CUMBIA FOR KIDS AND CUMBIA FOR ALL Founders, artistic and musical directors: Pablo Mayor, Anna Povich de Mayor
Co-artistic and dance director: Daniel Fetecua
CONCERT AND ASSEMBLY FORMAT
Cumbia for Kids LIVE at the David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center
(Pocantico Center’s Community Day: May 20, 2023)
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Watch this feature from the Ossining school district on C4K’s Hispanic Heritage assembly Oct 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lGRD9ik1TY
Check the recent musical theater production of Cumbia for Kids-
Cumbia for Kids, the educational program of the more than fifteen-year old musical establishment Folklore Urbano NYC, showcases the rich musical and dance traditions of Colombia, led by musicians Pablo Mayor and Anna Povich de Mayor, with dancer and choreographer Daniel Fetecua (former lead dancer with Limon dance company, lead teaching artist Limon4Kids). Cumbia for Kids (and Cumbia for ALL) takes its audiences on a journey through a diverse country whose rhythms range from the soulful African “currulao” found in the jungles of the Pacific coast, to the frenetic “joropo” from the Eastern Plains region bordering Venezuela, to the charming “bambuco fiestero” found in the region where coffee grows high up in the Andes mountains. The group’s high energy show gets audiences clapping, singing along, and stomping their feet from start to finish, while celebrating cultural diversity and building environmental awareness. Cumbia for Kids/All share the joyful traditions of Colombia presented with the impeccable artistry of a world-renowned group of NYC artists including members of Pablo Mayor’s renowned Folklore Urbano Orchestra and Daniel Fetecua’s Pajarillo Pinta’o Dance Company.
-Directors Pablo Mayor and Anna Povich de Mayor, Co-artistic director Daniel Fetecua
***Small format is 5 musicians + 2 dancers
***budget and space permitting, group can be expanded to 8 musicians + 2 dancers
Performances of Cumbia for Kids are engaging, exciting, and still so much more. To see an ensemble of this caliber, with each member an exceptional artist in their own rite, led by the incredible artistic visions of Composer, Pianist and Educator Pablo Mayor, flutist Anna Povich de Mayor, and dancer Daniel Fetecua, is itself an amazing musical and artistic experience. But what sets this group apart is their clear and truly heartfelt work to use every bit of their artistry to connect with and inspire their young audiences, and bring their passion and love for the music and dance of Colombia to a new generation of young music lovers. The joy these artists share with every child and every audience member in every performance is an incredible gift, and makes everyone in the room feel as if they too have been a part of the show.
-Katie Mazzari, Associate Director, Turtle Bay Music School
RESIDENCY PROGRAM
-ideal for after-school programs
-multiple workshops on a weekly basis for up to 16 weeks
-optional one-day residency program, with a full day of workshops concluding with an assembly program
***workshops presented by 3-4 teaching artists, led by Gregorio Uribe, Anna Povich de Mayor, Daniel Fetecua, and Pablo Mayor, among other professional Colombian artists
Cumbia for Kids residency program takes Colombian music, culture, and dance into the community, in a hands-on workshop setting. The residency presents weekly workshops (designed according to budget and time frame), with units covering the four geographical regions of Colombia, each with their distinct music and dance traditions, instruments, and culture. Anna Mayor leads artists in teaching kids basic drum patterns, Spanish language through song, and dancer/choreographer Daniel Fetecua leads kids in dance and creative movement inspired by Colombia’s diverse dance traditions. Children also learn about the geography, clothes, food, history, and customs of Colombia’s diverse regions. The full-length residency program is designed to prepare kids to enter the stage for a fully-choreographed show where kids sing, dance, and drum along with members of Folklore Urbano.
The entire Lower School delighted in the experience that we had with Folklore Urbano. Anna, Pablo, Gregorio and Daniel worked collaboratively and energetically with our performing arts teachers to bring the many rhythms and cultures of Colombia to life for our students, teachers and parents. And they did so with a depth that allowed even our kindergartners to understand that the music and dance of a community can be intricately linked to the daily rhythms of life. Our culminating Grade 3 dance and music celebration filled our school with a joyous energy that left us all thinking, “Let’s invite Folklore Urbano back next year!” – Elizabeth Causey, Head of Lower School-The Spence School
Folklore Urbano created a vibrant performance with our Lower School students! The Cumbia for Kids program featured music that was rich and dynamic. The artists were incredibly professional as they engaged our students and audience in the wide range of music and dance traditions from Colombia. We are looking forward to their return!- Lower School Performing Arts Department, The Spence School
“The school visit from Cumbia for Kids was an all-day electrifying and educational program. The intimate, hands-on workshops provided for individual classes prepared the students to effectively participate in the wonderful interactive performance at the end of the day. The energized and entertaining performance showcased the rich musical and dance traditions of South America. Students enjoyed participating in the concert by singing songs in Spanish as well as using rhythms and beats they had learned at the workshop earlier in the day.” Madeline Praino/John Paulding Elem., Tarrytown/Westchester, NY
The directors…
Musical director Pablo Mayor
Pablo Mayor is a pianist, arranger, composer, producer and educator from Cali, Colombia, known for his work as bandleader, promoter and producer of Colombian music. Pablo Mayor (B.A., M.A. Jazz Arranging/University of North Texas), formerly Professor of Jazz—Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia, is most known for his work with his world-renowned establishment Folklore Urbano NYC, particularly the Folklore Urbano Orchestra which has produced three CD’s and performed at both national and international venues. Mayor’s music was recorded by Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra on their Grammy-award winning album “Offense of the Drum” in 2015, and his arrangements recorded by Totó la Momposina. He is founder and producer of Encuentro NYC Colombian Music Festival, now in its 14th year. As resident composer of ID Studio Theatre Performance and Research Center (director German Jaramillo), Mayor’s work has been featured at Colombia’s Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogotá. Former pianist and arranger for the Cuban charanga band Orquesta Broadway, Mayor’s arrangements and piano-playing are featured on the band’s forty-year celebration CD. He can frequently be heard performing with the historic Puerto Rican ensemble “Los Pleneros 21.” His collaboration with Turtle Bay Music School and Cumbia for Kids has reached over 1000 kids through TBMS’ community music programs. He has been a part of Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections and Neighborhood Concerts programs, 92nd St. Y Musical Introduction Series, and is founding member of CTMD’s FolkColombia-Música y Danza. He now heads the musical segment of a new arts alliance “ArtsLatinoNY” which has its home in the south Bronx. Mayor is the former performing arts coordinator at the historic Latin music institution at Boys and Girls Harbor, currently works as a contractor with the Berklee School of Music’s City Network working internationally throughout Latin America,and has produced and arranged for musicians, such as Totó La Momposina and Armando Manzanero, in Dallas, New York, Colombia, Chicago, and Mexico.
