Wed 7/19 @ 7:30PM
Wed 7/26 @ 7:30PM
We are so excited that City Stages aka Ohio City Stages is back at the intersection of West 29th and Church (between the Transformer Station and Saucy Brewery). There a giant stage is set up to welcome global music bands who typically infuse their native sounds with contemporary updates and the street is filled with dancing people gyrating to the infections sounds. (You can also bring a folding chair and set up in the closed-off street.)
This year, there’ll be two evenings of music, with ensembles whose music is derived from Afro-Caribbean roots. On Wednesday July 19, the Meridian Brothers, a quintet from Bogota, Colombia, take diverse Latin music styles and add their own experimental psychedelic touches, including sampling and processing. The group, which has been called “futurist electro-rock,” is the brainchild of Eblis Álvarez, who formed it as a one-man ensemble in which he wrote, arranged, produced, played all the music, and sang the distinctively theatrical vocals before expanding it to a full band to flesh out his vision.
On Wednesday July 26, Toronto-based Battle of Santiago, named after a major 1898 battle in the Spanish-American War, will take the stage, performing Afro-Cuban “art rock” — Rush with a tropical flavor? You decide. Like the Meridian Brothers, it’s the product one visionary musician, bass player Michael Owen, who has added other musicians as needed including those from Toronto’s vibrant Cuban music scene.
Get more information here.