FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The two-day event features Orisa, rumba, and Abakua concerts, short films, and master workshops with Lazaro Galarraga, Roman Diaz, Sandy Perez, Barbarito Ramos, Angel Guerrero, and Chief Ivor Miller
Gainesville, FL – March 12, 2024 – Afro Roots Fest returns to North Florida on Friday, April 5 and Saturday, April 6, 2024 for a two-day convening, which includes concerts, dance and drum workshops, short music documentaries, and a dance party. Tickets are available at bit.ly/ARF2024Gainesville. This year’s gathering will focus on the lineage and migration of the religious tradition known as Abakua from Calabar, Nigeria to Cuba, which gave rise to the rumba, one of Cuba’s principal musical traditions.
The first day will feature events at the University of Florida School of School of Music (130 Music Building) and the Greater Gainesville International Center (1314 S. Main Street, Gainesville, FL 32601), followed by a dance party at Depot Village (404 SE 2nd St, Gainesville, FL 32601). Activities will include Afro-Latin movie shorts about Cuba and Brazil followed by a lecture and discussion, a master African dance and drum, Afro-Cuban percussion with a focus on clave, sekere, bells, congas, and bata, and a master Orisa and rumba dance workshop.
The next evening, the Odara Afro Cuban Allstars will perform two concerts at the Hippodrome Theatre (25 SE 2nd Pl, Gainesville, FL 32601). The first show at 7 p.m. presents Orisa and rumba, and the second show at 9 p.m. will focus on the Abakua traditions. Featured artists include a group of Afro-Cuban masters and scholars: Lazaro Galarraga, Roman Diaz, Sandy Perez, Barbarito Ramos, Angel Guerrero, and Chief Ivor Miller. The event will also include a film screening of the documentary “Roman Diaz – Como el Agua” by Onel Mulet, which offers an intimate look at the renowned Cuban master drummer and jazz musician.
A teacher, performing artist, actor, writer, choreographer, and mentor, Galarraga has dedicated his life to his love of Afro-Cuban music, culture, and folklore. Master percussionist, scholar, and composer Diaz is regarded as a “living repository” of Afro-Cuban music. After a 12-year stint with the group with Afrocuba de Matanzas, Perez is now one of the best-known and most talented percussionists from the Matanzas province.
A member of Los Munequitos de Matanzas, Ramos is a colorful master Orisa and rumba dancer. Guerrero is an important Abakua chanter from Pogolotti, Havana. Miller is a scholar focused on Cuban cultural history with a focus on Lukumi-Yoruba initiation systems of Ocha and Ifa (Santería) in Cuban society. Together they will deliver an unforgettable night of music, history, and tradition at the Hippodrome. Additional artists to be featured.
Originating in 1999, the Afro Roots Fest has been noted as one of the “10 Best Music Festivals in Miami” by the Miami New Times in 2017 and crowned the “Best Music Festival” in the 2019 “Best of Miami” issue. Past performers have included African music icons Amadou & Mariam, Fatoumata Diawara, Salif Keita, Vieux Farka Toure, and Sun Ra Arkestra, among many others. In 2018, the event became a traveling Florida festival presenting concerts in Jupiter, Miami Beach, Miami, Gainesville, and the Florida Keys.
This program is presented with the generous support of City of Gainesville, University of Florida Center for Arts Migration and Entrepreneurship (CAME), Florida Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, the Greater Gainesville International Center, the UF Center for Latin American Studies, the School of Theatre + Dance, School of Music, and the College of the Arts. Sponsored in part by Visit Gainesville – Alachua County, FL.
For more information, visit AfroRootsFest.com.
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