. On the road, Rupa & the April Fishes will share new material based on Rupa's recent expedition to Chiapas, Mexico, a center of indigenous resistance, where as part of an artist residency sponsored by EDELO (a local activist cultural space) she collaborated with artists and children to create songs in the Tzotzil language. Rupa and the band are committed to finding and hearing these cracks and fissures in dominant culture where, like vegetation reclaiming the concrete jungle, vital creativity meets and struggles with the most desperate of circumstance. To this end the group's next year will include a musical journey to the global south where the band will collaborate with street visual artists, filmmakers, activists, farmers, teachers, healers and storytellers. Rupa & the April Fishes are building a movement where sound both reflects and sparks the urgency of cultural oppression. With new members joining the band including the hot Latin trumpeter Mario Silva and composer/accordionist Rob Reich of Tin Hat Trio, Rupa & the April Fishes are ready to take the world by storm once again.