A couple of hundred million years ago, what became West Africa and Massachusetts were in the same place. The plates shifted, a fissure opened in the proto-continent and became the Atlantic ocean. We and our ancestors have crossed that ocean many times for better or for worse. This project brings together two folkloric musicians, GRAMMY nominated Cuban pianist Omar Sosa and GRAMMY nominated New England multi-instrumentalist specializing in native and adopted American musics Tim Eriksen. Together, they trace the connections between seemingly disparate worlds.

Rhythm, heard through a melding and mingling of cultures manifests the shared roots between Sosa and Eriksen. During the forced migration of slaves, a practice that spanned centuries and fed the triangulated economies of Europe, Africa, and the Americas, indigenous musics and performance traditions entered New World ports, among them Havana and Chesapeake Bay. These strains of expression took root and became the basis for much of popular culture. We are delighted to bring these two internationally renowned artists to our stage to surface local history and tether it to larger global narratives of migration and liberation.

Sosa and Eriksen will be joined by Marvin Sewell on guitar and Amaury Acosta on percussion.

Card to Culture tickets available.

Funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.