A Christmas Parranda W/ Yomo Toro & Friends December 5, 2009

Url: http://lehmancenter.org/shows/navidad.html

Sound: http://us.dada.net/music/aurorayzondelbarrio/

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, in conjunction with Aurora Communications, Inc., presents a special holiday event, NAVIDAD PARA EL PUEBLO, a Christmas celebration featuring the unique jíbaro music from the mountains of Puerto Rico on Saturday, December 5, 2009 at 8pm. The concert will feature the King of the Cuatro and Fania All-Star legend YOMO TORO, whose parrandas have become a Lehman holiday tradition. Also featured will be the Bob Dylan of Puerto Rican folk music, singer, songwriter and poet "EL TOPO" ANTONIO CABAN VALE. The artists will be backed by the eclectic sounds of ZON DEL BARRIO, an outfit steeped in nostalgia while exploding into the future, bringing to life the various musical genres, from traditional folkloric aguilnaldos, plenas, danzas and bombas to modern day salsa including guarachas, mambo and boogaloo. Choreographing the entire show is GILDA RIVERA PANTOJA, gifted dancer and director of the theatrical dance troupe DANZA FIESTA. Twenty dancers will perform to a mosaic of rhythms, from a salsa navidena to a Carnaval finale with the arrival of the three Magi Kings. The parranda is the Puerto Rico Christmas serenading tradition of musicians surprising friends and relatives during the season with festive music at night. The blending of Spanish decimas (ten-line stanzas), African percussion and rhythms, and Indian guiros and maracas created plenas, bombas and aguinaldos ("gifts"), which descended from the Spanish Christmas carol. These songs were the first lyrical expression of Puerto Rican culture -- stamped with an indelible Boricua seal. Rich in themes, celebratory in spirit, these tunes and dances express the folk wisdom of the jibaro through refrains, legends, superstitions, customs and traditions.

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts is on the campus of Lehman College/CUNY at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West, Bronx, NY 10468. Tickets for NAVIDAD PARA EL PUEBLO on Saturday, December 5, 2009 at 8pm, are: $45, $40, $35 and $30 and can be purchased by calling the Lehman Center box office at 718.960.8833 (Mon. through Fri., 10am–5pm, Tues. 10am-7pm, and beginning at 12 noon on the day of the concert), or through 24-hour online access at www.LehmanCenter.org. Lehman Center is accessible by #4 or D train to Bedford Park Blvd. and is off the Saw Mill River Parkway and the Major Deegan Expressway. Free on-site parking is available.

Yomo Toro, born in Ensenada, Puerto Rico, has had a five-decade career as one of NYC’s most respected Latin musicians. Playing the cuatro, a Puerto Rican 10-stringed instrument descended from the Spanish vilhuela, he arrived in New York in 1953 with his band, Los 4 Aces, playing several tours of the Caribbean before settling in the Bronx. He played with Trio Los Panchos in the early '60s, recording four albums, one featuring Eydie Gorme, and soon began recording on the Fania label, joining the Fania All-Stars. In 1969 he recorded the influential salsa album Tribute to Arsenio with the Larry Harlow Orchestra. In 1970, with Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe, he combined the new sounds of New York salsa with traditional Puerto Rican Christmas music on Asalto Navideno, one of Fania’s best-selling albums of all time. The cuatro master has appeared on over 150 albums, including CDs with Paul Simon and Linda Rondstadt, and recorded over 20 solo albums. Since 1994, he has performed in the Latin Legends with Larry Harlow and Adalberto Santiago.

"El Topo" Antonio Caban Vale, singer, songwriter and poet, born in Moca, Puerto Rico, moved to San Juan in 1961 to study at the University of Puerto Rico, where he became known as "El Topo" and published his first poems in a student literary review. He began to write music in the '70s and formed a band called Taone, singing with the group. As the nueva cancion style of popular music hit Puerto Rico, Caban became a noted composer. Songs such as "Que bonita luna" and "Solina, Solina" boosted nueva cancion as well as his own career. His romantic melodies such as "Cancion de los amantes" were popularized in many versions. And his "Verde Luz" is considered akin to a national anthem. In the '90s, Caban made over 20 recordings including La patria va and Un metro de temura, which included "Amante corazon." He also published two books of poetry to wide acclaim. In 2001, the Sixth International Book Fair at Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan was dedicated to Antonio "El Topo" Caban Vale.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. Lehman Center also receives support from the New York State Council on the Arts.