For immediate release: January 25, 2017
CONTACT:
Rebecca Bailey, Publicity Coordinator/Writer
Hopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth College
603.646.3991
Danceable music—and room to dance, February 18
Photo:Hafiz Shabazz (left) leads the World Music Percussion Ensemble, by Rob Strong.
HANOVER, NH—Get ready to move to music from warmer places at “Dance Party!,” a performance by the World Music Percussion Ensemble and guest artists Viva Quetzal and DJ Rosa Smith, on Saturday, February 18, 7 pm, in the Hop’s Alumni Hall.
Held in a venue with plenty of room to dance, the show will start with a short set of high-energy pop and R&B recordings spun by Baltimore, MD-based DJ Rosa Smith. She will be followed by Viva Quetzal,a high-energy, multi-cultural musical group of North and South Americanswho performa mix of traditional, folkloric and pop themes on a fascinating array of ancient and modern instruments.
Viva Quetzal emphasizes the contributions of the four major cultural influences that have shaped modern Latin American music: the indigenous, the West African, the Iberian and the United States.Based in Western Massachusetts, the group consists of Roberto Clavijo on pan pipes, charango(a ukulele-sized Andean lute), congas and vocals; Abe (Oscar) Sanchez on piano and vocals; Jon Weeks on flutes, saxes and percussion; Joe Belmont on acoustic and electric guitars; Rudi Weeks on upright and electric bass; Eliezer Martinez on drums; and on congas and vocals, William Rodriquez, one of the professional instrumentalists who accompany the World Music Percussion Ensemble.
Following Viva Quetzal, the World Music Percussion Ensemble plays music from Prince, the Miami Sound Machine, New Orleans and West Africa, with Dartmouth senior Tyné Freeman—who also sings with the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble—on lead vocals on one selection.
Led by ethnomusicologist/drummer Hafiz Shabazz, the ensemble is a full band with drums at its center and a repertoire ranging from ancient African to Brazilian and Latin American rhythms. The seven student and community percussionists will be accompanied by Viva Quetzal as well as Rafael Flores, guitar and tres (a three-stringed Cuban guitar); Gregory Palmer, trumpet; and Ron Smith, saxophone.
Download Word.doc press release and high-resolution photos
CALENDAR LISTING
“Dance Party!” by the World Music Percussion Ensemble, Viva Quetzal and DJ Rosa Smith
Get ready to move to pulsating polyrhythms from Venezuela, Peru, Cuba and Brazil, with interludes of DJ-spun dance tunes. Guest ensemble Viva Quetzal performs a mix of traditional, folkloric and pop themes on a fascinating array of ancient and modern instruments.
Saturday, February 18, 8 pm
Alumni Hall, Hopkins Center, Hanover NH
$10, $5 for Dartmouth students
Information: hop.dartmouth.edu or 603.646.2422
* * *
Founded in 1962, the Hopkins Center for the Arts is a multi-disciplinary academic, visual and performing arts center dedicated to uncovering insights, igniting passions, and nurturing talents to help Dartmouth and the surrounding Upper Valley community engage imaginatively and contribute creatively to our world. Each year the Hop presents more than 300 live events and films by visiting artists as well as Dartmouth students and the Dartmouth community, and reaches more than 22,000 Upper Valley residents and students with outreach and arts education programs. After a celebratory 50th-anniversary season in 2012-13, the Hop enters its second half-century with renewed passion for mentoring young artists, supporting the development of new work, and providing a laboratory for participation and experimentation in the arts.