MAMEY EAST COAST TOUR
APRIL 29 to MAY 4, 2024
Mamey is coming from Chicago to your East Coast city SOON!
This series of performances, accompanied by workshops and conversations, is funded in part by a SouthArtsFoundation Jazz Road Tour Grant in collaboration with Latinx and Caribbean Cultural Centers in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, DC. This project highlights collaborative composition, transcultural exchange and the beautiful traditions and cultural resilience of Dominican and Caribbean musical arts. In addition to the Chicago-based touring musicians, will boast an exciting list of guest percussion artists in each host city.
MAMEY musicians
JuliánPujolsQuall, piano | MicahCollier, bass | ElijahBradford, guitar | OscarEvely, drums
Instagram @julipuku, @_micahalec, @ekoliii, @oscarevely
JOIN US!!
BOSTON
Monday April 29th 5 pm
with Special Guest Jesús Andújar
Presented by FUNDOARCU
Address: Dominican Consulate, 891 Centre St, Jamaica Plain Boston, MA
FREE. Register at: https://fundoarcu.org/
NEW YORK
Wednesday May 1st, 7 pm
with Special Guest Isidro Bobadilla
Presented by Alianza Dominicana Cultural Center
Address: 530 W 166th St, New York, NY,
FREE. No registration required Info: (917) 242-0811
PHILADELPHIA
Thursday May 2nd 7 pm
with Special Guest TBA
Presented by Community Education Center
Address: 3500 Lancaster Ave, Philadelphia PA
FREE. No registration required
BALTIMORE
Friday May 3rd, 7 pm ( General program starts at 5 pm),
With Special Guest Jabari Exum
Presented by Nuestras Raices, Inc https://www.facebook.com/NuestrasRaicesInc
Address: La Casa de la Cultura, 3403 Gough Street, Baltimore, MD
FREE. No registration required
D.C.
Saturday May 4, 6 pm
With Special Guest KwekuSumbry @kwe.drums
Presented by Sankofa Video, Books, and Cafe
Address: 2714 Georgia Ave NW, Washington, DC
$20. RSVP at Sankofa.com/sankofaevents
Mamey pays homage to Dominico-Haitian diasporic rhythms, combining experimental avant-garde music with the folkloric and traditional music of the Caribbean, as part of a vision of the American continent as an interwoven quilt of African threads from New Orleans jazz to the Dominican salve. The music draws inspiration from Dominican bamboula, sarandunga de Baní, gagá and Haitian kompa and its influences include classical, jazz and experimental/free music.
Founder and bandleader Julián Pujols Quall, a Dominican-American improvising musician, pianist and composer, explains further: “Mamey’s tune Catabalsié is a great example of this, as it takes progressions from Liszt's Piano Sonata and, at the same time, is inspired by the gospel jazz harmonies and melodies of Baltimore trumpeter Brandon Woody, the most recent featured artist at my Julián and Friends monthly residency at the Jazz Showcase, all with a Dominican arrangement and rhythmic structure.”
In addition to Pujols Quall, Mamey’s touring musicians are well-known young Chicago jazz artists Haitian-American Micah Collier @_micahalec on bass, Oscar Evely @oscarevely on drums and Elijah Bradford @ekoliii on guitar. As a special treat, Mamey will feature percussionists Jesús Andújar in Boston, Isidro Bobadilla in New York, Shakoor Hakeem in Philadelphia, Jabari Exum in Baltimore and Kweku Sumbry in D.C. Listen to Mamey
ABOUT JULIÁN PUJOLS QUALL
A Dominican-American improviser, pianist and composer from Chicago, Julián´s journey started with the Caribbean rhythms of their childhood. A classically trained artist, their work found a home in jazz performance, improvisation, and collaboration. Julián is a recent Jazz Performance graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, where they studied with Warren Wolf as a recipient of the Merit School of Music's Alice S. Pfaelzer Tuition-Free Conservatory Blue Ribbon Scholarship. As a solo pianist they have studied at the Aspen Music Festival, Gijón Piano Festival, Brevard Music Festival and Colburn Piano Festival. As a founding member of the Peabody Improvisers Collective, Julián developed experimental collaborative programs and has been creating and performing improvisational music for ballet, modern and West-African dance programs in Baltimore as an accompanist at Peabody, and in Chicago as an accompanist at Ruth Page and Visceral Dance Centers.
