Arturo O'Farrill Presents SONGS OF LOVE & RESISTANCE At Hostos Center

Multi-GRAMMY Award-winning composer/pianist/educator Arturo O'Farrill and the non-profit The Afro Latin Jazz Alliance (ALJA) announce the kick-off to their 18th Anniversary live performance season with an unprecedented program of progressive artists banding together for change: SONGS OF LOVE & RESISTANCE.

Presented in cooperation with Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture in the Heart of the Bronx, O'Farrill and his 18-piece Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO) perform alongside many of today's revolutionary musicians including Ana Tijoux (Chile) and Telmary Diaz (Cuba) as well as the Bronx's own Caridad De La Luz "La Bruja," DJ Logic, Rebel Diaz, and Christopher "Chilo" Cajigas. SONGS OF LOVE & RESISTANCE is a not-to-be-missed one-night only concert on Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 8 pm.

Featuring art forms that range from song, spoken word, poetry, and rap, SONGS OF LOVE & RESISTANCE proclaims a response to our current turbulent times in the only way we can -- with love and resistance. O'Farrill returns to the Bronx's mainstay performing arts center Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture for the third official presentation at the venue of his renowned Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. On November 2, O'Farrill premieres a new composition along with riveting performances of his latest arrangements for singular works from ALJO's acclaimed repertoire and big band renditions of original songs from each special guest artist.

SONGS OF LOVE & RESISTANCE includes live performances of Ana Tijoux's "Somos Sur" and "Desclasificado"; Telmary Diaz's "Digan lo que Digan," "Cogela Como Arde," and "Spiritual Sin Egoismo"; Caridad De La Luz's "Celebration Nuyorican Poets"; Rebel Diaz's "Y Va Caer" (w/ Ana Tijoux); and Christopher "Chilo" Cajigas' "They Came" from O'Farrill's GRAMMY Award-winning album, The Offense of the Drum.

Arturo O'Farrill comments on producing the event SONGS OF LOVE & RESISTANCE, "In perilous times where my people are being singled out in mass shootings because of the political rhetoric, I don't see that any artist has a choice but to speak up for the good of our humanity. I am truly thrilled to bring together this collective of collaborators. In particular, Ana Tijoux who has fearlessly stood up for human rights and dignity, and all of the performers who are part of this evening are in the truest sense of the word, artists. They bear witness and beckon us to a higher place, they are truly journalists and journey-sits."

SONGS OF LOVE & RESISTANCE -- Special Guest Artists:

Ana Tijoux
Tijoux was born in France to a French mother and a Chilean father in political exile during Pinochet's dictatorship. After the return to democracy, the family moved to Chile. She found a home in the emerging hip-hop scene of Santiago and first started rhyming in French, then later in Spanish. Her career started in 1997 with Makiza, a group that came to release three acclaimed albums: Vida Salvaje (1998), Makiza Airlines (1999), and Casino Royale (2005). In 2007, Tijoux began her solo career with three recordings: Kaos (2007), 1977 (2009), and La Bala (2011), the latter of which was nominated for the Latin GRAMMY in the "Urban Music Category."

Telmary Diaz
Telmary Diaz honors the hallmark Cuban tradition of drawing disparate musical styles to create a distinctly new sound. Telmary's music is indicative of Cuban Contemporary Fusion in that it not only fuses Afro-Cuban and Latin beats, but also modernizes it with elements of funk, jazz, hip-hop, and urban slam poetry. Her distinct style is renowned by critics and audiences alike for its deft maneuvering between rapid-fire powerfully spoken verses to soft jazz-inspired crooning. Telmary's work is revered for its personal and socially conscious content, and its gender-defying success at a traditionally male musical medium. In 2007, she released her first solo album, A Diario, to rave reviews, culminating to her winning a Cubadisco Award for "Best Hip Hop Album." In 2018, her album Fuerza Arara was nominated to the 19th Latin GRAMMY's for "Best Alternative Music Album."

Caridad De La Luz
Caridad De La Luz is a multi-faceted performer known as "La Bruja," who recently won the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship 2019 - 2020. She starred in the hit musicals Dancing In My Cockroach Killers and I Like It Like That. She is considered one of America's leading spoken word poets and was named one of the "Top 20 Puerto Rican Women Everyone Should Know." Caridad was awarded the Puerto Rican Women Legacy Award, The Edgar Allan Poe Award for excellence in writing from The Bronx Historical Society, and has been titled a Bronx Living Legend along with a Citation of Merit from the Bronx Borough President. Caridad was also awarded "Best Musical" for the 2015 production of Betsy, where she played the title role. Her acting career has taken her from the stage to film as she has appeared in numerous movies including Bamboozled, Down to the Bone, El Vacilon and Gun Hill Road. Caridad crossed over as a recording artist with her albums Brujalicious and For Witch It Stands. She is infamous for her piercing performance on Russell Simmons' HBO Def Poetry Jam.

