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Gerry Hemingway: Illuminating Music in Time and Space
There are elements in music [both necessary and profoundly palpable] of mathematics – of arithmetic [often with an unconscious imprint of Fibonacci], of special geometry and of beautiful algebraic equations. But always in the context of music. There is timbre and texture, and colour in melody, harmony, and rhythm. The is the sound of human speech… language and literature that can fill libraries both real and – like mythical ones of the singular making of Jorge Luis Borges. But above all, in a manner of a Zen Koan – like something because there is nothing [or vice versa], there is sound and there is silence… simply because there are spectral spaces in the nooks and crannies of that very silence that begets sound.
And then there are the artists who have penetrated the gossamer skin of the rarefied realm… like Gérard Grisey, Tristan Murail, Katharina Rosenberger, Anthony Braxton [and other musicians from the Association for the Advancement of Creative Music…] and a handful of others who – like musicians from Bach and Beethoven, and from Stravinsky and Stockhausen, from Messiaen and Dutilleux – have perceived the deepest secrets of music. To this small roster of artists, we must include Gerry Hemingway: the composer, lately an inspired lyricist whose poetry is evocative of Rimbaud and Dylan, vocalist with a raspy elegance, master of a considerably extended drum set, quintessential percussion colourist, for whom the layer of sound – every ghostly overtone – from every note is an echo of the human voice, real and surreal vision of the hyperreal.
In the case of Bach that musical space in the rarefied realm was often said to be ‘spiritual’ [even in his music that was decidedly secular]. Beethoven’s was convinced that the rarefied realm was Divine. Stravinsky didn’t have a name for it but may probably have aligned himself with both the former as well as been in line with Mr Braxton, who favours ‘Ghost-Trance’ and M. Grisey, M. Murail, Miss Rosenberger and more than likely Mr Hemingway for whom ‘spectral’ seems likely.
Other names for ‘the space’ between sound and silence as well as the sound of silence and the silence of sound no doubt abound and – who knows – a gilt-edged new tome may have to be compiled and delivered to us, impressively bound. Only time will tell. Until then we have the translucent music of artists such as Mr Hemingway to seduce us, to hold us willing prisoners not simply with his riveting musicianship that informs every aspect of [his] performance…
Mr Hemingway studied for a while with the late drummer and much-sought-after pedagogue Alan Dawson. As a teacher Mr Dawson favoured a Holistic approach to drumming, emphasising “music as a whole, rather than concentrating on percussion alone” stressing the importance of learning the melody and structure of a piece – even singing a melody out aloud. His [Mr Dawson’s] Rudimental Ritual which included extensive exercises to be practiced with brushes enabled drummers to develop almost elasticized wrists and so to allow for a sense of “picking up the sticks”.
Mr Hemingway learned his lessons so exceedingly well that among he is almost alone among modern drummers and percussionists who seems to make the drums swing and sing in a traditional sense, even as he elasticizes rhythm – in the contemporary sense – seeming to make Time both malleable and ductile and, in turn, giving timekeeping proverbially wide berth. Extrapolating this conceptual approach to a battery of drums and percussion instruments Mr Hemingway has achieved an almost full-orchestra sound seemingly on his own. And he has done so with a quiet dignity, consequently commanding the affection and somewhat awed respect of everyone with whom he performs music.
One of his most enduring musical relationships has been with a most iconic American composer and master of reeds and woodwinds, Anthony Braxton. This began when he joined Mr Braxton’s quartet and made a series of recordings beginning with Four Compositions (Quartet) [Black Saint, 1983]. Three discs followed on Black Saint between 1983 and 1986 and included Six Compositions (Quartet) [1984] and Five Compositions (Quartet) [1986]. Mr Hemingway anchored the quartet with his singularly melodious orchestral percussion.
Clearly Mr Braxton had become an early admirer. In 2007, he told the writer Graham Lock during the production of an epic duo recording: “I have always felt that Gerry and I have had a complete affinity in the music. If anything, our affinity has only deepened. This is why I love playing music with this great American master… There is an inter-radiance that permeates from the music; that speaks of the good luck I first experienced when this guy came into my life.”
For his part, Mr Hemingway returned the favour gave each of four Inventions, spread across the four discs, by improvising with a choice of “orchestral possibilities”. He has always attributed this to his fascination for how forms work in space. “…in the elegance of how they flow from one end to the other, in the three dimensional aspect[s] of how you can see backwards and forwards in a piece,” Mr Hemingway said, repeating an observation he had made of playing with Mr Braxton almost a decade earlier.
