Rumba Between Bridges: Tracing Three Decades of New York City Rumba and Cultural Transmission through Documentary Photography
Tracing Three Decades of New York City Rumba with City Lore, an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution
City Lore, an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution is pleased to announce the launch of a new exhibition entitled, Rumba Between Bridges (Rumba Entre Puentes): Tracing Three Decades of New York City Rumba, Community Resilience, and Cultural Transmission through Documentary Photography opened December 19th, 2024 and is on view through February 14, 2025. The opening reception was held on December 19th, 2024. The exhibit will be regularly activated via live performance and public programming featuring bi-monthly open rumbas and two panel discussions schedule to be announced shortly. The City Lore Gallery is located at 56 East 1st Street in Manhattan. Gallery hours are: Friday 2-6pm, and Saturday – Sunday 12-6pm. For more information visit: https://citylore.org/about-the-gallery/current-exhibition/
About the Exhibition – Rumba Entre Puentes (Rumba Between Bridges), is the outgrowth of City Lore’s Cultural Ambassador Residency led by musician Roger Consiglio and photographer Juan Caballero. The Residency is an initiative of City Lore’s Creative Traditions Program led by Folklorist Naomi Sturm-Wijesinghe. Rumba Entre Puentes is a community-based multimedia exhibition that shares and interprets the Cuban rumba tradition as performed in New York City over the past three decades through ethnographic research, musical performance, and original cultural documentation. The title is both a symbolic nod to New York City (a city between bridges) and the musical community’s intergenerational resilience, as they sustain the rumba tradition across time and place.
This exhibition, which defies the traditional presentation in a four-walled gallery, will share documentary photographs by celebrated Cuban rumba photographer Juan Caballero, and pay homage to the past, present and future of this tradition in New York City. In addition to approximately 25 still images documenting the various manifestations of Cuban rumba in and around New York City, the exhibition will feature a video loop from Caballero’s personal archive and sound bites from participating musicians.
Complementing the exhibit is a recording project that captures this unique moment in the history of New York City rumba. Music from the forthcoming album recorded and produced by local media-arts non-profit and regular City Lore collaborator, Los Herederos, (the inheritors), www.losherederos.org, will be performed live at the exhibition opening. This original recording project seeks to honor master rumbero and renowned Cuban percussionist Roman Diaz.
About Rumba in New York City - In New York City in particular, rumba represents a unique space where Cubans from various generations and walks of life, have come together over the years, to also share cross-culturally with other groups such as Nuyorican, Dominican, African Americans and in recent years a large South American presence (Colombian, Ecuadorian, Chilean etc.) throughout the city. Beginning with the storied Central Park Sunday rumba, which has been going strong for more than six decades, these musical manifestations are at once sites of cultural maintenance and incredibly rich melting pots of African diasporic percussionists who find refuge in the communal practice. The past decade has seen significant revitalization to this grassroots musical landscape with new rumbas cropping up from Prospect Park, Brooklyn to the Lower East Side in various venues (5C Cultural Cafe, Zinc Bar, Mi Salsa Kitchen) and private homes.
Folklorist Sturm-Wijesinghe, Creative Traditions Program Director had this to say, “As the title suggests, Rumba Entre Puentes (Rumba Between Bridges) truly encapsulates some of the best of what we have to offer via City Lore’s Creative Traditions - Cultural Ambassadors Program. This unique artist residency program seeks to empower community scholars and artists working together and between generations of cultural practitioners, so that urban folk culture can thrive in our city. Roger Consiglio and Juan Caballero are key players in New York City’s rumba community, who are doing work to honor and push this tradition forward by placing power back in the hands of those who make these musical stories come alive.”