DJ Logic
The theorem of turntablist as musician has been long proven in the capable hands of DJ Logic, whom with jazz as his foundation has become a wax innovator by crossing genres and mixing his sound across the map. As one of the world's most accomplished turntablists, DJ Logic is widely credited for introducing jazz into the hip-hop realms and is considered by most as a highly-respected session musician and an innovative bandleader. DJ Logics has collaborated with a staggering number of lauded artists including Bob Weir, John Mayer, Medeski Martin and Wood, Christian McBride, O.A.R., Carly Simon, Marcus Miller, Jack Johnson, Arturo O'Farrill, Charlie Hunter, Jack DeJohnette, Ben Harper, Mos Def, The Roots, and many others. DJ Logic and his role as an electronic-music ambassador keeps him at the top of his game. Whether the scratch artist instructs tablas to flirt with drum 'n' bass (such as on his Nina Simone and Billy Holiday remixes found on Sony Legacy's Remixed and Reimagined volumes), meshes free styling MC's with Afro-Cuban rhythms (such as on 'Share Worldwide Funk' -- a remix produced for Jack DeJohnette and Golden Beams Collected, Volume 1), or remixes tracks for rock bands such as Moon Taxi, DJ Logic can always be found paying homage to his predecessors while contributing his vision to the deejay genre.

Rebel Diaz
RodStarz and G1 grew up in Chicago and came up in The South Bronx. Somos hijos of political refugees from Chile who fled a CIA-funded dictatorship in the 1970s, revolution raised Rebel Diaz and the culture of hip-hop provided them their own Nueva Cancion. Rebel Diaz's bilingual works have been shaped by pieces of South American folk, house, and Latin percussion mixed with boom-bap breaks and 808s. Rebel Diaz has given lectures at Ivy League schools, but are college dropouts. They've gone from rapping about being 'periodistas de la esquina' to hosting a television news program on the global network Telesur English. Rebel Diaz has opened for Public Enemy, Calle 13, and Rage Against the Machine, and The New York Times, Washington Post, and NPR have featured their work. After successfully releasing and touring various mixtapes and 2013's Radical Dilemma, Rebel Diaz released América-vs-Amerikkka, which features some of America's most impactful Latina artists.

Christopher "Chilo" Cajigas
Chilo, a founding member of "El Grito de Poetas," has performed at hundreds of well-known venues and universities across the country. He's recorded seven hip-hop albums and was featured in the poetry anthology Me No Habla With Acento. He completed a solo spoken word poetry book "Closed Doors and Opened Windows," and was a featured vocalist on Arturo O'Farrill's GRAMMY Award-winning album, The Offense of the Drum.

Don't miss one of autumn's most anticipated shows in New York City featuring O'Farrill live in concert with many of today's most progressive artists!

This performance series was made possible with the generous support from: (Foundations) Arnhold Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., Baisley Powell Elebash Fund, Donald A Pels Charitable Trust, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The Fund for the City of New York, Hostos Community College Foundation, and The Howard Gilman Foundation; (Public Funding) New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; (Corporate) Bridgehampton National Bank, Steinway and Sons; (Media) WBGO Radio.

SONGS OF LOVE & RESISTANCE
Featuring Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
with Special Guests Ana Tijoux (Chile) and Telmary Diaz (Cuba) As Well As The Bronx's Own Caridad De La Luz "La Bruja," DJ Logic, Rebel Diaz, and Christopher "Chilo" Cajigas

Saturday, November 2, 2019
Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture -- Main Theater
450 Grand Concourse, The Bronx, NY 10451
Pre-Concert Talk: 7 pm
Performance: 8 pm
Tickets: $35 Orchestra/$25 Mezzanine/Seniors: 65+ $30, $20/Students: $5. Tickets available by phone (718) 518-4455/Web: www.hostoscenter.org/Window: Mon. - Fri. 1 pm to 4 pm, and 2 Hours Prior to Event
Transportation: Subway/Bus: IRT Trains 2, 4, 5 and Buses BX1, BX2, BX19 to 149th Street and Grand Concourse