It was during the Quartet recordings that Mr Hemingway was introduced to the work of the intrepid pianist Marilyn Crispell. His musical relationship with the pianist has always been special, which would account for his ability to forge a duo relationship with her – something musicians usually reserve for ‘someone who communicates in a special sort of way’, and which both pianist and drummer enjoy. This is because both Miss Crispell and Mr Hemingway think like composers when they perform. This, in fact, they both are, but to think and play ‘like a composer’ is an unique gift. Both musicians are blessed in that regard, and this has been the highlight of their duets, such as the recording Table of Changes [Intakt, 2013].
Although there may be no such thing as a ‘characteristic performance’ by Mr Hemingway [or by Miss Crispell, for that matter], Their approach for this music – recorded live in Arles, Amsterdam, Le Mans and Ulrichsberg – swings between mind over emotion and vice versa [depending on where the music takes one or the other musician. This is music of dynamic contrasts, between spiky staccato arpeggios [on the part of the pianist] and spiky staccato punctuated often by subtly muted dynamics [on the part of the drummer]. Ideas veer from unanimity during unison passages – cue Roofless and Windy City – followed by deeply exploratory variations, with plenty of breathing room for exquisite explorations with dramatic changes in timbre, colour and a good deal of tonal warmth.
Judging by the fact that Mr Hemingway’s early performances [significant in every artistic regard] with Mr Braxton it isn’t hard to see just how and why he is able to forge [equally meaningful] artistic relationships with other artists in a long and distinguished career. With contrabassist Reggie Workman, and a group of personnel that has included masterful contributions from – but not exclusively – saxophonist Sam Rivers, trombonist Julian Priester, vocalist Jeanne Lee, clarinetist Don Byron, violinist Jason Hwang and others. That relationship with the contrabassist bassist spun off a prodigious trio Brew which also included the Japanese koto specialist, Miya Masaoka.
Brew produced two significant recordings two decades apart. The 1999 recording Heat and the 2019 recording Between Reflections, both on the forward-thinking Portuguese Clean Feed. This is a trio with an intriguing aural concept largely – but not restricted – due to Miss Masaoka’s koto, a very large string instrument which opens up the timbral possibilities of melody, harmony and rhythm arising from but not restricted to the ‘gut and pluck’ sound of the koto’s strings. Once again, the trio plays with considerable improvisational surprises – with no regard [on the part of Miss Masaoka] to slavish period awareness. Moreover, as all three musicians contribute performances on electronic instruments the musical canvas is dramatically enhanced as Keffi’s Journey [from Brew] and Sun Shadows [from Between Reflections] will testify.
Like his relationship with Mr Workman, the celebrated drummer has also developed a fabulous relationship with trombonist Ray Anderson and contrabassist Mark Helias. That trio – BassDrumBone [Auricle Records, 2016] – produced one of the most startling trio double-albums of original compositions It is a stunning example of how the lugubrious human speech-like sound of Mr Anderson’s trombone – often mournful and always spiritual – is woven into the rumble of Mr Helias’ contrabass. The glue is [often as not] the luminous sonorities of Mr Hemingway’s controlled melodious rhythm on his impressive battery of percussion instruments that make up his drum set.
And then there is the brilliant and spectacularly mournful repertory recordings of Ellingtonia re-imagined [an often misused word] by another enduring Hemingway-ensemble the WHO Trio [featuring pianist Michel Wintsch and bassist Bänz Oestler]. That recording – Strell: The Music of Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington [Clean Feed, 2018]. Once again Mr Hemingway’s drumming makes Ellington and Strayhorn sound like music of the natural world. Nature, that is Ellington and Strayhorn – represented by such classics as The Mooche, Black and Tan Fantasy, A Flower is a Lovesome Thing and six others – here is not domesticated and anthropomorphised: it’s wild, strange, and wonderful. Contours, tones, shiftings of sound are pieces together with a free-thinking logic that’s rigorous and yet at the same time delirious in a magnificent way.
