Jazz With a Venezuelan Accent

15 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by in Latin Jazz, On Music

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For decades, Latin Jazz was a shorthand for what was, in essence, Afro-Cuban Jazz. But there is more to Latin Jazz than that.
For some time now, musicians throughout Ibero-America have been utilizing jazz to explore and reinterpret their own musical traditions,from flamenco and tamborito to candombe and porro, and in recent years, they have started to be heard. Pianist, composer and bandleader Arturo O’Farrill has been a North American champion of this broader view of Latin jazz. In his own writing and playing, O’Farrill has explored African-rooted music genres of the Americas such as Peruvian festejo, Colombian cumbia, Brazilian choros and Argentine tango.

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Alicia Alonso’s “Giselle” plays the United States

14 Wednesday Oct 2015

Posted by in In Other Words

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Cuban dancer José Manuel Carreño, artistic director of the Silicon Valley Ballet, has spoken of his dream of taking the company to Cuba. For now, he is bringing Cuba to San José.

On Oct. 16-18, the Silicon Valley Ballet will be performing the classic “Giselle” as choreographed by iconic Cuban dancer and choreographer Alicia Alonso. It is the first time that what is widely considered Alonso’s masterpiece will be performed in the United States.

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Daniel Arsham and the future that was, now and then

14 Wednesday Oct 2015

Posted by in In Other Words

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The first floor gallery at the headquarters of the National YoungArts Foundation in Miami suggested an archeological site Thursday. There were mounds of seemingly freshly unearthed artifacts, ghostly white chalk replicas of objects that, not that long ago, were the symbols of modernity: Walkmans, Polaroid cameras, BlackBerrys, boom boxes, the bodies of Fender Stratocaster guitars and video cameras. This was the future then. Now visitors use pieces of that past-turned-chalk to write on the black walls about the next future. It’s now there, in words and drawings, some already blurred, some already covered by other writing.

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