Nkumu Katalay & The "Life Long Project" Band

Nkumu Katalay Previews March 1 show at NYC's Mercury Lounge
Nkumu Katalay is a Kinshasa-born multi-instrumentalist and bandleader based in New York City. He leads one of the only working Congolese-oriented bands in the eastern U.S., and recently opened up for Kofi Olomide’s long-awaited New York performance at Webster Hall. On March 1, 2023, the band will headline at the Mercury Lounge in New York City. Afropop’s Banning Eyre spoke with Nkumu to get a preview. Here’s their conversation.

Banning Eyre: Good to see you again. This is the first time we have done a formal interview, so why don't you start by telling us your story a bit?

Nkumu Katalay: My name is Nkumu Katalay, born and raised in Kinshasa and half raised here in New York as well. I come from a Guinean father who traveled to the Congo in 1976, and a Congolese mother with whom I spent most of my life there. I grew up in my mom’s side of the family, and this explains a bit of my Congolese cultural side. My Guinean side, I’m still learning. My mother's family on both her mother’s and father’s side, had traditional music in the family. Traditional healing music. These are people who inherit the tradition of healing known as zebola.

What was the music like in those healing ceremonies?

The tradition is medicine, which implies being a nganga or somebody who knows what comes together to perform healing ceremonies. Among these ceremonial elements, that's where the traditional music comes in. It involves a lot of drumming. I grew up in a home where I saw, from when I was in kindergarten, my great great grandmother who was part of the zebola tradition, doing ceremonial events. The biggest names in town in traditional music would come to drum in our home. So me as a child, it seemed normal.

Because my mother was a zebola dancer at a young age, I witnessed the rite of passage for my great great aunt, my great great grandmother's younger sister. She is the one who inherited the traditional healing. My mom taught me how the drumming was. Her big sister, rest her soul, she is the one who next inherited the traditional healing. My mom was the fifth child. So on that side of the family. I always had access to the drum, and to what they were doing in ceremonies. I knew about tuning drums using fire, so I had access to things like that.

But in Kinshasa overall, I was living in Matonge. That's a section of Kinshasa where Viva la Musica and Papa Wemba was groomed. It's a very lively area. I remember coming out of our home in the morning and listening to the latest songs of out of loudspeakers, just catching up on what was new. Just recently I saw Victoria Eleison, Emeneya’s group. they were marking the ninth anniversary of his passing, and I heard the song they were singing and it took me right back to the mid ’80s when me and my young uncles would go out learning the lyrics to songs. So I grew up in Kinshasa, with that contrast, coming from this traditional music family, and Matonge with bars and music everywhere. Every avenue and every street had a band, so I was groomed under that.


I visited Matonge in 1987, and I know what you're talking about. It was really something back in the ’80s. So how did you end up in New York?

My father invited me here to give me a chance to have more opportunities.. So I left Congo in 1996 to come to New York as a youngster and to go to school.

Let me ask you about your name. I've always known you as Isaac. But you use the name Nkumu now.

Nkumu is the name my spirit calls me. Isaac is the name I received through my Christian faith in 2000, so it's still part of my official documentation, but my spirit calls me Nkumu, which is a word of the Bangala people for “chief” or “wise man” or “elder.” A king is a Nkumu, but it can also mean a person with wisdom.

So tell me a bit about the show you have coming up.

I'm playing at the Mercury Lounge in collaboration with dj henri. We're coproducing the event. I've never actually been to the Mercury Lounge. This will be my first time. Doors at 9 p.m., and the first set will go on at 9:30 p.m.

I chose March 1 because I had planned to leave for South Africa. Last March I went to South Africa in Polokwane to take place in the Nwali Festival as part of the U.N. Red Card campaign against sexual violence against women and children. Queen Mother Makhadzi, Queen of the Venda people, is a fierce advocate on many causes. This year, instead of me going in March to South Africa, the Queen is coming to New York to host a few Nwali Festival events throughout the States. I did a Nwali song called “Nwali Celebration,”[2] so now the Queen and I will shoot the video while she is here.


Tell me about your band.

The band is called “Nkumu Katalay and the “Life Long Project Band.” Life long is in quotations because it’s a philosophical statement of when I discovered that life is really a long project for the living. In life we have multiple activities, and the most mature activities are called projects. So as I was philosophizing in the early 2000s, ideas were coming to me, and I realized that life is a long project for the living. So that’s why I chose this band name.

How big a band is it?

After I officially went solo in 2011, whenever I was invited for a show, I could extend all the way up to an orchestra, because I grew up in Congo with Tabu Ley and Franco and these big bands that would have 12 musicians on stage, plus four dancers. But you know music is a tough business, so I had to learn to do all these things with reduced numbers. I can function as a solo artist, a duet, a trio, a quartet, quintet, and then I can extend to whatever is needed. The central part of my band is a quintet. I'm addicted to the percussion, but I play multiple instruments so if I have a percussionist, I'll be playing lead guitar. But whenever I don't have percussion, I'll be the one playing percussion. Then I have the rhythm section, the keys, the bass, the drum set, rhythm guitar...

Would you describe your music as Congolese?

I call my touch “Rumbianfunk,” the Rumba within my funk.

I like that.

Somehow being a youngster of African descent, but also of the diaspora, I've learned that the diaspora is not just we who came directly from Africa now. There's an extended history of 400, 500 years. So in watching my people’s journey, I've grown up knowing Cubans and people of the Caribbean, people of Latin America, African-Americans; it's a big collage of stories. So I started to see the connections. My vision highlights the contribution of Congolese culture in world history. I saw that Congo had historically influenced the diaspora that is here. So my music's really a collage of all those things. You have the Congolese traditional. You feel the influence of the Afro-Cubans that came in. It's kind of like your own coming back to you. So my sound has Negro spirituals, Congo, traditional, urban music, soukous, but all from a Congolese perspective.

I became particularly curious about the Cuban spirit in their music. Whenever they play, it reminds me of when my aunt used to do ceremonies. It reminds me of when all these percussionists in Kinshasa who would come to my great great aunt’s ceremonial dance. I saw how much the Cubans developed and preserved the African traditions within their music, and others in the Caribbean as well.

It comes from Africa, but they were able to keep it for some reason. I couldn't get over the fact that these are the people who left such a long time ago. But they're able to play, and culturally they're able to project that culture. So I fell in love with that, especially since I'm a percussionist. I saw also how the Cuban musical language has entered America. You see all these connections in jazz, the ability to use percussion at the highest level and to simplify a certain rhythmic language. This is my observation, I'm not a musicologist – but from observing I saw that the Cubans in particular have a level of spirituality and maturity in their execution. I saw their take as a movement in itself. Then there’s the second phase, that is what funk did when it was introduced to the world. It's almost like a relativity theory with Einstein, like a mathematical formula through the universe. Funk made the black cultural, or African diaspora regain that connection, again by simplifying the form. When you hear funk, you feel like anybody can play it. But it's actually very complex.

