Latinx Artists to Shine on the Stage at Joe's Pub
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Feb. 18, 2020
This spring and summer artists at Joe's Pub - a program and venue of The Public Theater - will shine a light on the breath of Latinx art. This group of artists explore music styles with roots in Mexico, Chile, Cuba, the afrolatino traditions of the Caribbean, and more. Seasoned ears will be able to discern the influence of a myriad of traditions while newbies will be granted delightful access to the nuances under the Latinx umbrella at Joe's Pub.
Take a look at the schedule below!
MICHA MÚSICA IN TRANSIT
Friday, February 28 at 7:00PM
$15
This year, MICHA has been playing her nylon-string guitar that her abuelo gave to her father, inhaling new rhythms, learning favorite boleros and rancheras, and writing new tunes. In this intimate concert, she is mining deep into Latin American rhythms, memory and language. Joining her are Miriam Elhajli (guitar, vocals) and Reza Salazar (percussion).
MICHA is the project of vocalist, songwriter, musical theater composer and actor Michelle J. Rodriguez. With a voice that is "clear and compelling" and a sound that features "flourishes of bolero, bossa nova and even jazz" (Chicago Tribune), MICHA has captivated audiences at Joe's Pub (NYC), the Hideout (Chicago), and Steppenwolf (Chicago) with her stunning vulnerability onstage. MICHA was a finalist for NPR's 2018 Tiny Desk Contest with her song "Nena Nena Nena," praised for a "bilingual set spanning laid-back southern soul and Latin pop flare" (NPR).
¡JEFAS!: A CELEBRATION OF LATINA SONGWRITERS & WOMEN IN MUSIC
Saturday, March 7 at 9:30PM
$15
Jefa. je·fa Feminine - Noun - Singular. Plural: jefas. Spanish term: woman in charge, boss, headwoman
In celebration of International Women's Day and Women's Month, join us for an evening of tropical and empowering music by these trailblazing Latina songwriters who are making waves in the Latin alternative scene with a fresh sound to their Latin American roots. Discover new sounds with essences from Mexico to Panama to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Led by Jessica Medina with Renee Goust, and Mai Elka plus surprise guests. Hear their hits "Cumbia Feminazi," "Alborotá," "Cuidao," and "Libre" empowering women through song.
ROBERTO FONESCA
Saturday, March 14 at 7:00PM
$25
Pianist, composer, and Artistic Director for Cuba's Jazz Plaza Santiago Festival, Roberto Fonseca has toured the world's most prestigious venues with Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club® and the legendary Omara Portuondo. An artist of prowess and ideas, a musician with a questing jazz sensibility and deep roots in the Afro Cuban tradition, the Havana-born pianist releases his ninth solo album, Yesun, in Fall 2019 on Mack Avenue Records. Combining everything from jazz and classical music to rap, funk, reggaeton and electronica, Fonseca is ripping up the rule book. He celebrates the rich musical traditions of the island's past, with a vision of where Cuban music is headed in the future, entwining folkloric and modern sounds.
"Yesun is the album I've always wanted to make," says Fonseca, "It presents a Cuba without borders. I'm building bridges between my Afro Cuban traditions and other styles of music I've absorbed over many years of touring this world. I'm taking Cuban music forward, always forward, without ever forgetting my roots."
There's a new generation of artists reinvigorating the Cuban music scene and Fonseca is at the forefront, leading this cultural renaissance.
NELLA
Sunday, March 15 at 7:00PM
$20
A 2019 Latin Grammy Winner as Best New Artist and Berklee College of Music graduate, where she shone as a soloist in her own right, Nella's music is a meeting place for her country's folklore roots, the influence of her contemporaries, and the music of the Andalusian region. Above all, she is a handful of songs that she sings with her bare soul.
More recently, Nella was asked to join the stellar cast of Oscar Award winner Asghar Farhadi's new movie Todos lo saben which includes Javier Bardem, Ricardo Darín, and Penélople Cruz. In the movie, she sings songs written by Limón exclusively for the screenplay. It opened the Cannes Festival in May.
During her 2018 tour, Nella presented a repertoire that included the songs featured in Farhadi's movie, a brand new repertoire written by Limón, as well as Venezuelan folk songs. She sang in stages across the US, Panamá, Venezuela, Mexico, Spain, and the UK.
After 2 years of filling out theaters with only 3 singles available, Nella recently released her first album entitled Voy (I am moving forward) on May 31st, 2019, comprised of music and production by Javier Limón, and has already been signed by Casa Limón Records and is being distributed worldwide through The Orchard.
As a soloist, Nella has performed with artists such as Alejandro Sanz, Jennifer Lopez, Carlos Vives, Luis Enrique, Susana Baca, Los Amigos Invisibles, Monsieur Periné, Caramelos de Cianuro, and Guaco.