Mr Hemingway has performed on over two hundred [probably a lot more] recordings and appeared on soundstages the world over, from Switzerland, where he now makes his home. So it is almost impossible – even pointless – to play catch–up with his entire repertoire. However, a few other recordings do stand out. One is a recording with another trio featuring the saxophonist and clarinetist Sebastian Strinning and the guitarist Manuel Troller –together called Tree Ear – which yielded the album Witches Butter [Clean Feed, 2017]. From the allegorical cover and the adventurous music, you would be quite right in assuming that the metaphor here describes what might easily be said to be a dangerously – kind of gunslinging – volatile encounter between three hard-drinking, hard-driving gringos and a re-take on the Blues.
The music says, “brace yourself for change” and features composers – and performers – noted for their willingness to strike out along individual paths and embrace change. Edgy and unpredictable the musicians of Tree Ear perform music that is as invigorating as a shower of cold water. Seven works of short to medium length, each with an evocative title and imaginatively captured on this recording by Tree Ear features music marked by the visceral volatility of Third Man Walking to the muscular artistic exhortations of Kill Button. Listening to this exciting, cinematic experience It’s impossible not to imagine how the west was won.
Another Hemingway-classic stand-alone feature is the album Composition O [Listen Foundation, 2017] a duo percussion recording with Vincent Glanzmann and comprises an extended composition in six movements. The recording is a remarkable set of extended improvisations on a series of composed themes. Gestures are free flowing. Neither percussionist lets age, the familiarity of a relationship that began in 2015b stand in the way of making everything new. The music is a palimpsest to new percussion and features the inventions of two great percussion colourists. The music dances and is – by turns – spirited and nicely flowing.
Two other recordings stand out from among Mr Hemingway’s discography. Both recordings feature music written by another far-sighted composer, Sarah Weaver, but both of which are graced by Mr Hemingway’s ingenious musicianship. Reality Axis [Sync Source, 2018] featured music by Miss Weaver, written for Mr Hemingway. It is a tour de force of melodicism, dynamic harmonic variations set in three works – Node 111: Vol. 1, 2, 3, Reality Axis and Nexus Expanse – together featuring a sweeping rhythmic testament that is evocative of music evocative of Mr Hemingway’s roots in the songful, dancing drumming culture first developed by Max Roach.
The other recording of the works of Miss Weaver – Synchrony Series – Music of Sarah Weaver and Collaborations is a double-disc that dedicates performance time to Mr Hemingway as a solo expressionist and in large ensemble. As always Mr Hemingway brings to life the shifts and swerves of Miss Weaver’s intrepid compositions to which Mr Hemingway lends the arching melodic and rhythmic line a twinkling improvisatory quality, and an irresistible sense of play that will give any percussionist a run for his or her money.
Fittingly Mr Hemingway has gravitated – a fortuitous return, one might say – to recording his compositions and singing original lyrics on Afterlife [Auricle, 2022]. Percussionists, and percussion recitals are hardly common these days but, with Afterlife, Mr Hemingway has put together a collection of pieces through which he shows that he is unafraid of wearing his heart on his sleeve. This recording is a masterpiece of modern music in every way – composition and performance in a production package that is simply superb in every way.
This music remains a modern classic by sheer dint of a methodical understatement which Mr Hemingway realises with keen elegance. This is a model recording of how to present music – percussion or otherwise – within a spacious acoustic, which together with a booklet of delightfully whimsical design, featuring surprisingly masterful poetic lyrics in the surreal manner of a Rimbaud – all of which that adds enormously to the musical experience of one of the major artists of this generation.
With that recording and what may follow from there onwards, Mr Hemingway is clearly in the rarefied realm of artists whose instrument is much bigger than that one he plays – in this case his drum set. That instrument is the one he inhabits whole-heartedly with his full body. That instrument is Gerry Hemingway himself.
However, it is as a percussionist that he first found his calling. And here he is untouchable. Whether he is inhabiting the angles and swerving around the twists and turns of a Braxton score, seeming to seek out the hidden nooks and crannies suggested by linear melodic lines, Or whether he is following abrupt changes in rhythm and pulse provoked by one of his own compositions or scores written for him to interpret…
Gerry Hemingway is the master of carving the air around his battery of drums and percussion instruments, often redolent of a gleaming vibraphone, to provoke the melodic hum from the skins of his drums, punctuated by the hissing of cymbals and the stuttering from the high hat. Indeed, Mr Hemingway has long established his prodigious musicianship. And in doing so he has placed himself on a no-touch pinnacle that may take years for generations of gawping acolytes to catch up to.
