Elio Villafranca with Special Guest Jon Faddis
February 20, 9:30pm
February 21, 2015, 7:00pm
Jazz at Lincoln Center
The Appel Room
Broadway at 60th St., 5th floor
Manhattan
“Cinqué – Music of the Caribbean”: “This is my largest musical work to date,” exclaims the Cuban composer and piano virtuoso. “I have been integrating the roots of the Cuban Congolese tradition that I grew up with as a child into my music, with my training in classical music and also with my inspiration and interest in the entire Caribbean Diaspora. Since I come from a Congolese area (the Tambor Yuka community of Cuba), I wanted to explore all of those traditions in a much broader way.
Villafranca’s world premiere of Cinqué – Music of the Caribbean, is inspired by the African slave Cinqué, who led the rebellion aboard the ship Amistad in 1839 on his voyage to Cuba. “I chose five islands with five stories: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Jamaica and Santa Domingo. This suite reflects the entire range of my upbringing as a musician in the Caribbean and in Cuba,” says Villafranca.
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