Afro Yaqui Music Collective

Hope Academy teaching artists, Ben Barson and Gizelxanath Rodriguez, bring jazz, funk and soul into dialogue with indigenous music of the 21st century.

The Afro Yaqui Music Collective (AYMC) is a 9-piece outfit which descends from the ensembles of Guggenhiem award winner Fred Ho, whose work was influenced by West African, global Indigenous and East Asian musics. The AYMC is co-led by Gizelxanath Rodriguez, an internationally performing soprano and activist, who is also a winner of the 2014 ACE Award. The band is also led by her partner, Ben Barson, Fred Ho’s Baritone protege who “he felt has the heft and sound to represent [Ho’s] assertive approach (The New York Times).” The band includes New York based koto player Kento Iwasaki; Aaron J. Johnson (Trombonist and alumni of Aretha Franklin’s groups); and hip hop artists such as Brooklyn-based multimedia artist, Nejma Shea.

MUSIC: 8 PM
DOORS: 7 PM
TICKETS: $12 in advance;  $15 at the door

Music + politics thirsty for a change, a change which is gonna come