Deo Gratis
Note: The second – and final – part of the series A Different Kind of Drummer
How one composer spent four decades forging a distinctly Québécois path through the experimental music landscape
When Joane Hétu picks up her alto saxophone, she claims territory. At sixty-six, the Montréal composer, vocalist, and saxophonist has spent forty years carving out space for experimental music in Québec, building institutions and communities that define the province’s musique actuelle scene.
Her latest recording, Elle a son mot à dire, captures Hétu leading Ensemble SuperMusique through thirteen of her compositions from across two decades. The album opens with “Elle n’a pas de mot” (She has no words)—a brief ambient piece that stacks wordless singing atop a chorus of “whirly tubes,” ribbed hoses spun above players that pirouette through the harmonic series. An apt introduction to an artist who has spent her career finding new ways to give voice to the unspoken.
Finding Her Voice in the Underground
Hétu’s path began in the early 1980s with avant-pop groups like Wondeur Brass, Justine, and Les Poules. These bands merged the pluralist ethos of New York’s downtown scene with European progressive sensibilities while maintaining something distinctly Québécois. “I was very young, in my twenties, and this fusion happened quite instinctively, without real premeditation,” she recalls. Through connections to figures like Zeena Parkins, Ikue Mori, and Fred Frith, and the Recommended Records network, these groups found their place in an international experimental music community.
Even while performing with these bands, Hétu was thinking beyond individual artistic expression. In 1980, she co-founded SuperMusique with Danielle Palardy Roger and Diane Labrosse. Eight years later, they organized a Festival of Innovative Women Musicians, devoted entirely to women’s groups working in avant-garde music—a radical curatorial gesture that signaled Hétu’s growing interest in building infrastructure alongside making music.
“We were connected to the New York scene,” Hétu explains, “but we wanted to create something here, something that would support the community we were building in Montréal.”
From Performance to Institution
The instinct to support that community would shape Hétu’s career as much as her compositions. By 1998, she had taken on co-direction of Ensemble SuperMusique, transforming the organization into one that explicitly welcomes “emerging artists, mid-career artists, and major figures alike.” Where many experimental music scenes fragment along generational lines, Hétu has consistently worked to bridge those gaps.
“This intergenerational cohabitation is a great richness for us,” she explains. “It opens perspectives, stimulates listening, and provokes essential exchanges.”
On Elle a son mot à dire, this collaborative philosophy becomes musical practice. In “Mot elle a,” vocalist Sarah Albu’s written part interweaves with improvised percussion, creating what Hétu calls “flexible, malleable” pieces that depend on interpretation. “For now, I only have one recording, but I hope it will live through other recordings and interpretations,” she says. “This is one of the objectives of open scores: to encourage multiple and living interpretations.”
[click on image to enlarge]
The Economics of Experiment
Running an experimental music organization led Hétu deeper into the infrastructure questions that determine which music gets heard and preserved. As founder and longtime president of DAME Records (Distribution Ambiances Magnétiques Etcetera), she took on the less glamorous work of documenting and distributing Canadian experimental music—a role she maintained for three decades.
“I’ve always had a passion for sound recording,” she reflects. “From 1985, I got involved in Ambiances Magnétiques, then DAME took over.” The work came with unexpected costs. “After my daughter’s birth in 1990, I was looking for a certain stability, knowing that tours would be more difficult. Naively, I believed that having a record label would offer a form of security. It was quite the opposite. This enterprise cost me a lot in creative time. Looking back, it’s perhaps what I regret most: having carried it for so long, for thirty-three years.”
Despite the personal sacrifice, DAME has documented a vital chapter in Canadian music history, providing a platform for artists like Jean Derome, Pierre-Yves Martel, Tim Brady, and dozens of others who might otherwise have remained unrecorded. “DAME documents this precious musical heritage and ensures that these musics are represented, supported, available, and that this artistic history is accessible,” Hétu explains.
Claiming Creative Territory
The questions of space and belonging that drove Hétu’s institutional work find their most direct artistic expression in her concept of territory. The idea runs through much of her work, most explicitly in her piece La femme territoire ou 21 fragments d’humus. For Hétu, territory encompasses everything from the intimate to the political: “the Earth, my room, Quebec, my soul—a woman who becomes vastitude.”
“In it, I take a position, as a woman, on my territory—intimate and collective,” she explains. “I doubted while writing it; I had trouble trusting myself. Today, I’m happy with the path traveled and with this work.”