Julián is the Director of the Julián and Friends Concert Series, a monthly composer platform highlighting new music stemming from the many traditions of Black American Music now in its third year at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago; and is the founder of Mamey, a musical group and project that delves into the influence that Caribbean arts have had in their musical creative journey, and honors beautiful Dominico-Haitian traditions and cultural resilience, while promoting new and vibrant art. Julián is a member of the piano faculty at The Music Offering in Evanston, Illinois, and just released the single Rothko; Tlaloc and Totec featuring Levi Lu and Lorin Benedict, on the New York artist label Carrier Records. They are one of five Chicago artists recently chosen to participate in the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Event’s Center for Creative Entrepreneurship 2024 Cohort, to cultivate and advance their professional practice, and is the recipient of a South Arts Jazz Tour Grant for their Spring Mamey tour of the East Coast.
This will be the first tour of Mamey in the United States. The group debuted in 2023 with a tour in Belgium commissioned by the Dominican Embassy, and most recently performed in Chicago at the Old Town School of Folk Music World Music Wednesday series. The performances are made possible in part by a South Arts Foundation´s Jazz Road Tours grant, in partnership with presenting cultural organizations and additional support from the Dirección de Cultura Dominicana en el Exterior
ABOUT THE SPONSORING ORGANIZATION
SOUTH ARTS FOUNDATION
Its mission is advancing Southern vitality through the arts. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, South Arts is a nonprofit regional arts organization empowering artists, organizations, and communities, and increasing access to arts and culture. In partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the State Arts Agencies of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee — with additional funding from other public and private donors such as the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation — South Arts supports artists and organizations through a rich and responsive portfolio of grants, fellowships, and programs. Learn more about South Arts Foundation
Additional Support generously provided by
DIRECCIÓN DE CULTURA DOMINICANA EN EL EXTERIOR
The Directorate of Dominican Culture Abroad, in addition to the promotion, dissemination and commercialization of the cultural expressions of Dominicans in the Diaspora, manages the country's participation in international festivals and other similar events. More about Cultura en el Exterior
ABOUT THE PRESENTING ORGANIZATIONS
FUNDOARCU - Boston | April 29, 2024
FUNDOARCU is a non-profit institution created to highlight the values of the Dominican heritage. The foundation carries out a direct management in the promotion of the art and the culture in the community. More about FUNDOARCU.
ALIANZA DOMINICANA CULTURAL CENTER- New York | May 1, 2024
Alianza Dominicana Cultural Center is a multi-disciplinary arts center in Washington Heights that showcases contemporary and classical Dominican and Latin American art, dance and music. Intergenerational learning, transnational and cross-cultural activities are the philosophical guidepost of the Center. More about Alianza
THE COMMUNITY EDUCATION CENTER - Philadelphia | May 2, 2024
The mission of the Community Education Center is to cultivate a spirit of community by nurturing the creative efforts of individuals and organizations, and by fostering interaction between artists and audiences. More about the Community Education Center
NUESTRAS RAÍCES - LA CASA DE LA CULTURA - Baltimore | May 3, 2024
Its mission is to contribute to the education, preservation and promotion of the richness and diversity of the Hispanic/Latino culture & artistic heritage throughout the Baltimore Metropolitan Region. More information about La Casa de la Cultura
SANKOFA VIDEO BOOKS & CAFÉ- Washington, D.C. | May 4, 2024
Founded by Shirikiana and Haile Gerima and named after the internationally acclaimed film SANKOFA they produced. Its symbol, the Sankofa Bird, looks backward constantly checking as she moves into the future. Sankofa Video, Books & Cafe is liberated territory that hopes to be a place where thoughtful consideration of the past and future can take place via books, films, and programming particularly generated by and about people of African Descent. Get to know Sankofa