CRISTIAN ALLEXIS Y URBANOVA
Sunday, March 22 at 9:30PM
$20
Cristian Allexis & Urbanova returns to Joe's Pub once more as part of their Tren 4 Tour to manifest the unique gift the group carries. With merengue, bachata, bolero, and fusion rhythms, this group spreads their irresistible energy confirming that love and happiness is imperative in one's life.
DAYRAMIR GONZÁLEZ: TRIBUTE TO Debbie Harry, David Byrne, AND David Bowie
Friday, March 27 at 9:30PM
$25 advance / $30 at the door
Dayramir González, Cuban pianist, arranger, composer and orchestrator based in New York, is a showman. He lives for the audience and is internationally praised for his "monster technique" and prolific creativity range which melds rock, classical, jazz, and Afro-Cuban stylings.
RAUL MIDÓN
Saturday, April 4 at 7:00PM
$35
Along with his 11 studio albums as a solo artist, Raul Midón - dubbed "an eclectic adventurist" by People magazine - has collaborated with such heroes as Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder and Bill Withers, along with contributing to records by Queen Latifah and Snoop Dogg and the soundtrack to Spike Lee's She Hate Me. A native of New Mexico who now lives in Maryland after years in New York, Midón has earned acclaim the world over, with a fanbase that stretches from San Francisco to India, Amsterdam to Tokyo. Marveling over his live performances, The New York Times has called Midón "a one-man band who turns a guitar into an orchestra and his voice into a chorus." He recently performed in a special Homecoming Week music series at his alma mater, the University of Miami's Frost School of Music. He was surprised onstage with the school's most prestigious honor, the Distinguished Alumni Award. Frost's dean said of the 1990 graduate: "Raul Midón truly personifies what a student at our school can achieve. It's a thrill to be able to honor Raul's extraordinary talent and exemplary accomplishments."
For a glimpse of how magnetic Midón can be live, seek out on YouTube the clip of his appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman in 2006. Performing "State of Mind," the title track from his major-label debut, Midón unveils what would become his signature combination of silky voice and percussive guitar. His playing is a syncopated wonder in which bass, harmony and melodic lines fly from the fretboard in a way that belies the fact that all the music is being produced by just two hands. If that weren't enough, Midón busts out his improvisational mouth-horn technique, in which he creates a bebop "trumpet" solo with his lips, earning himself a burst of mid-song applause from the audience.
The title of Midón's Bad Ass & Blind album came from an apt description of its maker that soul icon Bill Withers endorsed; the 2017 release saw Midón collaborating with such top jazz players as trumpeter Nicholas Payton, pianist Gerald Clayton and drummer Gregory Hutchinson. NPR noted that the disc continues Midón's "streak of records that cross boundaries with ease and head-turning musicality." Midón's 2018 follow-up, If You Really Want, found Midón's voice and guitar riding the waves of the Metropole Orkest, the GRAMMY Award-winning Dutch ensemble that has collaborated with artists from Al Jarreau and Elvis Costello to Laura Mvula and Snarky Puppy. Midón worked hand in glove on If You Really Want with another renowned GRAMMY winner: arranger and conductor Vince Mendoza. Relix magazine said about the album: "Throughout, there's that voice - passionate and confident - with Midón giving each word his full attention so that you know he means it."
NANO STERN
with special guest Claudia Acuña
Wednesday, April 8 at 9:30PM
$20
Nano Stern's path as an artist follows richly crafted song lines laid by his family and his Chilean musical ancestry, and unites those with a sound utterly fresh and relevant. The confluence of recent student and environmental political events in his home country Chile and Nano's rise as an articulate writer and performer have, much to his chagrin, positioned him as the voice of a newly politicized Chilean generation.
The grandson of Jewish refugees fleeing persecution, Nano's childhood was painted vivid by not only his own family's musicianship but by the powerful legacy of the Nueva Canción movement lead by Chilean musical activists during Pinochet's dictatorship a generation before. Legends like Inti-Illimani and Victor Jara- who suffered exile and even death during these troubling times- continue to inspire Nano's breadth of sound and emotion. "I am extremely respectful of the tradition," explains Stern, "It is an enormous gift we received from the people of the past." When only fifteen, Nano joined popular Chilean underground band, Mattoral, and thus was initiated into the fresh, new sounds and socio-political pulse of the South American rock/punk scene. The thick rock-energy of Mattoral, his classical and jazz training, and the powerful influence of traditional, Chilean revolutionary music make for something purely Nano. What has emerged is a powerhouse artist, brilliantly layering indigenous, African, and European elements into a sound all his own, and humbly bringing audiences to tears, to their feet, and to reverie with a singular kind of emotion and soulfulness unlike any other South American artist performing today. "I'm generally working to create a language of my own," he says. The world emphatically agrees.GINA CHAVEZ
Wednesday, April 15 at 7:00pm
$15
Gina Chavez is blending the sounds of the Americas with tension and grace. A 12-time Austin Music Award winner, including 2019 Female Vocalist and 2015 Austin Musician of the Year, Gina explores the true meaning of "Americana" as she and her five-piece band take audiences on a high-energy journey through Latin America and beyond.
