Latin folk music and folk dance are traditional expressions of families and communities.
Cuban trova is Latin folk music in the same line as American folk music, but with European troubadour, Canary Islands folk, and West Africa griot traditions behind it.
In the beginning, all music is folk music and all dance is folk dance. Some artists remain traditional. Others have evolved into fusions.
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New York Latin Folk Music and Folk Dance Features
New York Latin Folk Music and Folk Dance News
February 2023
Canarians Olga Cerpa y Mestisay play folk music from their latest album “Palosanto;” in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall; on Thursday, February 9, 2023 at 8pm. From $49. 🇮🇨🇪🇸
Edna Vázquez blends Mexican mariachi and American folk, pop and rock into something fabulous for Carnegie Hall Citywide; at the LGBT Community Center in Manhattan’s West Village; on Monday, February 13, 2023 at 7:30pm. FREE! 🏳️🌈🇲🇽
March 2023
In “Indigenous Connections,” Rhiannon Giddens leads women of the Silkroad Ensemble with Tuscarora/Taíno (Indigenous American/Caribbean) singer and lap-steel player Pura Fé, in an evening of Indigenous folk music in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall on Tuesday, March 10, 2023 at 7:30pm. 🇺🇸
Folk Dance Artists
- Ballet Nepantla Mexican folkloric ballet. 🇲🇽
- Calpulli Mexican Dance Company Mexican folkloric dance. 🇲🇽
- Danza Fiesta Puerto Rican bomba, plena and Seis dances. 🇵🇷
- Dzul Dance Mexican Mayan contemporary circus dance. 🇲🇽
- Jarana Beat Mexican fandango. 🇲🇽
- Redhawk Native American Arts Council 🇺🇸
Folk Music Artists
- Aurelio Martínez and the Garifuna Soul Band Honduran Garifuna. 🇭🇳
- Betsayda Machado y Parranda El Clavo Venezuelan tambor. 🇻🇪
- Boukman Eksperyans Haitian folk rock. 🇭🇹
- Chouk Bwa Haitian folk. 🇭🇹
- Diego Obregon (1971-2020) Colombian Pacific Coast marimba. 🇨🇴
- Edmar Castaneda Colombian Andean jazz harp. 🇨🇴
- El Laberinto del Coco (Héctor “Coco” Barez) Puerto Rican bomba jazz rock fusion. [Calle 13’s original percussionist. New York Latin Culture Magazine’s bomba drum teacher.] 🇵🇷
- Jarana Beat Mexican fandango. 🇲🇽
- Joan Baez New York Mexican folk. 🇲🇽
- Leyla McCalla Haitian New Orleanian classical folk. 🇭🇹🇺🇸
- Lila Downs Regional Mexican folk, rock, cumbia. 🇲🇽
- Mercedes Peón, Spanish Galician folk. 🇪🇸
- Mighty Sparrow Trinidadian calypso.
- Natalia LaFourcade 🇲🇽
- Los Nocheros, Argentine folk pop. 🇦🇷
- Olga Cerpa y Mestisay. Spanish Canary Island folk music. 🇪🇸🇮🇨
- Okan Afro-Cuban jazz. 🇨🇺
- Pablo Milanés (1943-2022) Cuban trova. 🇨🇺
- Qasida Persian Spanish flamenco. 🇮🇷 🇪🇸
- Rhiannon Giddens African American folk. 🇺🇸
- Totó la Momposina Colombian cumbia folk. 🇨🇴
New York Folk Music and Folk Dance Venues
- Center for Traditional Music and Dance ctmd.org
- Flushing Town Hall
- ID Studio Theater 🇨🇴
New York Folk Music and Folk Dance Festivals
- Drums Along the Hudson Native American, Indigenous, and multicultural folk music an
- globaFEST is in January.
About New York Latin Folk Music and Folk Dance
Culture begins as an expression of the mysteries of faith and the rituals of belonging to a community.
This is where folk music begins. As it develops, it may lose its connection with faith, or that connection may become hidden to those who don’t know where to look.
Some folk musics become popular and then blend with other musics. Even the most contemporary music like salsa, hip-hop, reggaeton and Latin trap follows this path. It all derives from folk traditions.
We have been human (Homo sapiens) for about 200,000 years. We like to think that we are so very modern, but we really haven’t changed that much.
