It officially began about four years ago in the San Francisco area.

But it can actually be traced back ten or more years, and the route it took would lead you to State College. New Monsoon, which grounds its music in acoustic and electric guitar and world percussion, is a seven-piece band with a four-way Penn State connection, building a fan base in the Bay Area.

"You just have a really good time with the music, which is so good," said JungEn Choi, who met the band members through the State College music scene and has been to some New Monsoon shows. "Not only the hypnotic jazzy jams and rhythms, but it really just moves you to dance."

The story of New Monsoon and of how its members found their way to San Francisco, is a little complicated. Jeff Miller (electric guitar), Bo Carper (acoustic guitar, dobro, and banjo), Heath Carlisle (bass and lead vocals) and Phil Ferlino (keyboard and vocals) -- all former Penn State students -- originally connected on the State College music scene in the early '90s.

Ferlino, who had played with the Earthtones, eventually hooked up with Carper in All Shapes Ensemble. After that, Ferlino was in another band with Miller called Mosaic.

And before Mosaic, Miller had played in another band with Carlisle, providing the final link in the chain that brought these musicians together.

"I think there's always an opportunity to hone your craft, and to meet and play with other musicians," Ferlino said of the State College music scene. "There's always the possibility of getting something going that goes somewhere."

And New Monsoon is a perfect example, as the initial connection that was made survived some post-college time apart. Carper was the first to relocate to San Francisco, and Miller eventually joined him after a five-year stay in Boston. Next Carlisle made the jump to the West Coast, and Ferlino finally followed last July.

"It just always felt like a good mix between us," he said. "I had come out here to visit two years ago and sat in with them and had a great time. We had really good chemistry, as always." That chemistry has been captured on one album, Hydrophonic (2001), and in a series of mini-tours around the Bay Area and up and down the West Coast. The band also has some summer festivals pending. In addition, New Monsoon's second album should be out this summer. It's all part of a process that Ferlino feels will eventually allow the members of New Monsoon to quit their day jobs and "jump" into music fulltime.

"It's tricky to get the timing right, because basically you have to create the market and the audience for what you're doing," he said. "It's almost like jumping off a cliff together. We join hands and jump."