So I use the mixing of these two, plus me, a child of a mother who sang traditional songs to her children. This is beyond a political movement, beyond a revolution. It's an ability to express African maturity at that high level, and for me, knowing how it all relates to the Congo. I have to highlight that. So my music, while it's expressing Congo, it's also expressing me being here in the diaspora. That bundle is Rumbianfunk.


So interesting. We need to talk more about all that another time. I'm involved in a project about funk music in the ’70s and Africa and the way it played out in the Congo is very interesting. But we'll talk about that another time. Coming back to your band, I saw you guys last year opening for Koffi Olamide. It was a very strong show.

Yes, my set was early.

And Koffi came late. It was quite a night. But is that the band you'll be presenting at the Mercury Lounge?

It'll be a little smaller than that. But that's the core. When I started, I always wanted to have horns, but that requires a lot more rehearsing and practicing and expense. But for future concerts I do want to bring back horns.

Before we go, have you recorded an album?

I'm still working on my first album. I have lots of singles. But the first album is yet to come. Hopefully, the album will explain my style.

We look forward to it. Have a great gig. - Afropop Worldwide

Nkumu KATALAY Supports Congolese Legend Koffi Olomide – Live in NYC, November 5th
Oct 26, 2022 - Stereo Stickman

Creatively devoted to freedom of expression and naturally fusing genres, rising artist and performer Nkumu KATALAY takes on one of his biggest shows yet, in support of the legendary Koffi Olomide, this coming November 5th.


Congolese artist Koffi Olomide is set to hit the stage at Webster Hall in New York City this coming November 5th. The show will promise an unforgettable evening of emotive and uplifting live music, with support from the one and only Nkumu Katalay; a singer and dancer continuing his climb, with the unforgettable grooves, melodies and world music vibes of singles like Clear My Path.

Katalay opens the show at Webster Hall, one of his biggest events yet and a true testament to the passion, talent and determination that drives his every step. Not to be missed – grab tickets here.

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When? : Saturday 5th November, 9:00 pm (Doors Open @ 8 pm)

Where? : Webster Hall

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Get your tickets & check out Nkumu KATALAY on Facebook & Instagram. - STEREO STICKMAN

Summer Thursdays: Nkumu Katalay
& The “Life Long Project” Band
Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 5:30–8:00 p.m.
MoMA
Music
Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 5:30–8:00 p.m.
MoMA, Floor 1, Sculpture Garden
The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller
Sculpture Garden
Live music begins at 6:30 p.m.
Nkumu Katalay, a native of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, moved to New York in the late 1990s. His music is the product of both cities’ diversity. The child of a family of traditional healers, he was exposed to African dancing and drumming from an early age. His musical style of Rumbianfunk (“the rumba within my funk”) collages Afro contemporary music with the funky sounds that revolutionized Zaire (1960s–70s), Wenge Musica popular music (Congo, 1990s–2000s), and traditional African sounds. Katalay’s recent recording projects include “Congo4u,” “Pure Water,” and “Mwana Mboka” (Son of the Land). His first album, Paradox, is due out this fall.
This performance is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Bodys Isek Kingelez: City of Dreams.
Nkumu Katalay, lead vocals, rhythm guitar, drums; Firmin Belery, lead guitar; Emmanuel Oddet Etoummou, bass; Joseph Abiala, keyboard; Folachade Abiala, drumset; Rodney U. Naves, congas; Doriane Louisy Louis-Joseph, Naiika Sings, Aysiss Aïssatu Young, and Sofia Lauren Coffee, chorus vocals; Gabrielle Joseph, Simone Miars, Malekha-Shuki Goho, and Elsie Ndema, dancers
Every Thursday in July and August, 5:30–8:00 p.m.
Live music begins at 6:30 p.m.
Regular Museum admission applies. Performances take place in the Sculpture Garden. In the event of rain, the Garden will close, and music will take place in Theater 1. Please note: Sculpture Garden and indoor seating are limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.
The musical component of Summer Thursdays 2018 celebrates musicians living and working in New York City. Organized in collaboration with PopRally, the series hosts a variety of sounds that explore the City’s expansive musical landscape. Each evening, unique sonic flavors fill the Sculpture Garden with a range of blended genres such as dream punk, Afrofuturist soul, funk fusion, hip-hop, experimental, and lo-fi baroque pop. - The Museum of Modern Art: MoMA

Exclusive Nkumu Katalay Premiere: "Congo4U"
When it comes to Congolese popular music, Nkumu Katalay can do it all: He's a dancer, singer, drummer, percussionist, guitarist, bassist and bandleader. Born in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nkumu is a veteran of Lokassa Ya Mbongo's Soukous Stars, but he has become a fixture in New York City, especially in Harlem, his neighborhood of choice. He leads The Life-Long Project Band, is a co-director of the Yam Session, a monthly collective Afro jam session, and teaches weekly high-energy Afro-Congolese dance classes.

We are particularly excited to present Nkumu Katalay live with special guest Rafiya at the launch of our weekly residency, this Tues., March 7 at Threes Brewing. More info here. In advance of the show, we are premiering an exclusive stream of Nkumu's new single "Congo4U," officially out on Fri., March 10 on all major platforms, with a video dropping soon.


You can also stream "Congo4U" on Spotify, and download it oniTunes, Amazon and more.

"Congo4U" mixes a gospel beat with Congolese rumba guitars and funk transitions. Nkumu sings mostly in Lingala, trading off with Emmanuel Etoumou from Congo-Brazzaville, singing in English and Lingala. Nkumu describes the themes: "The letter 'U' for Unity, United, Union, Unique, Universal, Ubiquitous: 'Universal' because I see Congo in every part of the African diaspora, so therefore the Congolese influence, too. My vision is to highlight the contribution of Congolese culture in world history, and Congo is ubiquitous since she is spread by the story of her children. 'Unique' because she does not die. Her presence can be felt everywhere she touches. I refer to Congo as female, since she is also mother to humanity. March is Women's History Month and my mother Congo is here."

While Nkumu paints the picture of Congo's relevance for all humanity, he also points out the paradox of Congo's consistent under-development and democratic crises: The country has been pillaged by "known enemies" and "unknown enemies." Nkumu sings, Lelo bateki Congo namaboko ya ba nguna, which translates as "today they sold Congo in the hands of enemies," and he challenges all humanity not to be silent in the face of Congo's suffering. Yet, he also admonishes his Congolese people "not to focus only on external enemies while jealousy, envy, pride, gossip and hunger are our constant internal enemies." He reminds Congolese people of their ancestral history, their great leaders including Lumumba, Kasavubu and reaches back to Nzinga Nkuvu, A.K.A. João I of Kongo. However, Nkumu delivers the most paradoxical and forceful lines in the first verse: Alleh yibilani muana/Mayele ezalaka nango/Eloko oyo ya kosomba/Kasi bozoba ezalaka/Nango eloko ya ofele Nzambe, which translates as, "Know that intelligence is something one can buy/However stupidity is always free to grab."

