Our thanks to Peter Jordens for compiling the following information (from theCuraçaoan newspaper Extra and the Kuenta i Tambú band’s website) and for translating from the original Dutch articles.
The Kuenta i Tambú (KiT) percussion group with Curaçaoan roots, based in the Netherlands, will be performing at three free concerts in New York City and Washington DC in mid-August 2012.
As the band’s website http://www.aboutkit.com explains, the music of Kuenta i Tambú is inspired by traditional Afro-Caribbean music from Curaçao and European dance music, blending singing, chanting, the rhythms of the traditional tambú drum, and electronic samples into a new, modern, infectious sound. The band’s leader is Roel Calister (brother of Curaçaoan jazz and world-music diva Izaline Calister), see http://www.roelcalister.com.
‘Kuenta i Tambú’ literally means ‘Stories and Drums’ in Papiamentu, the language spoken on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire. Kuenta i Tambú was formed in 2005 after a series of educational projects at schools and theaters to introduce the music and culture of Curaçao to children in the Netherlands. During this period the first songs were written, establishing the sound and identity of the group which nowadays is known for its high-energy shows with a great deal of humoristic highlights, hypnotizing beats, and dazzling percussive interplay between the band members. Kuenta i Tambú still offers workshop-like concerts for children as well as adults, in which the music alternates with stories about the origins of the music and of the percussion instruments. Halfway through such a 40-minute concert, audience members receive an instrument so that they can ‘jam’ along with the band. To get an idea of these concerts/workshops for children and adults, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iO-Nvv1L7s or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBAb_vBHmMw.
Bill Bragin, Director of Programming of New York’s Lincoln Center, first heard Kuenta i Tambú during the Dutch Jazz and Music Conference in Amsterdam in 2010 and is now bringing them to the USA for the very first time. They will be performing at the following three events:
Saturday, August 11, 2012, Lincoln Center Out of Doors Summer Festival, Lincoln Center, New York http://www.lcoutofdoors.org
Sunday, August 12, 2012, Block Party, Teatro Pregones, Bronx, New York http://www.pregones.org/Seasons/12-13/Block%20Party.html
Tuesday, August 14, 2012, Millennium Stage, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington DC http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/schedule.html#14082012
For more on the band, see www.aboutkit.com