The territorial thinking extends to her approach to voice and instrumentation. Hétu never formally learned to sing, drawing from influences like Tenko, Phil Minton, Jaap Blonk, and Paul Dutton. “I have a deep love for the voice and its noise-making potential. It’s visceral and fundamental to me,” she says. In her work with La chorale bruitiste JOKER, founded in 2012, she explores what collective vocal improvisation can accomplish using techniques like soundpainting.
[click on image to enlarge]
Seasons of Composition
Hétu’s relationship to place extends to her famous engagement with Québec’s harsh winters. Where others see obstacles to cultural life, she found creative catalysts. Her trilogy Musique d’hiver emerged from the practical reality that “January, February and March are rather quiet in the record industry, which leaves time to compose.” But the relationship between season and creativity runs deeper than scheduling.
“I love winter, I love the sound, the cocoon effect it produces,” she explains. The final piece in the trilogy, Récits de neige, focused specifically on snow’s geometry: “I hoped to compose 30 short pieces that musicians could amalgamate as they want, like snowflakes, which each have a different geometry.”
Building for the Future
Today, as Hétu approaches her fifth decade in music, she remains committed to the experimental principles that have guided her career while grappling with new challenges facing the experimental music community. “I believe the public has the capacity to welcome innovation,” she argues. “But it needs tools, which are becoming scarce: radio broadcasting, interviews, production support, and venues dedicated to new music.”
Her work with Ensemble SuperMusique continues to demonstrate that experimental music can build lasting institutions and communities. Recent projects include ongoing workshops in graphic scores and conducting gestures, international collaborations, and regular concert series that have sustained the musique actuelle community for decades.
“I respond to the call, to the impulse of the moment. I am still, fundamentally, the same composer,” Hétu admits. Viewed across four decades, her work reveals a consistent thread: the understanding that experimental music concerns itself with creating the conditions for a community of artists to flourish.
In an era when funding for experimental music remains precarious and cultural institutions focus on measurable outcomes, Hétu’s approach offers a different model. Her career demonstrates that sometimes the most radical act is creating space for other voices to emerge, building the infrastructure for artistic communities to sustain themselves across generations. After four decades, Joane Hétu still has something to say. She’s still creating spaces for others to find their own voices within the experimental music territory she has helped map. In Québec’s cultural landscape, that may be her most enduring composition.
“One of the most unforgettable moments of the Festival was the electrifying performance by Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue”
The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal took place from June 26 to July 5, 2025, in the Quartier des Spectacles. The 45th edition of the world’s largest jazz festival was a resounding success, attracting jazz enthusiasts from around the globe.
The Heart of the Festival
Located in the heart of downtown Montreal, the Festival site becomes a meeting place for jazz lovers worldwide for ten days. The area is closed to all vehicular traffic and remains open until midnight, allowing visitors to enjoy close to 150 indoor concerts and more than 350 free, open-air shows presented on the specially redesigned Quartier des Spectacles.
A Personal Journey
As a jazz fan and festival enthusiast, I had always intended to attend the Montreal Jazz Festival. Despite missing several chances, I finally managed to go this year, although for a shorter time than I would have preferred, from June 30th to July 3rd.
Arrival and First Impressions
I enjoyed a pleasant 5-hour Via Rail train trip from Toronto to Montreal, arriving around 2 PM. After settling into my Airbnb, I found the jazz festival site and met up with Danilo Navas, the editor-in-chief of That Canadian Magazine. We eagerly waited for the first act to perform on the TD Stage, a free concert by UK tenor saxophonist Nubya Garcia.
Garcia and her band delivered an energetic and incredibly enjoyable set that featured music from both of her recordings. This is an artist I will be watching more closely.
One of the most unforgettable moments of the festival was the electrifying performance by Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue. This mind-bending concert had everything thrown into the mix, creating an explosive fusion of world jazz, funk, and New Orleans soul.
The unbridled excitement and energy from the stage were infectious, drawing the audience in and making them an essential part of the show. The crowd danced, cheered, and grooved to the irresistible beats, unable to resist the magnetic pull of Trombone Shorty’s music.
After this exhilarating experience, the only thing left to do was find a chill spot to unwind and bask in the afterglow of this burst of New Orleans magic.
Canada Day Celebrations
On July 1st, Canada Day, I took a walk to Old Montreal to check out the celebrations. The area, reminiscent of Europe, was closed off to most traffic, allowing visitors to enjoy the numerous restaurants with patios and sidewalk cafes. I indulged in a coffee and biscotti at one inviting cafe before making my way back to the jazz festival area, with a brief stop in Chinatown for some delicious dumplings and soup.