So don't be stupid, buy "Congo4U" today, and come out to Threes Brewing to see Nkumu Katalay and The Life-Long Project Band live at the debut Afropop Worldwide Residency! - Afropop WorldWide

Congo Day in New York City: Lokassa and Kokoko
The death of veteran Congolese guitarist Lokassa Ya M’Bongo in March sent shockwaves through the global Congolese music community, perhaps especially in the New York City area, where he so often performed in his later years. There had to be a response.

A group of musicians led by bandleader/singer/multi-instrumentalist Nkumu Katalay rose to the challenge scheduling a tribute jam session at Silvana in Harlem on April 22. For four hours (3 p.m. to 7 p.m.) the sounds of classic soukous and traditional Congolese music rang out to an enthusiastic crowd of Lokassa admirers. There were tributes to the man, and an appearance by Lokassa’s longtime bass player in Soukous Stars and many other projects, Ngouma Lokito, who delivered moving words about his friend near the end of the celebration.

The music included an epic version of Franco’s classic “Mario,” fantastic seben jams on Soukous Stars numbers, and a wonderful segment of tradition Bakongo and Baluba music, grooves quite distinct from the clavé feel of Kinshasa rumba/soukous. At one point Katalay took up a tall ngoma drum and lead the crowd in a rousing, traditional call and response, clearly familiar to the Congolese in the crowd.

The band featured Hussein Kalondji on mi-solo guitar; that’s the style Lokassa was known for, and it involves replacing the D string on the guitar with a high E string, tuned to D. So the tuning doesn’t change, but that high note in the middle of the neck adds sweetness and allows the “middle” guitarist to insert complementary melodies, the art that Lokassa mastered and performed throughout his long career. In remarks, Kalondji thanked Lokassa for his mentorship, and his performance clearly showed he had learned well.

Among the other musicians were Julian Apter on rhythm guitar, Morgan Greenstreet (of Afropop Worldwide fame) on drums, Maxwell Fleischman on bass, Annette Lipson on congas and of course, Nkumu Katalay on everything, nimbly switching between guitars, bass, percussion, drum kit and lead vocal. Yours truly even joined on guitar for awhile. Teddy Magaspoon served as vocal animateur (atelaku) for the evening, accompanied by vocalist Eric Kenzo and they brought the joyful Congo music spirit to high gear throughout the afternoon.

From there, keeping the Congo vibe going, we headed south to Brooklyn to catch a highly anticipated set by a very different Congolese outfit, Kokoko. The show went down at Public Records, presented by our colleagues at the World Music Institute. Kokoko is a remarkable five-piece band that combines Congolese rhythms and melodies with highly original home-made instruments and brilliant electronics from the band’s producer Débruit (Xavier Thomas). This group is known for political engagement, their inclusion of French, Lingala, Swahili and Kikongo lyrics, and their monstrously powerful dance grooves.


Folks who caught Kokoko at Le Poisson Rouge in 2019 were anticipating the full band lineup and were somewhat surprised when just two members, Débruit and percussionist/vocalist Julien Makara took the stage, minus most of those homemade instruments. Never mind. This full house of young Brooklyn denizens were ready to rumble, and rumble they did. Débruit’s rich sound scapes filled the air, and Makara absolutely delivered. He’s a superb vocalist, his tone at times reminiscent of Papa Wemba’s piercing tenor, and his melodies put an unmistakable Congolese stamp on the presentation no matter how otherworldly its direction veered. He mostly played a set of three mounted circular drums, and he played them almost like a melody instrument, not so much holding down grooves as making strong rhythmic statements.

There were threads of clavé-based Congolese seben grooves, sometimes at breakneck speed, but also less familiar rhythms. Once it kicked into gear, the set held a relentless pace, and earned roars of participation and approval from the crowd. This was an extraordinary display of the maximum that can effuse from an apparently minimalist ensemble. The whole set barely topped an hour, but no one was complaining. This show was the equivalent of a heavy workout at the gym. I, who did not see the Poisson Rouge show, can only imagine what the whole band would deliver onstage, but I sure hope I get to find out one of these days.

Stay tuned for an interview with the two artists in this one-of-a-kind act. Here are some of my photos of a remarkable day...

Numu "Isaac" Katalay
Numu "Isaac" Katalay
Hussein Kalondji on mi-solo guitar
Hussein Kalondji on mi-solo guitar
Teddy Magaspoon and Eric Kenzo
Teddy Magaspoon and Eric Kenzo
Ngouna Lokito
Ngouna Lokito

#afropopworldwide #banningeyre #numukatalay #morgangreenstreet #lokassayambongo #silvana #publicrecords #worldmusic institute #kokoko #congomusic #husseinkalondji #Teddy Magaspoon #Eric Kenzo #soukousstars - Afropop Worldwide

Nkumu Katalay performs at Harlem Meer Performance Festival
Dancing with Nkumu Katalay is a must! He has been called the king of rumba soukous music. Born in the capital city Kinshasa of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nkumu blends the music of his homeland with contemporary sounds from the Americas to create a rhythmic beat. - Central Park

Bronx Series Highlights Congolese Influence in Caribbean Music & Dance
Bronx Music Heritage Center's summer series features performances, a film screening, and moderated conversations with artists and scholars.

Zac Roy,
Community Contributor
Posted Wed, Jun 7, 2023 at 3:30 pm ET
|
Updated Thu, Jun 22, 2023 at 4:55 pm ET
Reply
Nkumu Katalay will perform and be part of a moderated discussion at on the Bronx Music Hall Plaza on Saturday, June 24 at 3:00 PM.
Nkumu Katalay will perform and be part of a moderated discussion at on the Bronx Music Hall Plaza on Saturday, June 24 at 3:00 PM.
(Bronx, NY) – This summer the Bronx Music Heritage Center (BMHC) will present a series of music performances, a film screening, and moderated conversations exploring the many Congolese influences in Caribbean music and dance. The programming will be presented across three events in the BMHC’s signature Bronx Rising! series, which brings the Bronx’s cultural riches, past and present, to life. The June and July events will be held at the BMHC Lab at 1303 Louis Niñé Blvd. The August events will be at the Bronx Music Hall Plaza at 438 E. 163rd St., at the corner of Washington Ave.

“West Central Africa, popularly known as Congo or Bantu, brought a trove of ideas and music to the Americas. We are proud to shine a light on this vibrant cultural legacy with our programming this summer,” said Elena Martínez, co-artistic director of the BMHC.

This season of Bronx Rising! will begin on Saturday, June 24 at 3:00 PM at the BMHC Lab, with The Congo Influence in Puerto Rican Bomba, a conversation between Nkumu Katalay and Alex LaSalle, bandleader of Alma Moyo, followed by a performance of their ensembles.


Then, on Saturday, July 22 at 7:00 PM at the BMHC Lab, the BMHC will present Congo Roots in the Diaspora: Kumina in Jamaica, featuring a screening of the film “Kumina Queen,” followed by a moderated discussion and Q&A with the film’s director Nyasha Laing and anthropologist Dr. Kenneth Bilby about the Congo influence in popular Jamaican music.

