A FUNCTION AT THE JUNCTION
The Center for International Performance and Exhibition dba HotHouse presents a two-night cultural exchange between musicians in New York, California and Cuba. The uniting theme and title for the series of programs is “ A Function at the Junction: Ancestral Bridge, Musical Streams”. “Una Función en el Cruce: Puente Ancestral, Corrientes Musicales”
The series will air for free* Saturday, December 18 and Sunday, December 19 at 7pm cst via HotHouse’s online streaming platforms ( Twitch.tv/hothouseglobal, HotHouse’ Facebook Page, the HotHouse website and HotHouseGlobal You Tube channel.
*Eventbrite tickets are suggested.
This spring, HotHouse worked with renowned pianist /composer Michele Rosewoman to compete for the prestigious SouthArts Jazz Road Creative Residency grant. The residency provided support for Rosewoman’s multi-faceted, multi-media and collaborative project highlighting practitioners in the Afro-Cuban Spiritual and Folkloric traditions. This event which featured Michele Rosewoman's New Yor-Uba, Francisco Mora Catlett's Afro Horn and Roman Diaz's Rumba Ensemble was presented on November 11 at the Flamboyan Theater by Arts for Arts in New York City. The film of this event is the cornerstone event of the series.
The HotHouseGlobal program will additionally include an encore concert anchored by Oakland-based vocalist Bobi Céspedes, Osain Del Monte, Los Muñequitos De Matanzas, And Yoruba Andabo and a roundtable conversation (produced by Habana/Harlem®) between noted scholars and artists steeped in the African-based Santeria and Yoruban religious cultural expressions. The roundtable participants are Frank Bell, Ivor Miller, Michele Rosewoman, Francisco Mora Catlett, Román Díaz and Diosdado (director of Los Muñequitos de Matanzas). The program will be broadcast on Cuban national television with support by the Institute of Cuban Music.
On Twitch TV
HotHouse website
On the HotHouse You Tube Channel
On the Facebook event page
*Eventbrite tickets
This is the 3rd major cultural exchange HotHouse has produced in collaboration with Cuban cultural figures of note. The projects intend to build bridges between the two countries at a time when the official policy of the US rolled back the diplomatic overtures advanced in the Obama administration.
The July 2020 Concert for Cuba was viewed by over 200,000 people online. The HotHouse Meets Havana Festival in January 2021 brought top talent from the US and Chicago jazz world to Cuban television at a time when the global pandemic excluded travel to the island.
Executive Producer of the broadcasts, Marguerite Horberg explained " our work at HotHouse has intersected social justice and high caliber arts expression for more than 30 years. Our interest in Cuba has much to do with our profound respect for the outsized contributions the people of this small country have made to the world - not only through the arts, but through literacy campaigns, medical brigades, and advancing racial equity". By developing these special events that are free and accessible, HotHouse continues to create internationally focused programming when live attendance at events is still difficult under Covid.