all dayLeisureThe 21st Annual Watts Towers Day...

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Leisure

The 21st Annual Watts Towers Day of the Drum Festival will be a daylong celebration of percussion and its role in world cultures past and present. Drums from around the world will be represented including Japanese, African, Korean and Native American. The Pete Escovedo Latin Jazz Orchestra will perform along with the Cuauhtemoc Azteca Dance troupe, the Derf Reklaw Drum Ensemble, the Korean Classical Music and Dance Company and others.

Watts Towers Day of the Drum Festival, Simon Rodia/Watts Towers Art Center, 1727 E. 107th St., L.A. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Free. (213) 847-4646.

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4pm

Music

On the magnificent 14-acre site of the fabled Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple in Hacienda Heights, two choral bodies, the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Monastic Choir and the Angel City Chorale meet to sing their music on the same program. An appropriate melding of cultures on the penultimate day of the World Festival of Sacred Music.

Angel City Chorale and Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Monastic Choir, Hsi Lai Temple, 3456 S. Glenmark Drive, Hacienda Heights,

4 p.m. Free. Reservations suggested: (626) 961-9697.

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8pm

Dance

The shimmering energy and glowing detail of traditional Balinese music and dance is the birthright of the 30 Cudamani dancers and musicians coming to the World Festival of Sacred Music with a program never before seen outside their island homeland. Under the direction of I Dewa Putu Berata, their gamelan style is as comfortable in the contemporary as it is in the most antique classical repertory. On this first U.S. visit, they are reviving a rarely seen form of Legong dancing, one that includes potent symbols of good and evil: elaborate masks of the Barong (a kind of beneficent red lion) and Rangda (an all-powerful female demon). These two figures remain in eternal combat, and as a result, existence remains a balancing act as intense and subtle as Balinese dancing itself.

Cudamani, Wilshire Ebell Theater, 4401 W. 8th St., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. $15 to $25. (323) 655-8587.

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8pm

Theater

“Direct From Death Row: The Scottsboro Boys,” a drama by Mark Stein based on the decades-long legal battle for justice for nine black teenagers accused of raping two white girls, is presented “vaudeville style” by an African American ensemble playing multiple black and white characters.

“Direct From Death Row: The Scottsboro Boys,” Fountain Theater, 5060 Fountain Ave., Hollywood, Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m.

Ends Nov. 10. $25.

(323) 663-1525.

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9pm

Pop Music

Techno fans get a chance to hear it from one of the genre’s founding fathers when DJ Juan Atkins drops in at the Echo on Saturday. Atkins is one of the Detroit producers who, in the early ‘80s, laid the foundation for techno by adding a heavy dance beat to the electronic music that had sprung up in the ‘70s with the likes of Kraftwerk.

Juan Atkins, the Echo, 1822 Sunset Blvd., L.A., With Aaron Michelson, DJ Santo. 9 p.m. $15 advance, $20 at the door.

(213) 413-8200.

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all day

Music

Bowlful of Blues is an institution celebrating the American folk art music form in all its permutations, from the traditional to contemporary. Highlights of this year’s 20th annual festival: Louisiana-bred guitarist Kenny Neal, R&B; sax legend Big Jay McNeely, Lil’ Brian & the Zydeco Travelers, country blues duo Tom Ball & Kenny Sultan, plus special guest guitarists Jackie Lomax and Jimmy Calire. Also featured are a retrospective of the event’s history, arts ‘n’ crafts, food and children’s activities.

Bowlful of Blues, Lake Casitas, Santa Ana Road, near Ojai, 2 to 10 p.m. Advance, $23; at the gate, $25. Students, 13-19, and senior citizens, 65 and older, $12.50. Children 12 and younger, free. (805) 646-7230. www.bowlfulofblues.com.