An ancestral ritual based on African traditions in Jamaica, Kumina is a distinct, expressive spiritual folk form that travelled to Jamaica with Kikongo-speaking laborers from central Africa during the 19th century. Its basic elements are song, dance, and trance possession. The practice is a driving force in Jamaica's culture and identity and the music and rhythms employed during Kumina rituals and ceremonies have heavily influenced Jamaican popular music. More specifically, the genres of reggae and dancehall that emerged during Jamaica's post-colonial renaissance enabled practitioners to share their tradition openly with the world. Today, artists and followers are reimagining Kumina, even as the mysterious world of spirit possession reveals divergent pathways to freedom, healing, and transformation.

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The series will conclude on Saturday, August 26 at 4:00 on the Bronx Music Hall Plaza with Congo Roots in the Diaspora: “Quien no tiene de Kongo tiene de Karabalí” (translated as "Whoever does not have Kongo has Karabalí," which refers to the popular Cuban phrase that everyone has some African blood). This event will feature a performance by the Román Díaz Ensemble and discussion between Román Díaz, cultural historian Dr. Ivor Miller, and BMHC co-artistic director Bobby Sanabria, exploring how Congolese influences have shaped Cuban traditions, producing some of the most famous performance ensembles of the island.

Admission for the July event at the BMHC Lab is $10 with a discounted rate of $5 for students and seniors. Events in the outdoor plaza are free. For more information, call (917) 557-2354.

Historical and cultural background

Bantu-Congolese religious elements are embedded in popular and contemporary music forms in Latin American and Jamaican communities across the United States. The Bantu people (also known as the Congos in Cuba), who arrived via the slave trade, assimilated themselves quickly into Cuban culture. As a result, their religious traditions created somewhat of a collective Cuban identity that has influenced Cuban music forms such as Conga and Mambo, which respectively mean song and chant. Similarly, traditional and current Jamaican music genres, such as Reggae and Ska, have important Bantu-Congolese ritual contexts that associate worship with community building and social gathering.

The Congolese influence in the South Bronx is embodied with Cuban-born composer, bandleader, and musician Arsenio Rodriguez. Born in the Matanzas region of Cuba, he was a direct descendant of Bantu-Congolese culture. Arsenio is attributed with being the first Cuban bandleader to add the conga drum to dance band performance. The conga drum is a stylized descendant of the “ngome” drum from Bantu-Congolese culture. Many of Arsenio’s songs such as Burundanga” and “Kimbio-Kimbimbia” featured Bantu-Congo rooted themes. Arsenio’s creation of the rhythm known as son montuno (which is salsa’s rhythmic foundation) first gave rise to the “mambo”—which is the Bantu-Congo word for chant. Arsenio was also an initiate of the Bantu-Congo-rooted Afro-Cuban religion known as Palo Mayombe.

The conga drum itself has its origins in the Congo religious drum, “ngome”—making the conga drum a direct visual and visceral link to Africa. Another example is the common bell pattern used by the timbales in fast tempos, which come directly from a Congo religious rhythm known as maquta. Ceremonial language also pervades the lyrics in the well know song, Rompe saraguey, which refers to a plant used in ceremony.

Despite having such a large impact, the central African Congo influences and connections have been emphasized less both in the music world and within the Latin American and Caribbean communities in the United States, most likely due to their much earlier arrival via the slave trade—but their presence pervades many of the music, dance, and artistic traditions.

About the participating artists and scholars

Nyasha Laing is a documentarian who works to transform our understanding of diverse social and cultural movements and practices. Her independent storytelling—which has appeared in and on the Los Angeles Pan-African Film Festival, BBC World Service, YES Magazine, The Art Museum of the Americas, IMZ International Festival, and European Traveling Showcase—explores loss, regeneration, identity, and freedom.

Dr. Kenneth Bilby is an American anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, and author. His published works include the books Words of Our Mouth, Meditations of Our Heart: Pioneering Musicians of Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae, and Dancehall (2016), Enacting Power: The Criminalization of Obeah in the Anglophone Caribbean, 1760–2011 (2012; with Jerome S. Handler), True-Born Maroons (2005), and Caribbean currents: Caribbean music from rumba to reggae (1995; with Peter Manuel and Michael Largey).

Nkumu Katalay is an artist, orator, multi-instrumentalist, and social activist whose main objective is to promote humanity. Born in Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo, he lives in New York City. Nkumu's vision highlights the contribution of Congolese culture to modern world history. He is the founder of The Life Long Project Band, a musical group and a project that focuses on pushing the positive narrative of the Congolese culture via music and social-cultural and educational initiatives. He is also the founder of the Afro Congolese Dance program and company which offers weekly dance activities throughout New York City, in schools, corporations, or cultural centers for all ages from children to adults and seniors.

Alex LaSalle is a high priest (Tata Nkisi) to one of the oldest houses of Kongo-Cuban Palo in Cuba and now New York City—Batalla Sacampeño Mayombe. His teacher and mentor is Florencio Miguel Garzon (“Loanganga”) from Cuba. In addition to serving as a diviner and priest, Alex is also a specialist in hundreds of Afro-Cuban Kongo Mambo songs and rituals. Alex is fluent in the Afro-Cuban Bantu/Kongo language, is an avid researcher and oral historian. He has presented lectures for educators and students at Yale, Columbia, New York University, Long Island University, and others. A teaching artist in New York City public schools, Alex is the founder and director of Alma Moyo Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba group, and member of Grammy Nominated Los Pleneros de la 21 and Grupo Folklorico Experimental Nueva Yorquino. Alex has performed with such groups as Roberto Cepeda’s Bomba Aché, William Cepeda’s Afro-Boricua, Felix Alduén y su Tambores, Pa’lo Monte, Nchila Ngoma Mayombe, and 21 Division.

Román Díaz is a Cuban-born master percussionist and a living repository of Afro-Cuban culture. He is a noted scholar of Cuban religious and folkloric music as well as a composer and performer of contemporary Afro-Cuban music and Jazz. He has performed and recorded with Cuban diva Mercedíta Valdes, Canadian Jane Bunnett, Juan Carlos Formell, Paquito D’Rivera, and folkloric artist, Orlando “Puntilla” Rios, and Pianist Danílo Pérez. He has also recorded with the Afro-Cuban folkloric groups; Yoruba Andabo, Raices Profundas and Los Marqueses de Atares. He has also performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, and the Smithsonian Museum. As a member of the seminal Rumba ensemble, Yoruba Andabo, Díaz aided in the creation of the sound that has defined contemporary Rumba since the 1980’s in Cuba and around the world. Díaz continues to innovate the song style as well as migrating the conical two-headed Bata drum from religious music into contemporary Jazz.

