“Having met in Rio de Janeiro, the three acts connected over trading Youtube clips of UK grime MCs, Chicago footwork dancers in Chicago and Atlanta trap producers. This naturally evolved into a creative partnership that draws influences from the many black music scenes across the world. Their eponymous debut album, Ziminino, looks to showcase Africa’s … Read More
“It’s the first time we were invited to a festival on Staten Island. It’s not a place we would come visit so it was an actual bridging moment here,” said Colombian-born musician Juan Ospina of M.A.K.U*. “What I felt today is an actual bridge of culture in times that we can’t forget our roots.” Thanks … Read More
“AfroRazones – a space for Afro-Cuban expression, archiving a Cuban manifestation of Black resistance in 2017 – was born last year inside DJ Jigüe’s Guampara Studios. It was nurtured by a team of Cuban and U.S.-based artists and organizers (including LPZ who produces for Cuban hip-hop luminaries, Danay Suarez and Los Aldeanos) that recognized the impending changes of the current sociopolitical … Read More
I landed this piece in Public Radio International (PRI’s The World) for Cuban songstress Daymé Arocena in advance of her Summer tour in the US. Check it out in full here! “My link with Santería is more musical,” she says. “I fell in love with Santería music before the religion.” She’s a classical composer and director trained … Read More
Being a part of the AfroRazones project – as publicist and advisor – has been a transformative experience for me as the daughter of a Cuban-born mother. Last year, while I was handling the publicity for the inaugural MANANA festival in Santiago de Cuba, I made my way to La Habana on a 14-hour truck ride to get to … Read More
Image via The 80% Alliance Here we are and here we’ll stay. Many are awakening to the harsh reality which has slowly been put in place throughout the last few decades (act like you know). Many have been working to build new systems and propose fresh ideas to a deafening status-quo for far too long. Well … Read More
Bulla en El Barrio @ Afro-Latino Festival of New York 2016 by ©AilynRobles There’s Colombians in New York City and there’s New Yorkers born to Colombian parents – are they ultimately the same? I’m of the latter and half that with a Cuban mother, so it’s something I think about everyday. Do both groups meld into one … Read More