11/5/2009 8:00 PM

43RD KENT STATE FOLK FESTIVAL
Alliance Group: Culture & The Arts, Education, Mentoring & Youth
Region: Northeast


THE 43RD KENT STATE FOLK FESTIVAL OPENS
WITH MUSIC FROM PUERTO RICO

The 43rd Kent State Folk Festival kicks off seven days of performances with a concert featuring Puerto Rican musical treasure Edwin Colón Zayas and friends on Thursday, Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. at the Kent Stage in downtown Kent. The evening presents a panorama of Puerto Rican instrumental and vocal music and dance and is suitable for all ages. This is Colón Zayas’ first appearance in Kent. Tickets for the concert are free for students with a valid ID.

Colón Zayas, a master of the “jíbaro” style of Puerto Rican roots music, will be joined by Noraliz Ruiz Caraballo (a graduate student at Kent State University); Noel Velázquez and Bill Colón Zayas from Puerto Rico; members of Rondalla Puerto Rico from Dayton; Orlando “El Mostro” Santiago from Elyria; and Northeast Ohio’s Grupo Isla del Encanto folkloric dance troupe. In September of this year, Colón (a virtuoso on the cuatro and the tiple) was awarded a prestigious National Heritage Fellowship, the country’s highest honor in folk and traditional arts.

Born in the central mountain town of Orocovis, Colón Zayas has traveled the world introducing audiences to his island’s musical traditions. Similar to the Cuban music featured in the documentary “Buena Vista Social Club,” Puerto Rico’s traditional music is a blending of Spanish and African musical elements mixed with a tropical flavor. Typical instruments include the cuatro (a 10-string instrument similar to an Irish bouzouki) and the tiple (a 5-string instrument similar to a mandolin). Much older than the better known salsa, música jíbara (much like the old-time music of Appalachia) has been kept alive for centuries by inhabitants of Puerto Rico’s central mountains, passing songs down from generation to generation.

The concert includes a reception at intermission featuring traditional pastries by Cleveland’s Lelolai Bakery and is sponsored by the Gerald H. Read Center for International and Intercultural Education.

Tickets for all concerts presented during the 43rd Kent State Folk Festival are now on sale through the Kent Stage – (330) 677-5005 or KentStage.org – or in person at Woodsy’s Music and Spin-More in Kent. Band bios, ticket information, links and more are available online at www.WKSU.org.

For more information Contact:

Contact: Robert J. Burford
(330) 672-3114
burford@wksu.org

This News/Events items was submitted by Ohio Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs

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