Dr. Ivor Miller is a cultural historian specializing in the African Diaspora in the Caribbean and the Americas. He was a Senior Fellow at the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution (2011-2012), a Fulbright Scholar to Nigeria (2009-2011), and teaches in the Bassey Andah Institute for African and Asian Studies at the University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. His most recent book, “Voice of the Leopard: African Secret Societies and Cuba” (UP of Mississippi 2009/ CBAAC Lagos 2011) was awarded Honorable Mention by the Association for Africanist Anthropology. Based upon fieldwork in Nigeria, Cameroon, Cuba, and the USA, it documents ritual languages and practices that survived the Middle Passage and evolved into a unifying charter for transplanted slaves and their successors.

Bobby Sanabria is Bobby Sanabria is co-artistic director of The Bronx Music Heritage Center and an eight-time Grammy-nominated drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, conductor, producer, educator, and bandleader. He has performed and recorded with legends such as Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaría, Ray Barretto, Cándido, Henry Threadgill, Larry Harlow, and the Godfather of Afro-Cuban jazz, Mario Bauzá. A South Bronx native of Puerto Rican parents, Sanabria was inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame in 2006. He holds a B.M. from the Berklee College of Music and is on the faculty of the New School and the Manhattan School of Music, conducting the Afro-Cuban Jazz Big Bands at both schools.

About The Bronx Music Heritage Center

The BMHC is run by the nonprofit Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco). Since its inception in 2010, the BMHC has distinguished itself as a cultural institution committed to showcasing the rich cultural heritage, traditions, and artistic talent of the Bronx through humanities-focused, interdisciplinary programming, primarily at the BMHC Lab space. WHEDco is currently completing construction of the 14,000 sq. ft. Bronx Music Hall, which will be the future home of all BMHC programming—and the first newly constructed music performance venue in The Bronx in more than a half center—when it opens later this year. In addition to the 250-seat performance theater, the Bronx Music Hall will include a green room, studio, multi-use classroom, lobby to host exhibits, receptions, and events, and amphitheater-style seating in two adjacent plazas for outdoor performances. It will serve 20,000 in-person audience members and students annually at full capacity post-pandemic.


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nds of our financial, technical and managerial supporters. With your support, our mission has expanded to a total of 5 neglected tropical diseases that affect many of the poorest of the poor and most vulnerable children and adults in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Lymphatic Filariasis, Onchocerciasis (aka river blindness), Schistosomiasis, Soil-Transmitted Helminthiases, and Trachoma.
Through a well-integrated and evidence-based program, United Front Against Riverblindness (UFAR) continues to manage the distribution of preventive medicines to millions with the proven achievable goal of the eventual control and elimination of several targeted neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). In 2021, UFAR managed a network that provided appropriate medications to well over 28.3 million Congolese, attributable to the expansion of its support to additional health zones. UFAR’s primary responsibility has been to ensure that the intended beneficiaries of the drugs provided free by their manufacturers continue to receive them annually as prescribed until the goal is reached.
We need your support more than ever!
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Join the UFAR for a soirée
Join us for an unforgettable soirée dedicated to raising awareness and funds for the fight against river blindness. Unite with us for an evening of entertainment, inspiration, and hope as we work together to eliminate this devastating disease.
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2022 Honorees :

Lifetime Achievement Award - Simon Bush
Director, Neglected Tropical Diseases at Sightsavers

Pinnacle Award - GlaxoSmithKline
Accepting for GSK Tijana Williams, Leads NTD Access Programs

Above and Beyond Award
Susan & Vasanth Victor
Christo Claassens


Special entertainment for the evening!


Egun Omode
Performing Arts Collective

Universal African Dance & Drum Ensemble
Blessed and Sanctioned to be one of the BEST Professional, Authentic & Traditional African Dance and Drum Ensembles in the U.S.A. and Performing Arts Organization located in Camden, New Jersey and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nkumu Katalay
Artist, Orator, Multi-instrumentalist

Nkumu Katalay is a social activist whose main objective is to promote humanity. Born in Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo, he now lives in NYC. Nkumu's vision highlights the contribution of Congolese cultures in modern world history.

The cultural and social dynamics that exist both in New York City and Kinshasa helped his quest for translating his idea of sound and movements. Both places are very diverse and rich in culture. These two cities introduced Nkumu Katalay to the world, and they also poured into him a deep appreciation of humanity.




UFAR’s 11th annual soiree in 2021 was a smashing success!


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2021 Honorees - United Front Against Riverblindness

This summer the Bronx Music Heritage Center (BMHC) will present a series of music performances, a film screening, and moderated conversations exploring the many Congolese influences in Caribbean music and dance. The first of three events, held on June 24, was a conversation about “The Congo Influence in Puerto Rican Bomba,” between Nkumu Katalay and Alex LaSalle, bandleader of Alma Moyo, followed by a performance of their ensembles.


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This is part of the BMHC’s signature Bronx Rising! series, which brings the Bronx’s cultural riches, past and present, to life. The BMHC is committed to preserving and promoting Bronx music, cultivating Bronx artists, spurring neighborhood revival, and providing free cultural programs for the community.

“West Central Africa, popularly known as Congo or Bantu, brought a trove of ideas and music to the Americas. We are proud to shine a light on this vibrant cultural legacy with our programming this summer,” said Elena Martínez, co-artistic director of the BMHC.

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Summer Event Series highlights Congolese influence in Caribbean music and dance - Caribbean Life.

Summer Event Series highlights Congolese influence in Caribbean music and dance
-- | 1:11
Martinez added that being from the Bronx, “it’s great to take part in this organization, with a focus of having entertaining and educational programming, while also giving back to the community.” For her, as a Puerto Rican woman, it’s important to be “doing stuff that’s interesting, and to be always learning from Puerto Rican and other communities.”

The Congolese influence in the South Bronx is embodied with Cuban-born composer, bandleader, and musician Arsenio Rodriguez, who was born in the Matanzas region of Cuba. He was a direct descendant of Bantu-Congolese culture, and he is attributed with being the first Cuban bandleader to add the conga drum to dance band performance. The conga drum is a stylized descendant of the “ngome” drum from Bantu-Congolese culture.

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Nkumu Katalay, on bass guitar, wearing a cream hat. A member of his Life Long Project band is standing behind him on stage.
Nkumu Katalay, on bass guitar, wearing a cream hat. A member of his Life Long Project band is standing behind him on stage.
Photo by Elena Martinez, co-artistic director of the Bronx Music Heritage Center (BMHC)
Learn more about Arsenio Rodriguez here: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/arsenio-rodr%C3%ADguez-mn0000600775/biography.

Learn more about the history of music in the Bronx here: https://www.thisisbronxmusic.org/bronx-music-history/.

The series will continue on Saturday, July 22 at 7:00 p.m. at the BMHC Lab, at 1303 Louis Niñé Blvd. with “Congo Roots in the Diaspora: Kumina in Jamaica,” featuring a screening of the film “Kumina Queen,” followed by a moderated discussion and Q&A with the film’s director Nyasha Laing and anthropologist Dr. Kenneth Bilby about the Congo influence in popular Jamaican music.

