Dominican Get-together is Celebrating the Dominican Music on July 5th in New York at the United Nations Headquarters, in the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium from 6 – 9pm

Dominican Get-together is Celebrating the Dominican Music on July 5th in New York at the United Nations Headquarters, in the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium from 6 – 9pm
New York, May 22, 2012

Global Foundation for Democracy and Development and the Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations come together to showcase the beauty and the history of Dominican music, from its very early days to the contemporary rhythms of today.

Don´t miss the chance to meet one of the most unique musicians in the world music scene, who has collected audio recordings in remote rural areas throughout the Dominican Republic, which have resulted in the preservation of twenty genres.

The award winning, Dominican-born Irka Mateo, referred to by some as a “world music transcendent,”will present the evolution of Dominican music, from Taino settlements, through colonial times, to modern rural and urban musical trends. The internationally acclaimed singer and music historian will use her unique and extraordinary talents to talk about Dominican musical history, explain trends, schools and rhythms, and perform some of her incredible musical gems.

Don´t miss the chance to meet one of the most unique musicians in the world music scene, who has collected audio recordings in remote rural areas throughout the Dominican Republic, which have resulted in the preservation of twenty genres.

Come see and hear one of Irka Mateo´s captivating performances. During the singing of Anacaona – a song that is essentially a passion play of the Taino queen who was hanged by the Spanish Conquistadors – the singer/songwriter often adorns herself with a native headdress. Her recent album, Anacaona, was named one of the best albums of 2010 by the World Music Chart, Europe.

In 2012, Irka received recognition by the Commissioner of the Dominican Ministry of Culture in New York City for her contribution to the dissemination of Dominican Folk Music and Taino Culture. This same year, she was also awarded a 2012 Brooklyn Arts Council Grant for a concert featuring the Liborista Music.

Come and enjoy the most complete variety of Dominican music with Irka Mateo, and experience the history and the richness of Dominican rhythms and melodies.

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED

Date: July 5, 2012
Time: 6-9 pm
Location: United Nations Headquarters, Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium,
405 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017

About Irka Mateo:
For years now, Irka Mateo´s extraordinary career has been one of breaking boundaries and embracing and awakening people’s deepest humanity, in particular, through music.

Irka says her artistic sensibility came alive during the years she lived in Spain and France in the late 1970s and early 1980s where she became involved in the emerging world music scene that would ultimately influence her work, her worldview and her passion for the preservation of folk music. Her music continued to incubate in Brazil, Canada, the US and her native Dominican Republic, to which she returned in 1998.

It was during this period in the Dominican Republic, after her successful Spanish language recording of Sucre Amer, a song in defense of Haitian sugar cane workers, that she began to perform widely in the Caribbean and, more importantly, immersed herself in the folk music of the Caribbean islands, which is essentially founded on popular religious ceremonies and Taino Culture. The result of this cultural and musical fusion is music infused with African and Taino traditions.

Irka’s research led to the founding of the Guabancex, Wind and Water Society dedicated to the popularization and preservation of native culture. As part of her continued research on Taino Culture, Irka has been collaborating, since 2008, with the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City where she gives concerts and workshops on Taino instruments, music and dances. She has taken her“Taino Mythology through Music” workshops to various universities and cultural institutions in the Dominican Republic and the United States.

As a folk music and cultural researcher, Irka’s work has been invaluable. She rigorously collected audio recordings in remote rural areas throughout the Dominican Republic, which ultimately resulted in the preservation of twenty genres. As a result of this unique and culturally valuable project, earlier this year, the Grammy Foundation awarded her a “Preservation and Archive” Grant for the creation of an archive in Dominican folk music.

Her recent album, Anacaona, is a 10-track compact disk featuring her explorations into the rich and varied world of Dominican Folk music which, as Irka revealed, has been preserved to this day by Dominicans from the most isolated and neglected areas of the Dominican Republic. Her music blends pop instrumentation with African and Taino percussion to create a soothing sound, accompanied by versatile lyrics in Spanish. The songs re-create the lost Taino world with tales of resistance, love and survival that are at the core of this musical offering. In spite of all the references to the past, this music remains new and modern. There lies its originality and, ultimately, its universal appeal.

At the recentInternational Dominican Writers Book Fair in Washington Heights, Irka was honored for her solid musical work and her contribution to the dissemination of the Dominican folkloric idiom rooted in the indigenous Taino culture, a shared legacy of both the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

A resident of Brooklyn, Irka recently performed in the Brooklyn Arts Council’s HALF THE SKY Festival: “The Sweetest Song: Women’s Traditional Song Sampler.” Judith J. Miller of Artist Soul Speaks said this about Irka´s performance:

“I could feel Taino/Dominican singer, storyteller and folk music collector Irka Mateo’s determination and strength as her powerful voice literally vibrated through her small frame and out into the capacity filled auditorium. Irka performed a popular religious song – a mix of Catholic and West African Traditions – accompanying herself on the Balsie, a drum that women play. The other song was a work song performed a cappella sung by women in Agricultural endeavors.”

Dominican Get-togethers in the Big Apple, always free and open to the public, are part of the mission of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) to promote an understanding and appreciation of Dominican culture, values and heritage, and to create opportunities for discussions of issues relevant to the Dominican society in the homeland and abroad. The GFDD reaches out to the Dominican community living the New York area, New Jersey, Florida, Washington DC, etc and to all those interested in Dominican culture.

To read more about Irka Mateo: http://www.irkamateo.org/