Elio Villafranca Wins DownBeat Rising Star for New Album CINQUE

Cinque is a five movement suite inspired by the story of Joseph Cinque, who in 1839 led a successful revolt aboard the slave ship La Amistad, days after being sold and transported to a sugar plantation in Cuba. Elio Villafranca's most ambitious project today, showcases the cultural diversity of the five Caribbean islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, The Dominican Republic, and Jamaica; while simultaneously highlighting the Congolese musical heritage woven into the fabric of each of these diverse nations, and yet unified via the forced migration of Africans to the Americas.

Cinque (artistShare) is a body of work that encompasses narration, original composition and selections of Elio's own field recordings of different forms of rooted Congolese rhythms in the Caribbean, especially the traditions of Tambor Yuka, only practiced today in the region of Pinar Del Ri?o, where Elio was born, and Ganga?, a rare culture that came from Sierra Leon, Cinque' place of birth, to the region of Matanzas, Cuba. Both traditions are near to extinction today.

Elio's intention is to share music the same way he experienced it growing up in Cuba, by giving access to the context and sources that inspired his original compositions. This way of sharing, creates a better bridge with the listener to a more meaningful understanding and connection with music and culture.

PERSONNEL
Elio Villafranca - piano
Vincent Herring - alto & soprano sax, flute
Greg Tardy - tenor sax, clarinet
Todd Marcus - bass clarinet
Freddie Hendrix - trumpet
Steve Turre - trombone, bass trombone, conch shells
Ricky Rodriguez - acoustic bass
Lewis Nash - drum set
Arturo Stable - bata drums, congas, palo drums or atabales
Miguel Valdes - bata drums, congas, bombo
Jonathan Troncoso - palo drums or atabales, valsie?, barril drum
Nelson Mateo Gonzales - barril, palo drums or atabales
Alexander Lasalle - vocals
Alexander Waterman - cello

NARRATION
Terrance McKnight

GUESTS
Wynton Marsalis - trumpet
Leyla McCalla - vocals
Don Vappie - banjo