An ancestral ritual based on African traditions in Jamaica, Kumina is a distinct, expressive spiritual folk form that traveled to Jamaica with Kikongo-speaking laborers from central Africa during the 19th century. Its basic elements are song, dance, and trance possession.

The series will conclude on Saturday, August 26 at 4:00 on the Bronx Music Hall Plaza at 438 E. 163rd St., at the corner of Washington Ave., with Congo Roots in the Diaspora: “Quien no tiene de Kongo tiene de Karabalí” (translated as “Whoever does not have Kongo has Karabalí,” which refers to the popular Cuban phrase that everyone has some African blood).

This event will feature a performance by the Román Díaz Ensemble and discussion between Román Díaz, cultural historian Dr. Ivor Miller, and BMHC co-artistic director Bobby Sanabria, exploring how Congolese influences have shaped Cuban traditions, producing some of the most famous performance ensembles of the island.

Admission for the July event at the BMHC Lab is $10, with a discounted rate of $5 for students and seniors. Events in the outdoor plaza are free. For more information, call the BMHC at (917) 557-2354.

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BRONX RISING SERIES HIGHLIGHTS FOLK MUSIC OF THE CARIBBEAN
By Christian Nazario / June 27, 2023
One of Puerto Rico’s most enduring forms of folk dance and music was center stage at the Bronx Music Heritage Center in Soundview on Saturday, at the latest in its much acclaimed Bronx Rising series.

The performance highlighted the conga music and dance traditions across the Caribbean.

Nkumu Katalay, an artist, orator and multi-instrumentalist from the Democratic Republic of Congo joined Puerto Rican Bomba player Alex Lasalle, the founder and director of Alma Moyo Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba group, for a discussion with the audience about conga and the Bomba.

Clemente Robles brought his family to the Heritage Center for the first time for the performances.

“This is one of the most powerful ways we can reconnect families to culture,” he said. “It’s a way of realigning ancestral lineage, We have to reclaim our history. And this is a practical way of doing that.”

Pablo Blanco and his son Pablo Jr. came to support their friend Katalay, and concluded the show was rewarding enough to take beyond the Bronx.

“I could see it happening in communities that have a class struggle,” said Blanco Sr. “This, in essence, is a class struggle that we currently share. The Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Garifuna from Honduras. It’s a class struggle that connects us,” said Blanco.

Before Saturday’s show, Bronx Rising hadn’t been in front of a live audience since 2020 due to the pandemic. The Heritage Center’s director Elena Martinez said she was thrilled to get a crowd back for the series. For the last three years, the Center’s events have been held virtually over Facebook and YouTube pages.

Performing over social media doesn’t come close to live performance, said Lasalle.

“This is something you have to be present in,” he said. “You have to live it. You have to breathe it. You have to taste it. And the pandemic kind of removed us from that. But on the flip side, it also re-sparked our hunger.”

The Bronx Rising series, he said, presents a connection for the South Bronx’s sizable Puerto Ricans to the history of their island.

“We’re from the Bronx and we realize that people have all these negative views of the Bronx because of the seventies and eighties,” said Martinez. “We see a renaissance of music and arts organizations with the Bronx Rising. Great things are happening in the Bronx. So we wanted to give it a positive spin on what’s going on in the Bronx.”

The next event in the series is Jamaican Kumina and the conga influence, to be followed by an August tribute to Cuban music and dance. - The Hunts Point Express

The Apollo Presents the Return of Africa Now! Festival Live and In Person with
Somi and Friends:
The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba,
a Concert Featuring East African Jazz Vocalist and Grammy Nominee Somi and Special Guests Dianne Reeves, Thandiswa Mazwai, and Msaki
Festival line-up includes screening of Queen of Glory by actor and director Nana Mensah (Netflix’s “The Chair”),
a performance by Congolese dancer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist Nkumu Katalay with DJ YB, and more
Somi. Image courtesy the Apollo Theater.
Harlem, NY – (February 24, 2022) – The Apollo’s -annual Africa Now! festival returns this April, headlined by Grammy-nominated, East African jazz vocalist Somi—celebrating the launch of her forthcoming album that honors the late South African singer-songwriter and civil rights activist Miriam Makeba. Set to debut on March 4, marking what would have been Makeba’s 90th birthday, Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba is an album accompanying Somi’s musical production Dreaming Zenzile, featuring Somi in the role of Makeba, an artist whose music criticized apartheid, placing her at the forefront of political activism. Somi will be joined by award-winning jazz singer Dianne Reeves, South African musician and vocalist Thandiswa Mazwai, and composer and vocalist Msaki.

Music and entertainment from the continent continues to drive trends across all facets of culture around the globe. The Apollo’s Africa Now! Festival returns for its eighth year to celebrate the best cultural innovators from the African Diaspora. This year’s festival takes place from March 4 through March 19.
“We're thrilled to welcome back our Africa Now! celebration and to continue honoring and presenting contemporary art from the African diaspora,” said Kamilah Forbes, the Apollo’s Executive Producer. “Over the past eight decades the Apollo has amplified Black voices and used its platforms to create an intersection of art and activism, so having Somi, a contemporary artist and activist, perform new music from her upcoming album that honors the late Miriam Makeba, a respected musical and activist icon of the 1960s, is exactly the kind of artistic conversation and experimentation that the Apollo champions.”
Somi was closely mentored by the legendary trumpet player Hugh Masekela, who was a longtime collaborator to Miriam Makeba. Makeba and Masekela were both prominent figures in African jazz music and activism in South Africa and around the world, acclaimed for their musical talents and popular songs that were critical of apartheid. Their visibility earned them monikers such as “Mama Africa” and “the Father of African Jazz.” Both Makeba and Masekela performed several times at the Apollo in the 1960s, sometimes together and often with other jazz artists and musicians, including John Coltrane and Machito and His Afro Jazz Band in an ensemble concert. Somi’s musical production Dreaming Zenzile made its world premiere at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis in 2021 and is touring in theaters across the country ahead of its Off- Broadway debut at New York Theatre Workshop in Summer 2022.
In addition to Somi’s one night only performance, the festival kicks off on March 4 with Apollo Comedy Club featuring digital host and comedian Akintunde, as seen on Comedy Central Alfred Kainga, founder of Feel the News Marcela Onyango, and comedian and actor Yedoye Travis with music by DJ Qool Marv. The festival also includes an Apollo Music Café performance featuring Congolese dancer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist Nkumu Katalay and DJ YB on March 5, a screening and post-film discussion of Apollo Film: ImageNation’s Cocktails and Sol Cinema – Queen of Glory, by director Nana Mensah (Netflix’s “The Chair”) who vividly captures the Ghanaian-American experience of being caught between two worlds in her film on March 10, and a virtual Apollo Livewire discussion curated by Ethnomusicologist Fredara Hadley in dialogue with contemporary artists about some of the legendary artists and historic performances by artists from the continent on March 15. The festival culminates on March 19 with Somi and special guests Dianne Reeves, Thandiswa Mazwai, and Msaki.
Looking ahead to 2022, the Apollo will offer a dynamic line-up of free and ticketed programs in person at the Apollo’s historic theater and online on the Apollo Digital Stage. Highlights include the long-anticipated return of the Amateur Night at the Apollo competition on Wednesday, February 16 at 7:30pm EST and on select Wednesdays thereafter; Apollo Master Artist-in-Residence Ta-Nehisi Coates and The Roots’ Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, in conversation; the Lyricist Lounge 30th Anniversary Concert featuring hip-hop trailblazer KRS-1 and others to be announced; the premiere of The Gathering: A Collective Ring Shout, co- presented by the American Composers Orchestra and the Apollo and co-curated by National Black Theatre, and more. As with all of its programming, the non-profit Apollo’s season centers Black artists and voices from the African Diaspora with myriad opportunities for artists and audiences to come back together at the iconic theater. For a complete line-up and more information about the Apollo, please visit www.ApolloTheater.org.
Event details follow below. - Apollo

