Afro-Cuban Concert and Dance Party featuring Yissy García & Bandancha

University of Michigan Center for World Performance Studies hosts the sensational young Cuban drummer, Yissy García and her band Bandancha from February 8-12, 2018. The highlight of this four day residency will be a performance by the band at the Michigan League Ballroom at 8pm on Friday, February 9, followed by a dance set by DJ Jigüe.

Growing up the daughter of famed drummer Bernardo García in Cayo Hueso, a neighborhood in Havana considered the cradle of rumba and Afro Cuban rhythms, Yissy Garcia was already immersed in the tradition when she discovered jazz as a teenager. But the founding of her own band, Bandancha, was rooted in a desire to see people dance to her music.  She says, “The reason I put this band, this fusion, together is because I love to see people dancing, enjoying themselves and ignoring that chip that says that jazz is not for dancing.” In order to accomplish this task, she recruited well known Cuban DJ El Jigue, accomplished in the hip hop art of scratching, who plays live with the rest of the musicians in the group. Not only do Yissy & Bandancha exemplify the adaptation of traditional music to new forms and younger audiences, but also the adaptation of technology to a new performance environment.

The residency will also  include class visits across several U-M schools and departments, a panel discussion on gender in Cuban performance practices and music workshops open to the entire community. The ensemble will do a more intimate performance and artist Q & A at the Carr Center in Detroit on Sunday, February 11 at 3pm.

All events are free and open to the public.

This residency is presented by the Center for World Performance Studies and co-sponsored by the U-M Residential College, U-M Center for the Education of Women, U-M Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, U-M Vice Provost for Global Engagement & Interdisciplinary Academic Affairs, U-M Department of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation and U-M Institute for Research on Women & Gender.

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