Bronx Salsa Fest with Spanglish Fly

Aug 15, 2015 @ 7:00pm

Live music by Spanglish Fly and film screening of Rumba Clave Blen Blen Blen
Screening: Rumba Clave Blen Blen Blen
Tonight’s program will present the music that was part of New York City’s Latin music scene before salsa, or in the case of rumba, the music that makes up the DNA of salsa. Rumba Clave Blen Blen Blen is a song of praise to the musical genre of rumba in New York City. It reveals the vibrant Afro- Cuban culture of the city. In addition, the film unravels the African and Andalusian origins of rumba and follows ordinary people and famous musicians through the dances, drums, and clave rhythm of the genre. The film is a poem of color and music, bringing to the surface the symbolic religious cosmogonies of Bantu, Abakua, Yoruba and Arara traditions that have nourished it. By paying homage to the grandmasters of the genre, such as Chano Pozo and his collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie, Rumba Clave Blen Blen Blen is a historical journey that traces the history of rumba in New York through the words and music of scholars, producers, artists and renowned musicians who continue to practice it today.
Aristides Falcón Paradi’s film Rumba Clave Blen Blen Blen screened at Cine+Mas San Francisco Latino Film Festival (Sept, 2014) and the 22nd Annual African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF), NYC, Dec, 2014. El Play directed by Pablo Medina, a short documentary that Aristedes wrote and co-produced, was awarded Best Documentary Short Film at the Urbanworld Film Festival 2008 in NY and won the Excellence in Filmmaking award at the Baseball Hall of Fame Film Festival in Cooperstown, NY. Aristides has completed a script (Ashé Obanilú) and a novel (En clave blen blen) about the great conga player and com- poser Chano Pozo. His collection of poems Tantra Tanka was published in Spain (Madrid: Betania, 2003) followed by Japan (Tokyo: Fransudo, 2007). His book, La crueldad en el teatro de Matías Montes-Huidobro (2006), was published by the Society of Spanish and Spanish-American Studies at Boulder, Colorado.