The Bronx Music Heritage Center (BMHC) will present a series of music performances, a film screening and moderated conversations exploring the many Congolese influences in Caribbean music and dance this summer.

The programming will be presented across three events in the BMHC’s signature Bronx Rising! series, which brings the Bronx’s cultural riches, past and present, to life.

“West Central Africa, popularly known as Congo or Bantu, brought a trove of ideas and music to the Americas. We are proud to shine a light on this vibrant cultural legacy with our programming this summer,” said Elena Martinez, co-artistic director of the BMHC.


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This season of Bronx Rising! will begin on Saturday, June 24 at 4 p.m. at the Bronx Music Hall Plaza, with The Congo Influence in Puerto Rican Bomba, a conversation between Nkumu Katalay and Alex LaSalle, bandleader of Alma Moyo, followed by a performance of their ensembles.

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Bronx series highlights Congolese influences in Caribbean music and dance - Bronx Times.

Bronx series highlights Congolese influences in Caribbean music and dance
-- | 1:24
Then, on Saturday, July 22 at 7 p.m. at the BMHC Lab, the BMHC will present Congo Roots in the Diaspora: Kumina in Jamaica, featuring a screening of the film “Kumina Queen,” followed by a moderated discussion and Q&A with the film’s director Nyasha Laing and anthropologist Dr. Kenneth Bilby about the Congo influence in popular Jamaican music.

Kumina is an ancestral ritual based on African traditions in Jamaica. Kumina is a distinct, expressive religion that travelled to Jamaica with Kikongo-speaking laborers from Central Africa during the 19th century. The basic elements of Kumina are song, dance and trance possession.

Bantu-Congolese religious elements are embedded in popular and contemporary music forms in Latin American and Jamaican communities across the United States. The Bantu people (also known as the Congos in Cuba), who arrived via the slave trade, assimilated themselves quickly in Cuban culture. As a result, their religious traditions created somewhat of a collective Cuban identity that has influenced Cuban music forms such as Conga and Mambo, which respectively mean song and chant.

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Today, artists and followers are reimagining Kumina, even as the mysterious world of spirit possession reveals divergent pathways to freedom, healing, and transformation.

The series will conclude on Saturday, Aug. 26 at 4 p.m. at the Bronx Music Hall Plaza with Congo Roots in the Diaspora: “Quien no tiene de Kongo tiene de Karabalí” (translated as “Whoever does not have Kongo has Karabalí,” which refers to the popular Cuban phrase that everyone has some African blood). This event will feature a performance by the Román Díaz Ensemble and discussion between Roman Díaz, Dr. Ivor Miller and BMHC Co-artistic Director Bobby Sanabria, exploring how Congolese influences have shaped Cuban traditions, producing some of the most famous performance ensembles of the island.

For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes - Bronx Times

Music around the World: Nkumu Isaac Katalay

Ben Hinson
Music around the World
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Isaac Katalay is a musician of Congolese descent who performs regularly on the Harlem/NYC cultural circuit. He pegs his music genre as “Rumbian Funk,” which to me sounds like a hybrid of Salsa/Merengue, Jazz, and some elements of Afrobeat and Congolese traditional music. Check out a live performance by him and his band at The Shrine in Harlem, NYC.

If you enjoyed this article, please help others find it by clicking the ❤ below. And be sure to subscribe to Music Around the World by clicking the “Follow” button below to have new articles about amazing personalities in the music industry delivered right to your inbox! - Music around the World

East Harlem’s Afrimbembé Festival Makes a Call For Black Solidarity During Black August
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New York, NY – Commemorating Black August, specifically Aug. 21 which marks 50 years since the assassination of revolutionary leader George Jackson, the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) is hosting their third annual AFRIBEMBÉ FESTIVAL: Black Solidarity = Black Freedom. The free event will be held Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Harlem Art Park located on E 120th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues.

Held virtually in 2020, the AFRIBEMBÉ FESTIVAL returns to the physical space, in partnership with the Friends of Art Park Alliance (FAPA), with a full day of live artist performances and DJs featuring: Tabou Combo, Afro Dominicano, DJ Reborn, Durieux, Rue Brown, Boricua Legends, DJ Sabine, and Nkumu Katalay and The Life Long Project Band.


While the musical sounds of various African and African Diasporic cultures such as Haitian, American, Puerto Rican and Congolese, draw festival goers into motion, the smell of comfort food from the SoulFull Food Plaza will entice them to enjoy the savory, sweet and spicy flavors of Diasporic dishes.

“AFRIBEMBÉ is more than just a day out for our families. It’s a celebration of the Black genius of emerging and renowned African descendant creatives with roots throughout all the Diaspora. It’s a day to honor our strides in self-determination and resistance against systemic racism around the world made by our ancestors and revolutionaries. It is a day to encourage the new generation of activists to further this legacy of unity,” says Melody Capote, executive director of CCCADI.

The festival will include the Children’s Village where families can enjoy movement and artmaking together, the Afribembé Marketplace of merchandise, arts and crafts by local vendors, and the Critically Black Dialogue Series: a panel discussion on Black Solidarity.

Coined in the 1970s after the Black Panther George Jackson was assassinated during an alleged prison break, CCCADI commemorates Black August through AFRIBEMBÉ and other programs. The organization honors the contributions of Black people across the globe who have historically punctuated this month with resistance and movements of liberation.

Capacity is limited. All attendees will be required to wear masks and have their temperature checked. Guaranteed entry will be offered to registrants between 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. All other access will be first-come, first-serve. Registration available at: www.afribembe.com

ABOUT CCCADI

The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI), is an arts, culture, education and media organization that advances cultural equity, racial and social justice for African descendant communities. CCCADI’s programs serve children/youth, families, young professionals, elders, local and international artists, and practitioners of African-based spiritual traditions. Through our work, CCCADI offers a collective space where African descendants honor the contributions of the global African Diaspora through exhibitions, performances, conferences, educational programs, and international exchanges. Learn more at www.cccadi.org - Harlem Times

River Journal — June 15, 2021
Juneteenth, which marks the date when abolition was announced in Texas and more generally symbolizes the end of slavery throughout the South, has taken on added significance since the killing of George Floyd a year ago.

