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Join modern Cuban charanga ensemble Raíces Negras in a program dedicated to the beloved Cuban music group Orquesta Aragón. To showcase this fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms and European classical instruments, Raíces Negras features popular songs from the danzón and cha-cha-cha craze of the 1940s and 1950s, including hits like “Almendra” and “Pare Cochero” by songwriter Richard “La Flauta Mágica” Egües.

This program is performed at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. Rain site: East Building Auditorium

Directed by flutist Dr. Ceylon Mitchell, Raíces Negras is a music collective celebrating Black and Latin voices across the Americas. Blending and bending traditional genres with improvisation, the group’s distinctive sound encompasses a full range of character—from the rich timbral colors of the modern Pierrot ensemble to the Afro-Brazilian swing of choros and complex rhythms of Cuban charanga, and everything in between! Formed by Mitchell in 2019, the collective began as a local, grant-funded concert series of Afro-Latin music, and now consists of world-class musicians hailing from the United States, Venezuela, Brazil, Bulgaria, Haiti, and beyond.

• Ceylon Mitchell, flute
• Sarah Taylor Cook, vocals/coro
• Sheyda Do’a, vocals/coro
• Michael Paxton, sax
• Geraldo Marshall, trumpet
• Christine Kharazian, violin
• Sandy Choi, violin
• Joshua Jenkins, piano
• Chuco Mendoza, bass
• Fran Vielma, percussion: congas
• Dominique Patrick Noel, percussion: timbales
• Bruno Lucini, percussion: drum set, guïro, claves