•Managing and Co-artistic Director Anna Povich de Mayor
Anna Povich de Mayor is a flutist, producer, and educator from the USA, known for her work as chamber musician, educator, and promoter of Colombian music. Anna holds both an MM and a DMA in flute performance from SUNY Stony Brook. She manages the establishment Folklore Urbano NYC, directs Folklore Urbano’s educational program, as well as performs with her husband in his Folklore Urbano Orchestra. She has done extensive work as chamber musician with the New York Flute Quartet and masterclasses and performances throughout Australia with her former group the New York Harp Trio, and has collaborated with Sweet Plantain String Quartet and the Spokane String Quartet on her innovative, cross-over program of Latin American repertoire. She has won numerous awards throughout her career as classical musician including a Chamber Music America grant with the flute quartet. She now dedicates much of her time to performing and promoting Colombian music here in New York City and beyond with her husband Pablo Mayor. Together they have founded and produced the renowned annual Colombian music festival in New York, Encuentro NYC, which brings together NYC’s best Colombian artists every year onto one stage now in its 14th year. She is on the faculty at Turtle Bay Music School in Manhattan where she teaches flute, coaches chamber music, and co-directs their annual residency on Colombian music. She now works on programming for the new arts alliance ArtsLatinoNY at their home in the south Bronx, and has worked with such organizations as Carnegie Hall (Musical Connections program and Neighborhood Concerts programs), the 92nd St Y (Musical Introduction Series), the American Composers Orchestra/VIA’s outreach programs, and has directed and curated concert series with the Queens library and Le Poisson Rouge, Manhattan. She now directs the ever-popular Tarrytown Arts Camp and co-directs its “Latin Music Afternoons.”
•Co-Artistic Director and Choreographer Daniel Fetecua Soto Director, dancer, choreographer, and teacher, Daniel Fetecua, a native of Bogotá, Colombia, was a member of the Limon Dance Company until fall 2016. He has appeared as guest artist in Pina Bausch’s masterpieces the Rite of Spring and Tannhauser. Fetecua has also worked with La Fura dels Baus, Kuo Chu Wu and won a Salsa Award in the European Salsa Championship in 2004. His recent work with Teatro la Sea garnered an “Hola” award for his salsa choreography for the production “La Gloria: A Latin Cabaret.” His choreography was seen performed by the Connecticut Ballet in 2014. Daniel is an avid educator, and works with Limon4Kids, Turtle Bay Music School, among other organizations. Daniel holds a BFA from Folkwang-Hochschule, Germany. His own dance company, Pajarillo Pinta’o founded in 2003, fuses the traditional dances and rhythms of Colombian Folklore with the principals of modern dance and German tanz-theater. His choreography interweaves the rhythms, music, choreographic structure, and rites of native dances of Colombia, with the lyricism and neo-expressionisim found in contemporary dance. Upon moving to the USA in 2006, Daniel started his work with professional dancers in New York City while continuing to travel annually to Germany to work with his dancers and Associate Artistic Director Maria Lucia Agon Ramirez abroad who keep the work alive across the ocean. Here in NYC Pajarillo Pinta’o collaborates with Colombian musician and composer Pablo Mayor and his band Folklore Urbano as well as with the renowned Colombian singer Lucía Pulido, and Theatre Director German Jaramillo, founder and director of ID Studio Theatre. He is now a part of an arts alliance called ArtsLatinoNY made up of ID Studio Theater, Folklore Urbano NYC, and Pajarillo Pinta’o, working in the south Bronx. Pajarillo Pinta’o has received two grants from the Harlem Stage Fund for New Work (granted to Daniel for two new choreographic works).
http://www.pajarillopintao.org
The show….
-Is interactive, visual, visceral, and theatrical in nature with original music and arrangements, costume and choreography.
-teaches Spanish language through song
-promotes diversity by exposing audiences to Colombia’s rich cultural heritage of African, Spanish, and Native Colombian peoples, demonstrating the beauty of its diverse culture, instruments, music, and dance from each of the four distinct geographic regions of Colombia
-Inspires audiences with high-level artistry
-Challenges listeners with geography, language, rhythm and movement, fresh sounds and harmonies
The residency…
-Emphasizes values such as teamwork as well as individual growth
-Instills confidence by learning, preparing, practicing, and performing