About the Artists - Roger Consiglio, is a Havana-born Cuban musician. who has been singing and playing Afro-Cuban music either religiously or on the stage for over 15 years. In Miami and New York City, he has been a part of ensembles such as Sikan, Oyu Oro Afro-Cuban Experimental Dance Ensemble, New Yor-Uba, Rumba de la Musa, and the Roman Diaz Ensemble. Along with his peers, Roger shares a passionate love for the culture emanating from Cuba, and is a young leader in New York City’s storied rumba scene. The past three years have seen significant revitalization to this grassroots musical landscape with new rumbas cropping up in Prospect Park and the Lower East Side, in addition to the historic Central Park Sunday rumba event. Roger’s work lies at the center of this burgeoning movement, which brings together generations of practitioners and shares the artform across New York City Caribbean communities. https://www.instagram.com/roger_consiglio/
Juan Caballero Cabrera was born in Havana, Cuba. In 1994 he took his first steps into the world photography on a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Soon after Caballero began studying with the Association of Photographers of Buenos Aires, and later worked as a photographer for the "Argentina Foundation to Aid Immigrants.” With this group he covered the First National Party for Refugees in Argentina and his photos were published in their magazine. It was in Argentina working with refugees from around the world that he first realized the powerful impact a photo has, effectively documenting a country's social and political realities. In 1997 he returned to Cuba to study at the International Institute of Journalist José Martí. In 2000 Caballero immigrated to the United States landing in New York City. It was here that he discovered the intricacies of Cuban rumba performance abroad and began documenting various waves of Cuban immigration to the United States. His work as a documentary photographer spans more than three decades and has been featured in such publications as the Boston Globe, Oxfam America, El Estornudo, El Diario de Cuba and many others. www.behance.net/juancaballero
About the Creative Traditions Cultural Ambassadors Program - The Cultural Ambassadors Leadership program aims to equip a generation of cultural leaders whose life’s work is to further the cultural and artistic wellbeing of their communities, and to provide them with the tools they need to accomplish that. The residency style program hosts cultural heritage leaders/practitioners for periods of 6-9 months and incubates their creative projects that support longer term cultural sustainability initiatives throughout the City.
City Lore & Latino Culture - The Rumba Entre Puentes exhibition grows out of City Lore’s 39 years of in-depth research and public programming with Latino and Caribbean music and cultures established by the late ethnomusicologist Dr. Roberta Singer, PhD., continued under the direction of folklorists Elena Martinez and Naomi Sturm-Wijesinghe. City Lore programs have included Dos Alas which brought together Cuban and Puerto Rican musicians; the documentary From Mambo to Hip Hop: A South Bronx Tale; Musica Tradicional on pan Latino music; Music from the Islands: Cuba, Puerto Rico and Manhattan, the 20024 Somos Boricua NEH Summer Institute for Educators and numerous in school artist residencies focusing on Latin American arts. In 2024, City Lore Co-Director Molly Garfinkel and Folklorist Elena Martínez were honored with New York State Historic Preservation Awards for Excellence in Historic Preservation Documentation in recognition of their work on the Puerto Rican Casitas of New York City Multiple Property Nomination and Casita Rincón Criollo National Register Nomination.
About City Lore Gallery – The City Lore Gallery is a cultural hub that celebrates New York City's vibrant cultural atmosphere and provides a platform for the myriad voices that comprise the city. The gallery presents exhibitions and events on all the things that make New York "New York." From the golden age of graffiti, to endangered languages and activist comics, City Lore finds the art in everyday life.
About City Lore - Founded in 1986, and now an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, City Lore’s mission is to foster New York City – and America’s – living cultural heritage through education and public programs. We document, present, and advocate for New York City’s grassroots cultures to ensure their living legacy in stories and histories, places and traditions. We work in four cultural domains: urban folklore and history; preservation; arts education; and grassroots poetry traditions. In each of these realms, we see ourselves as furthering cultural equity and modeling a better world with projects as dynamic and diverse as New York City itself. For more info: http://www.citylore.org.
City Lore is made possible with support from: Foundations: The Lily Auchincloss Foundation, La Vida Feliz Foundation, The André and Elizabeth Kertész Foundation, and The Sherman Foundation Public: The Institute of Museum and Library Services, The New York State Council on the Arts with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and generous individual donors.