Celebrate 60 Years Of Orquesta Broadway at City College Center For The Arts

City College Center for the Arts (CCCA) is marking the 60-year history of the legendary, Cuban charanga band Orquesta Broadway on Friday, March 24 at Aaron Davis Hall's Marian Anderson Theatre, with a special concert featuring multi-award-winning flutist and educator Connie Grossman and esteemed flutist Karen Joseph. Award-winning radio host and Latin music historian Nelson Radhames Rodriguez serves as producer and emcee of the show, which starts at 7:00 p.m. EDT. Tickets are available at citycollegecenterforthearts.org.

Charanga is a term for a popular style of Cuban dance music - or the orchestras who play it - featuring violins, flutes, and various percussion instruments, together with vocalists. Founded in 1963, Orquesta Broadway is one of the oldest charangas, known the world over for its pulsing performances of the Afro-Cuban art form.

"Over the years, City College Center for the Arts has hosted numerous outstanding milestones in the Latin music industry, and I can't imagine this celebration being elsewhere. Orquesta Broadway's hypnotic Cuban charanga sound is sure to bring everyone to their feet," said CCCA Managing Director Gregory Shanck.

"Rhythmic and poetic, the sound of a legendary orchestra preserving the tradition of the Cuban Charanga style. The smooth harmonies of the flute and violins make you dance and move like a feather caught in the wind. Traditional Cuban style persists under the direction of El Maestro Eddy Zervigon, who for more than 60 years has been the leader of the mother of all charangas outside of the island, La Orquesta Broadway," said Rodriguez.

Orquesta Broadway members include: Eddy Zervigon (director and flute), Ivan Zervigon (American drums), Pablo Mayor (piano), Berny Minoso (bass), Luis Mangual (congas), James Guevara (timbales), David Remedi (violin), Yunior Terry (violin), Hector Aponte (singer); Jorge Maldonado (singer) and Luis Rosa (singer).

The Marian Anderson Theatre is named after the distinguished African American singer who broke racial barriers and inspired new generations of singers of all backgrounds.

The award-winning City College Center for the Arts hosts an ambitious, year-round calendar of professional performances in the historic Aaron Davis Hall. Our mission is to provide a creative arts center and focal point for the City College of New York, building a sense of community within the College, elevating the profile of Aaron Davis Hall in the greater New York area and connecting the College to the surrounding community through the arts.

The 630 seat Marian Anderson Theatre is the largest theatre in Aaron Davis Hall. It was dedicated in 1993 with a tremendous ceremony featuring Harry Belafonte, Jessye Norman, Max Roach, Martina Arroyo, Arthur Mitchell with members of Dance Theatre of Harlem and Phylicia Rashad.

Marian Anderson is remembered as one of the best American contraltos of all time. She was the first African American singer to perform at the White House and also the first African American to sing with New York's Metropolitan Opera. Ms. Anderson's achievements, which inspired generations of young black performers, also included a concert before 75,000 listeners at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 arranged by Eleanor Roosevelt after the Daughters of the American Revolution denied the singer the use of the concert hall in their national headquarters.

Orquesta Broadway is a Cuban charanga-styled band founded by flutist Eddy Zervigón and his brothers Kelvin and Rudy in New York City in 1962. Charanga is an instrumental format of Cuban original music developed at the end of the 19th century that consists of a flute, violins, bass, and a rhythm section composed of conga, timbale, and güiro. The orchestra was named after the avenue most members lived near in Manhattan upon the suggestion of Catalino Rolón, the booking agent of the Palladium Ballroom- the place where the orchestra made its official debut and, also, where four years later it would play the world-famous ballroom's final dance.

Orquesta Broadway has stood the test of time by becoming not only one of the few surviving charanga bands in New York, but the longest running of its type outside of Cuba. Sixty years after its founding, the ever-in-demand orchestra continues to enjoy an enviable place at the forefront of Latin music in the United States.

The band made its recording debut in 1963 on the Gema label with an album entitled "Dengue," which included "Como Camina María," the band's first hit, followed a year later by a self-titled album, also on Gema. Its next releases, "Arrímate Pa' Acá" and "Tiqui-Tiquia" in 1965 and 1966 respectively for the Musicor label, solidified the orchestra's popularity as one of New York's best and helped catapult the band onto the international scene and a tour to Caracas, Venezuela, in 1967. The band has continued to tour and after over a twenty recordings, its album "Orquesta Broadway 40 Aniversario" was nominated for the Latin Grammy Awards in 2003.

On June 30, 2012, Orquesta Broadway celebrated its 50th anniversary with an acclaimed concert at New York's Lincoln Center where Mr. Zervigón and the band were presented with a special proclamation by New York's City Council. Last year, the group was the main attraction at the Gran Fiesta Cubana concert in Medellin, Colombia, where the band played opposite Cuba's Orquesta Aragon, New York's Tipica Novel and Guateque Project, a local aggregation.

Eddy Zervigón, the flutist, musical director, and founding leader of Orquesta Broadway was born in Güines, a small town 48 kilometers southeast of Havana. In 1962, he and his brothers left Cuba and arrived in Miami where they stayed for a brief time before finally settling in New York City, where Mr. Zervigón worked with the bands of Lou Pérez, Johnny Pacheco, Alfredo Valdés Sr., and Arsenio Rodríguez before founding Orquesta Broadway. He has appeared as a guest soloist with Manny Oquendo's Conjunto Libre, New York's Grupo Folklórico y Experimental and Eddie Palmieri's band.

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