PERFORMANCES BY: Michele Rosewoman’s New Yor-Uba, Francisco Mora Catlett’s Afro Horn, and Roman Diaz’s Rumba Ensemble.
The Center for International Performance and Exhibition dba HotHouse presents a three-night cultural exchange between musicians in New York, California, and Cuba. The uniting theme and title for the series of programs is “Function at the Junction: Ancestral Bridge, Musical Streams”. “Una Función en el Cruce: Puente A Ancestral, Corrientes Musicales.”
The FREE (Eventbrite Tickets are suggested) series will air on: Friday, December 17, Saturday, December 18, and Sunday, December 19, 2021, at 7 PM CST via HotHouse’s online streaming platforms:
- Twitch. tv/hothouse global
- HotHouse Facebook Page
- HotHouse Website
- HotHouseGlobal YouTube Channel
This Spring, HotHouse worked with renowned pianist, composer Michele Rosewoman to compete for the prestigious SouthArts Jazz Road Creative Residency grant. The residency provided support for Rosewoman’s multi-faceted, multi-media, and collaborative project highlighting practitioners in the Afro-Cuban Spiritual and Folkloric traditions. The event, which featured Michele Rosewoman’s New Yor-Uba, Francisco Mora Catlett’s Afro Horn, and Román Díaz’s Rumba Ensemble was presented on November 11 at the Flamboyan Theater by Arts for Arts in New York City. The film of this event is the cornerstone of the series.
Additionally, The HotHouseGlobal program will include an encore concert anchored by Oakland-based vocalist Bobi Cespedes, Osain Del Monte, Los Munequitos de Matanzas, and Yoruba Andabo. Also, a roundtable conversation, produced by Habana/Harlem, between noted scholars and artists steeped in the African-based Santeria and Yoruban religious cultural expressions. Roundtable participants include Frank Bell, Ivor Miler, Michele Rosewoman, Francisco Mora Catlett, Román Díaz and Diosado, the Director of Los Munequitos de Matanzas. The program will be broadcast on Cuban national television with support from the Institute of Cuban Music.
BROADCAST
December 18, 8 PM EST – Debut Film Broadcast of Performances by Michele Rosewoman’s New Yor-Uba, Francisco Mora Catlett’s Afro Horn, and Román Díaz’s Rumba Ensemble.
Encore Performances December 17, 19, 8 PM EST – Bobi Cespedes, Yoruba Andabo, Los Muñequitos, Osain Del Monte, Interviews and Roundtable with Frank Bell, Ivor Miller, Michele Rosewoman, Francisco Mora, Román Díaz.
FEATURED ARTISTS AND PARTNERS
MICHELE ROSEWOMAN – A fearless bandleader & mentor, for 4 decades New York-based pianist/composer Michele Rosewoman has expanded the horizons of jazz while remaining firmly rooted in tradition. With highly acclaimed recordings as a leader on Blue Note, Enja, SoulNote, Toshiba-EMI, and her own Advance Dance Disques label, her long-standing Quintessence ensemble has consistently brought together cutting-edge voices while her New Yor-Uba ensemble presents an uncompromised synthesis of contemporary jazz and traditional Cuban folkloric music. She has performed with many jazz and Latin music greats have presented her various ensembles at major venues worldwide and is an active and dedicated educator. Her innovative projects have received great critical acclaim and numerous prestigious awards.
NEW YOR-UBA – An NEA performance grant facilitated the 1983 debut of “New Yor-Uba: A Musical Celebration of Cuba in America” featuring master folklorist Orlando ‘Puntilla’ Rios at NYC’s Public Theater. For 38 years, New Yor-Uba has been a forum for collaboration between masters from the worlds of contemporary jazz & Cuban folkloric music. The concept and sound remain uniquely vital as pianist and composer Rosewoman continues to enhance the ensemble’s repertoire with new music and personnel, further inspiring her to reflect upon and explore the organic links between these deep musical traditions. Of her New Yor-Uba ensemble, Ms. Rosewoman says “We pay homage to the journey of centuries-old Yoruba traditions from Nigeria through Cuba to present-day New York, reflecting its contemporary manifestations.”
MICHELE ROSEWOMAN’S NEW YOR-UBA – Michele Rosewoman– piano/vocals. Alex Norris–trumpet. Mike Thomas- alto & soprano saxophone, Isaiah Collier-tenor saxophone. Chris Washburne–trombone/bass trombone/tuba. Gregg August–bass. Robby Ameen–drums. Román Díaz –percussion/vocals. Rafael Monteagudo–percussion/vocals. Mauricio Herrera–percussion/vocals. Abraham Rodriguez–lead vocals.
FRANCISCO MORA CATLETT – AFRO HORN is an avant-garde ensemble that highlights the African presence in the Americas through an assemblage of prime musicians and a repertoire of written and improvised jazz expressions and Cuban folkloric influences. Mr. Mora has performed and recorded with Sun Ra, Max Roach, Detroit greats including Marcus Belgrave, Kent Cox, and Carl Craig and is co-founder of the Oyu Oro Afro-Cuban Experimental Dance Company (2000) with his wife Danys “La Mora” Perez Prades, performing dance and music from the African Diaspora.
FRANCISCO MORA CATLETT’S AFRO HORN: Francisco Mora Catlett–drums. Sam Newsome–soprano saxophone. Román Díaz –percussion. James Weidman–piano. Rashaan Carter–bass. Alex Harding–baritone saxophone.