Two riverfront communities that began commemorating the date last year in the wake of the civil rights unrest spreading across the nation announced plans for this year’s celebrations, both of which will be held June 19.

The Juneteenth Council and the Village and Town of Ossining will host a ceremony in Louis Engel Park on the Ossining riverfront starting at noon. The ceremony will focus on history, the importance of voting rights and feature spoken word and musical performances.

The ceremonies will be attended by representatives from the Ossining school district, the Juneteenth Council, clergy from Ossining’s Black churches (Full Gospel Tabernacle Church, Star of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Holy Spirit Church, and HORAC ministries), and students from Ossining High School MBK program.

On June 2, an official Juneteenth flag was raised for the first time at the Village of Ossining’s Market Square. The flag will be flown throughout the month to honor the freedom of formerly enslaved Africans in America, as well as the ancestors of Ossining’s black community.

***

The Village of Irvington‘s second annual Juneteenth Celebration Rally will take place from 2 to 5 p.m., rain or shine, outside the Main Street School, 101 Main St.

The rally will include a moderated panel discussion about the legacies of slavery and related action plans for communities, speeches by state and local elected officials, blessings by clergy, and a talk by award-winning, Yonkers-based artist Vinnie Bagwell.

Live music will be performed by Nkumu Katalay and the “Life Long Project” Band, and the event will include African dancers, Afro Caribbean food trucks, artisans and their wares.

Co-sponsors include the Juneteenth Planning Committee, PTSA Diversity & Inclusion Committee, Irvington Activists, Commemorate, Historic Hudson Valley, ArtsWestchester, and Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church.

Contact Kelli Scott at kellisherelle@gmail.com or Sarah Cox at sarahcox17@outlook.com for more information.

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EINY Radio would like to present its new broadcast ” FrancophEINY” a live web radio podcast created by students using the new and exciting process of recording live and in real time.
This broadcast includes interviews from resident artists, Yacine Boulares and Nkumu Katalay about their amazing musical project working with students in Kindergarten and Grade 6.

Also included in this exciting broadcast are portions of the student debate, “Can you really say anything?” This took place during EINY’s Francophonie Festival on Friday, March 23, 2018. We hope you enjoy our radio broadcast and stay tuned for future live web radio emissions from our amazing EINY Radio team.

Here is the link to the broadcast: https://soundcloud.com/iny-radio/emission-speciale-francophonie - theÉcole

Arch madness: Live music series returns to Dumbo Archway
By Bill Roundy
Posted on May 27, 2019
Arch madness: Live music series returns to Dumbo Archway
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You can cross that bridge later — for now, stay underneath it!

Brooklyn’s only music series located beneath an active subway line will return for its fifth fantastic year of tunes on June 13. The Live at the Archway series sets the Archway under the Manhattan Bridge echoing with music each summer and gets people dancing on its cobblestone street. The architect of the free weekly arts event says that she loves the challenge of working with the cavernous tunnel beneath the Bridge.

“It’s an honor, and a lot of fun, to curate this series — to experiment with this epic space, to play off its history, its physicality, its acoustics, and to collaborate with its community,” said Clara Schumacher.

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For the series, the events director for Dumbo’s Business Improvement District looks for unique musical acts that can fill a tunnel big enough to feel like the outdoors.

“The Archway is a unique space, even for New York,” said Schumacher. “I’m looking for acts that have an unexpected element, that are joyous, that can hold their own in the Archway — that feel very Dumbo.”

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She also looks for acts that reflect the diversity of the neighborhood.

“It’s very important to me that Live at the Archway is inclusive, welcoming. Collectively, the series is eclectic, pulling in a diversity of musical genres and performative elements,” she said.

This year’s lineup includes artists from a wide variety of genres, opening with Live at the Archway’s first Congolese band, Nkumu Katalay and the Life Long Project, and featuring Afro-Brazilian dance band Caique Vidal and Batuque, and 1920s-style jazz from Dandy Wellington, and local indie-rocker Eli “Paperboy” Reed — a familiar face who will add a new twist this year, said Schumacher.

“It’s always fun to hear Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed live. I’m particularly stoked he is bringing his group of super-talented kids, the Harlem Gospel Travelers, out to open,” she said.


Another new aspect to the fifth annual summer series is the Family Jam — opening acts that will appeal to kids and families, including puppets shows, circus acts, and ballet dancers.

Last year’s Archway innovation will also continue — a weekly celebration of visual art at the pop-up Gallery Cubed, which offers 32 square feet for a different creator to fill with art each week.

“[It] gives our audiences unprecedented access to world class visual artists,” said Schumacher. “Where else can you get this intimate with a piece of art?”

All performances at the Archway Under the Manhattan Bridge (155 Water St. between Adams and Pearl streets in Dumbo, www.dumbo.is). All shows start at 5:30 pm, unless otherwise noted. Free.

June 13: Nkumu Katalay and the Life-Long Project Band, with Fogo Azul NYC, plus students from PS 307 and Dock Street School.

June 20: Archway 10th Anniversary Party! Celebrate 10 years of the Archway, with performances from Brown Rice Family, the Maybelles, Young Soon’s White Wave Dance Company, hula-hoop troupe Big Sky Works, and more. Starts at 5 pm.

June 27: Avenida B, with an opening performance of “Rainbow” by Puppetsburg.

July 4: No show this week! Go enjoy the fireworks!

July 11: Eli “Paperboy” Reed, with opening act Harlem Gospel Travelers.

July 18: Kombilesa Mi, with an opening performance of “Pop Music,” by Puppetsburg.

July 25: Caique Vidal and Batuque, with opening act Trio Rasteirinho. Presented in collaboration with Brasil Summerfest.

Aug. 1: Yunior Terry and Son de Altura, preceded by a fashion show presented by the Center for Cuban Studies.

Aug. 8: Dandy Wellington, with opening act Miss Saturn.

Aug. 15: Alsarah and the Nubatones, with opening act Konverjdans.

Aug. 22: Say She She, with an opening performance of “Splendid Elephant” by Puppetsburg - Brooklyn Paper

AFROMONDO SHOWCASE 2019 at S.O.B.’s (Jan. 3, 7:30 p.m.). Artists from across Africa and the African diaspora are represented in this lineup, which ranges from traditional musicians to the continent’s latest pop exports. Performers include Ilam, a bluesy singer-songwriter from Senegal; William Cepeda, a Puerto Rican trombonist who fuses contemporary jazz with the island’s folk music; the Nigerian pop singer Jemiriye; and Nkumu Isaac Katalay, who fuses the music of his native Democratic Republic of Congo with Afrobeat — the West African funk popularized by Fela Kuti. - NY Times