Name: Summer Beats with FirstWorks: Afro Rican Jazz with William Cepeda
Start: 2022-08-14T16:00:00-04:00
End: 2022-08-14T20:00:00-04:00
Location: Roger Williams Park Bandstand

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Summer Beats with FirstWorks: Afro Rican Jazz with William Cepeda

Sunday, August 14th 4:00 – 8:00

4:00 – 5:00 PM FREE, ALL-AGES MUSIC WORKSHOP

In the afternoon before his 6 PM performance, William will share his cultural heritage through a lively, free music workshop for families. Through hands-on activities, participants will explore the genres and evolution of Puerto Rican music (Taíno music, bomba, plena, música jíbara and danza). He will share instruments and select rhythm songs for each genre and participants will play Puerto Rican rhythms. Workshop participants are encouraged to bring their own instruments.

At 6:00 PM – William Cepeda & Afro-Rican Jazz Band

FirstWorks Summer Beats celebrates the heritage of Puerto Rican music and its African roots with trombonist William Cepeda from San Juan, who is known as a cultural icon of Puerto Rico. Cepeda’s seven-member Afro-Rican Jazz Band heats up the crowd with an innovative blend of jazz and traditional Puerto Rican musical forms such as bomba, plena, Jibaro, and danza, at an open-air concert at the Roger Williams Park Bandstand. A protégé of Dizzy Gillespie, Cepeda has created a new shade of jazz with a hip flavor. Lydia Perez, an award-winning Afro-Taino artist from Rhode Island, will lead dancers from the Puerto Rican Institute for Arts and Advocacy in an energetic concert opener.