Viva Vallenato! Cumbia Band electrifies crowds with the folkloric music of Colombia. Lead singer-percussionist Hugo Lascarro Sr. hails from Barranquilla, Colombia where he performed for many years. His son Hugo Jr. sings and plays traditional handmade drums, the caja vallenata and tambora costeña. Bassist-singer Jose Borney hails from richly musical Tolima, Colombia. New Jersey native Accordionist Phil “Felipe” “Caballo” Passantino formed the band after falling in love with vallenato music, the local storytelling songs of Colombia’s Atlantic coast, sung over shimmering accordions and pulsating rhythms; and Colombian cumbia, a hypnotic courtship dance created in cultural exchange between indigenous cultures and Africans fleeing enslavement. Salvatore Carollo brings the thunder on timbales, and he will make sure you’re dancing! This program includes folkloric Cumbia dancer Joelis Lascarro to bring the dancer out in you!
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