Gina's music is deeply personal. Her passionate collection of bilingual songs traversing Cumbia, rumba, and soul take audiences on a journey to discover her Latin roots through music. Her bilingual album, Up.Rooted, topped the Amazon and Latin iTunes charts following a feature on NPR's All Things Considered and her Tiny Desk concert has more than 900,000 views. Her national TV debut is now airing on PBS stations throughout the U.S. Chavez is currently touring the States after returning from a 12-country tour as cultural ambassadors with the U.S. State Department. Her new EP Lightbeam is a collection of songs about the journey and hardships she and her wife have undergone to be able to publicly express their love for each other as Catholic, Latinx women. "Steeped in slow-burn soul and uptempo R&B," Lightbeam has NPR under the spell of a new sound. The music video for "Heaven Knows" premiered on Billboard, featuring scenes from the couple's Texas wedding. Her Spanish-language anthem, "Siete-D," won the grand prize in the John Lennon International Songwriting Contest and recounts her experience volunteering in a gang-dominated suburb of San Salvador where she and her wife co-founded Niñas Arriba, a college fund for young Latinas.EL CARIBEFUNK
Wednesday, May 6 at 7:00PM
$20 advance/$25 at the door
Energía para regalar is the new album that the Colombian duo El Caribefunk is presenting in 21 countries in 2020. Caribefunk is pure Afro-Caribbean music fused with funk and exotic sounds from their hometown, Cartagena de Indias, one of South America´s historically important port cities.
This emerging independent and self-managed band has a clear and fresh sound, mixing poetry with danceable rhythms and a message of optimism, joy, and celebration. They are well received by an enthusiastic, "underground" audience of various nationalities.
Jaime Lozano AND THE FAMILIA
Monday, May June 22 at 7:00PM
$15
Considered by Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda as the "next big thing" on Broadway, Mexican Director, Composer, Arranger & Orchestrator Jaime Lozano is back at Joe's Pub with his "Familia"--an all-Latinx line up of the best Broadway and Off-Broadway performers in a concert about their immigrant experience. An evening full of songs and stories about finding a new home, learning a new language, dealing with discrimination, trying to fit in, pursuing the American dream, being in love, growing older, and missing his native land. A show about diversity, inclusion, and building bridges instead walls.
DORIAN WOOD: XAVELA LUX AETERNA
Friday, June 26 at 7:00PM
$15
Coinciding with the centenary of Mexican-Costa Rican singer Chavela Vargas, the unforgettable voice of La Llorona, Los Angeles-based artist Dorian Wood honors Chavela with a piano-and-voice performance of XAVELA LUX AETERNA, a riveting personal tribute with songs made popular by Chavela, original compositions and folk music from Costa Rica. Coinciding with NY Pride, XAVELA LUX AETERNA is both a tribute and a dialogue between two creative souls passing through one body. Wood's distinctly powerful voice explores Chavela's "whys" with great respect and reverence, and they invite the audience at Joe's Pub to join them in this celebratory exploration. XAVELA LUX AETERNA is a deeply personal project and a unique tribute to a legend, by one of today's most important artists.
TAÍNA ASILI
Thursday, July 2 at 7:00PM
$15
Taína Asili is a New York based Puerto Rican singer, filmmaker, and activist carrying on the tradition of her ancestors, fusing past and present struggles into one soulful and defiant voice. Her music combines powerful vocals carrying themes of social justice with an energetic fusion of Afro-Latin, reggae, and rock. For over 20 years she has brought the music of love and resistance to venues across the globe - From the Women's March on Washington to the nationwide Rock Against the TPP Tour. After the 2016 election, a bigger audience has caught up to the artist Huffington Post named one of "12 Freedom Fighting Bands to Get you Through the Trump Years." Her protest songs "No Es Mi Presidente" and "Freedom," inspired by social movements against white supremacy, mass incarceration, and police violence, have been lauded by the likes of Rolling Stone and Billboard. Taína Asili's music exudes strength of spirit, and inspires audiences to dance to the rhythm of rebellion.
TICKETS:
ONLINE joespub.com / PHONE 212-967-7555
IN PERSON The Public Theater Box Office, 425 Lafayette Street, NYC
NOTE There is a $12 food / two (2) drink minimum per person per show, unless otherwise noted.
Comments
Videos