“Beat of the Boroughs” Music Series Highlights Immigrant NYC Artists

Untapped New York is excited to partner with the Center for Traditional Music and Dance to share their new online concert series Beat of the Boroughs: NYC Online. This virtual series celebrates the diversity of cultural traditions from around the world practiced right here in New York City. Through the program, viewers will be introduced to one hundred of New York City’s top immigrant performers, from poets and artists to musicians and dancers. Beat of the Boroughs highlights the incredible artistry of New York’s immigrant community while furthering the public’s appreciation for their work during these trying times.

Photograph Courtesy of Grupo Rebulo

Three different artists or ensembles will present every week. These New Yorkers hail from all over the globe including countries like Haiti, Sri Lanka, Cuba, Mongolia, India, the Balkans, and more. Each artist has complete control over the format of their session, which will be hosted by Arun Venugopal of WNYC. Performers may lead a workshop, present a lecture or demonstration or simply give a performance. In the videos, viewers will get to hear the artist’s personal story and learn about the remarkable traditions they share.

Mariachi Real de Mexico Photograph by Marisela Pacheco

Upcoming performances include a workshop on traditional Colombian drumming with Rafael Leal Ramierez, a concert of Algerian rai music and dance with Esraa Warda and Senegalese drumming and dancing with Lamine Thiam. Performances will air at 5PM ET on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Beat of the Boroughs is made possible through the generous support of the New York Community Trust’s NYC COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund and the Scherman Foundation and thanks to additional funding from the Howard Gilman Foundation, performances will continue through September 2021.

Oyu Oro, Photo Credit Keita Hanyuda

Upcoming Beat of the Boroughs performances will be listed on the

event page. Insiders recently got to sit down with Andrew Colwell, Project Director and Staff Ethnomusicologist for Center for Traditional Music and Dance, to learn more about the series and see excerpts of past performances. You can watch that talk here! Not an Insider yet?

and get two months free with code JOINUS. After that plans start at just $10/month. A video of the tour will also be made available to all our Insiders afterward in the

section of our website. Watch the next Beat of the Boroughs performance,

!

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Next, check out 14 New Public Art Installations in NYC December 2020