Events . Afro Yaqui Music Collective: Send Off Celebration

Afro Yaqui Music Collective: Send Off Celebration

Multi-lingual jazz funk
Concert
Thunderbird 4053 Butler Street Pittsburgh
21+ $12 / $15

Afro Yaqui Music Collective: Send Off Celebration
with Hugo Cruz & Caminos, Latin Sway

Saturday, July 30, 2022

Thunderbird Music Hall
4053 Butler Street, Pittsburgh, PA

Doors @ 7pm
Show @ 8pm

Age Restriction: 21+ or Accompanied by Legal Guardian

www.afroyaquimusiccollective.com

The ASCAP award-winning Afro Yaqui Music Collective is a multilingual jazz band. Since 2016, they have been creating music ranging from soothing, introspective, cello-infused tango; to grooving, hard-hitting, virtuosic jazz-funk. Influenced by front-woman Gizelxanath Rodriguez’s experience growing up in two cultures (Mexican and American) and her ancestry as an Indigenous Yaqui woman, Afro Yaqui creates music in which culture and language fuse with catchy melodies and mind-bending harmony to enhance appreciation for diversity in an increasingly multicultural world. Some of their core members include Hugo Cruz (one of Havana’s leading drummers and percussionists) Jin Yang (a pipa player who has toured with Yo-Yo Ma and countless others) and Ben Barson (Fred Ho’s protege and winner ASCAP’s top award in jazz composers under 30, the Johnny Mandel prize.)
Afro Yaqui Music Collective came together in response to the rapidly changing political climate, in which working immigrant communities have become under attack, and climate change has threatened peoples across the world. As part of the band’s mission, their work develops dialogue with activists across the world. They have performed and worked with social movement leaders in Iraqi Kurdistan, Mayan and Yaqui communities in Mexico, and Tanzania. They have also performed at ASCAP’s 2018 jazz awards, at the Kennedy Center, and universities across the country. They constantly perform at fundraisers for immigrant rights and have also performed at the US-Mexican border in protest of human rights abuses in 2017.

www.instagram.com/hugocruzandcaminos
Hugo Alexander Cruz Machado is a Cuban-born, award winning, internationally renowned drummer and composer who has performed in South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Mexico, Venezuela, and the United States. He is the leader of the group Caminos, who have made appearances at the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival 2019, Fábrica de Artes in Havana, Cuba, Highmark First Night Pittsburgh 2020, Pittonkatonk Festival, City of Asylum, The Frick Museum, Musicalidades, Market Square, and Con Alma.

Latin Sway:
Latin Sway is a multigenerational band of Pittsburgh-based singers and musicians committed to performing classic and underground repertoire from Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Puerto Rico, and other countries in Latin America. The band is a reflection of Gizelxanath Rogriguez's deep love for the culture of "nuestra America" and includes legendary artists like Maria "Geña" Eugenia Nieves Escoariaza, Chris Fazio, Emmanuel Berrido, and many others.

Tickets go on sale 6/17: https://bit.ly/afroyaqui

Please come celebrate with us as Ben and Gizel prepare to move to Mexico for the following year as Ben will be a Fulbright recipient.

Related Entities: Thunderbird
Tags: Funk Jazz