ROMÁN DÍAZ is a scholar of religious and folkloric music, composer & performer of folklore, and contemporary jazz. Considered both a pillar of the New York City jazz avant-garde and one of Afro Cuban music’s great innovators, his Rumba Ensemble displays his vision of the confluence of New York City’s tradition of music of the African diaspora. He has performed and recorded with Merceditas Valdes, Raices Profundas, Paquito D’Rivera, Michele Rosewoman, Henry Threadgill, David Virelles, Jane Bunnett, Juan Carlos Formell, Orlando “Puntilla” Rios, Oriente Lopez, Afro Horn & Danilo Perez among many others.
ROMÁN DÍAZ ‘S RUMBA ENSEMBLE: Román Díaz -percussion/vocals, Clemente Medina-percussion, Rafael Monteagudo – percussion, Barry Cox – percussion/vocals, Abraham Rodriguez – lead vocals, Máximo Gustavo – vocals, Onel Mulet – saxophone, vocals.
GLADYS “BOBI” CÉSPEDES has been at the forefront of representing Cuban music in the Bay Area and internationally for over 40 years. Bobi’s music integrates Cuban folkloric and modern elements in an authentic and distinctive sound. Bobi claims her rightful place as an icon in the tradition of music-making and singing that nourished her as a child in Cuba. Her resonant voice and dynamic stage presence lead audiences on a journey from Yoruba incantations to the Cuban son. She can belt out a rumba or move you to tears through a heart-wrenching rendition of a classic bolero. Along the way she shares her narratives of family life and love, and the wisdom of Afro Cuban fables. Always present is her chambo—that vibrant Cuban soul–creative and resilient.
A vocalist in the Cuban son tradition, composer, bandleader, and educator, Bobi first won international recognition as a director and lead vocalist for the award-winning Bay Area band, Conjunto Céspedes. With Conjunto Céspedes, Bobi forged a unique sound that did not easily fit the salsa music category. As the dynamic star of the band, she led the local Latin music scene in the ’90s and toured internationally. She took a break from the Conjunto to record and tour with Mickey Hart but soon returned to her calling as bandleader, and singer/songwriter, establishing a band under her own name, which she has led for nearly 20 years.
BOBI CÉSPEDES – MUJER Y CANTANTE – filmed at FREIGHT & SALVAGE, BERKELEY, CA.June 2021 – 2020 by Montuno Productions
The concert featured a powerful cast of musicians in Bobi Céspedes band including Marco Díaz (Musical director, piano), Elizabeth “Lichi” Fuentes (Coro, maracas, güiro),José Roberto Hernández (Guitar),Ernesto Mazar Kindelán (Bass), Robert Morris Amaya (Trumpet), and Eric Rangel (Bongos, cowbell/campana – substituting for Julio Pérez)
OSAIN DEL MONTE – Panter” Calderón, the long-time director of the Yoruba Andabo group, is a veritable prodigy of Afro-Cuban percussion. In 2012, he created his own group, Osain del Monte, bringing together the emerging generation of the young singers, dancers, and percussionists of Havana. They took the main stages of Havana to promote music emanating from the most “Afro” sacred rituals in the Cuban tradition (santeria, pablo, abacua, iyesa, rumba, columbia), and within a few months, they became ambassadors of Afro-Cuban identity throughout the country. Spectators from around the world, including legends like Madonna and the Rolling Stones, crowded in to catch their incredible shows.
LOS MUÑEQUITOS DE MATANZAS is a Cuban rumba ensemble from the city of Matanzas. The group was established in 1952 as Conjunto Guaguancó Matancero and released their first LP in 1956 through Puchito. Since then, Los Muñequitos have continued to perform and record, becoming one of the most successful and critically acclaimed rumba groups of all time.
YORUBA ANDABO – Yoruba Andabo is a Cuban rumba ensemble founded in 1981 by master percussionist, folklorist Pancho Quinto. It evolved from an amateur group known as Guaguancó Marítimo Portuario, established in 1961 in the docks of Havana
FRANK BELL – Hailing from Havana, long-time NY-based Oriate and musician, Frank Bell, is steeped in the cultural history of the Lukumi tradition. Bell’s framing remarks illuminate the key influences for the featured artists in “A Function at the Junction”
IVOR MILLER – Ivor L. Miller, Ph.D., is a scholar focused on Cuban cultural history in the trans-Atlantic context. He has conducted research in Cuba since 1991, focusing on the continuity and impact of seminal Cuban artists, many of whom have left an indelible mark on the New York music scene. Here he shares his perspectives, inviting audience members to dive into the repertoire presented in “A Function at the Junction.”
ADDITIONAL COLLABORATORS
HABANA/HARLEM® (Neyda Martinez and Onel Mulet) is a music & humanities initiative that celebrates a cultural and creative nexus by supporting and presenting projects and artists that foster dialogue and cultural appreciation.
ONEL MULET Technical Director/Video Editor/Audio Edit and Mix for A Function At The Junction, AFA live presentation. As an audio engineer, Onel Mulet is on staff at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York with a focus on broadcast media production. Previously, he served as a professor of media for the nonprofit organization, Brooklyn Free Speech where he taught Spanish and English language courses in digital photography, stop motion animation, Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Audition, TV studio production, and audio, as well as having worked for BRIC TV as an audio engineer in the field and the television studio. He is also a composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist.
ADEBOYE ADEGBENRO created the banner for the festival
ARTS FOR ART
Arts for Art is dedicated to the exceptional creativity that originated in the African American multi-arts jazz culture that utilizes improvisation to express a larger, more positive dream of inclusion and freedom. They work to preserve the legacy of FreeJazz through multi-arts programming, supporting the legends, mid-career and young artists. They work to ensure a vital future for the improvised arts by offering music education and mentoring programs to those in need.
More details and updates will be found on our website at www.hothouse.net, Eventbrite Tickets