Memorable Performances
This Canada Day was my most active in terms of concerts, with three free shows happening almost consecutively at outdoor venues.
The Sugar Darlings: Miche Love, a key figure in the Montreal blues scene, captivated the audience with her powerful and soulful voice, supported by the electrifying solos of Paul Lucyk on guitar and Kaven Jalbert on saxophone.
Julien Fillion Band: This lively quartet, led by the talented Julien Fillion on saxophone, guitar, and keyboards, delivered an energetic performance to a rain-soaked crowd. The show must go on despite the unpredictable weather challenges.
Endea Owens & the Cookout: Detroit-raised recording artist, bassist, and composer Endea Owens captivated the audience with her soulful singing and jazz and soul-infused playing.
My Last Full Day at the Festival
My last full day at the festival was spent exploring the grounds and soaking in the vibrant atmosphere of the Montreal Jazz Festival, discovering the many facets of this grand celebration.
Christine Jensen Quartet at Le Studio TD
One of the last jazz concerts I attended was at an indoor venue that offered a free performance by the Christine Jensen Quartet, which featured alto saxophonist Christine Jensen. This outstanding group of world-class musicians includes Jim Doxas on drums, Gary Versace on keys, and Adrian Vedady on contrabass. The quartet played tunes from Jensen’s latest recording, “Day Moon,” released in 2023, as well as selections from her other quartet albums.
A Memorable Experience
In summary, the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal is an excellent event held at a captivating venue, offering a wonderful experience with many free concerts and more. I look forward to returning and delving even further into the modern music of our era.
Editor’s Note: We will publish our photo gallery from the 45th Festival International de Jazz de Montréal in a separate post in the next few days.
Luminato at Harbourfront – June 15, 2025
Somd’agua: A Dance Migration Performance
A mesmerizing collaboration featuring Esie Mensah, Alex Oliver, Reimundo Sosa Reinoldes, and Adrianna Yanuziello, Somd’agua provided a profound exploration of Afro-Brazilian culture. The performance artfully depicted the sacred connection between the deities Oxum and Yemanjá through movement and rhythm.
The fusion of powerful singing, chanting, and dynamic Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian percussion created an immersive backdrop for the dancers’ graceful movements.
As the river meets the sea, the performers wove their magic, creating a flowing exchange of energies that stirred deep emotions and evoked memories of distant lands.
The natural setting of Harbourfront Centre enhanced the experience, with the breeze from Lake Ontario and passing tall ships complementing the performance’s aquatic themes. The audience’s enthusiastic participation peaked during the climactic duet, where the dancers achieved perfect harmony.
Santé! By Cirque Kikasse
Quebec’s innovative circus troupe transformed a food truck into an extraordinary performance space.
Their show seamlessly blended fast-food preparation with spectacular acrobatics, showcasing remarkable athleticism and gravity-defying feats both on and above their unique mobile stage.
Musical Performances and Workshops
Afro-Indigenous roots of Colombia Cumbia workshop with Beny Esguerra
Beny Esguerra, the Juno-nominated multi-instrumentalist, delivered an engaging exploration of Afro-Colombian rhythms. Accompanied by his daughter, who acted as her father’s assistant. She helped distribute percussion instruments.
Esguerra created an interactive experience where the distributed percussion instruments became integral to the musical performance. It featured a fun and engaging demonstration that showcased the communicative power of drumming.
Kombilesa Mi
This vibrant Afro-Colombian ensemble brought the distinctive sounds of San Basilio de Palenque to life. Their dynamic performance merged traditional rhythms (Mapalé, Bullerengue, Son Palenquero) with contemporary hip-hop elements, performing in both Spanish and their native language, Palenque.
Formed in 2011, the group serves as a cultural bridge, connecting young people with their heritage while embracing modern musical expressions. The show was well-attended, and these fantastic entertainers had the crowd singing along, clapping in time, and seemingly having a joyful experience.
The festival experience concluded perfectly with an evening stroll along the Harbourfront paths. The day’s artistic celebrations settled into memory as night descended over Lake Ontario.
Photo Gallery: Adrianna Yunuziello Dance Migration performing Somd’agua
Photos by Paul J. Youngman [click on images to enlarge]
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