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World-class Indigenous, European, African, Asian & Oceanian Culture since 2012

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Women’s NYC

New York City is full of incredible women. Many are leaders in their fields and communities. Some of New York City’s most famous politicians are women.

Few forces change the world so much as education and the empowerment of women.”

Nicholas Kristof, “This Has Been the Best Year Ever,” New York Times, 2019

Latin communities have traditions of strong women leaders in the Caribbean, Latin America and West Africa.

Women’s News

Remember Atabey, the supreme Taíno goddess at the start of Puerto Rican Heritage Month on Mon, Nov 1. 🇵🇷

On Tue, Nov 2, remember Mictlancihuatl, Aztec Goddess of the Underworld and Catrina La Calavera Garbancera, the Queen of the Day of the Dead. 🇲🇽🇲🇽

Diana: The Musical, the Diana Ross story, returns to previews at the Longacre Nov 2 for a Nov 17 opening. From $49. thedianamusical.com 🇺🇸

Rosario Flores sings Flamenco Pop at The Town Hall in Midtown on Thu, Nov 4.🇪🇸

Xiomara Laugart sings Cuban Jazz at Mi Salsa Kitchen in the Lower East Side, Fridays at 8pm. 🇨🇺

La India joins Tony Succar for Latin Grammy winning Salsa at The Ritz Theatre in Elizabeth, New Jersey on Sat, Nov 6. 🇵🇷

Ongoing

Eva Davidova Global Mode Omnívoros is a mind-bending digital installation at Instituto Cervantes in Midtown East to Nov 10. 🇪🇸

Scherezade Garcia: Stories of Wonder: When the Sea is my Land is at Praxis in Chelsea to Nov 13. praxis-art.com 🇩🇴

Kara Walker: Prince McVeigh and the Turner Blasphemies examines American mythmaking at Sikkema Jenkins in Chelsea to Sat, Dec 18. 🇺🇸

Coming Soon

Daymé Arocena (Pablo Dewin/World Music Institute)

Daymé Arocena sings Cuban Jazz for the World Music Institute Women’s Voices Series at Le Poisson Rouge in Greenwich Village on Thu, Nov 11. From $25. worldmusicinstitute.org 🇨🇺

Berta Rojas (Guillermo Fridman/92nd Street Y)

Paraguayan classical guitar legend Berta Rojas pays homage to pioneering French and Argentine female guitarists on Sat, Nov 20 at 8pm. From $20. 92y.org 🇵🇾|🇫🇷🇦🇷🇧🇷

Remember the Mirabal Sisters “Las Mariposas” who were murdered by the dictator Trujillo on what is now the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Thu, Nov 25. [Real men don’t hurt women.] 🇩🇴

All-woman band Cocomama plays Latin Jazz at Birdland in Hell’s Kitchen on Sun, Nov 28 at 5:30pm. From $20. Cocomama sounds so sweet! cocomamamusic.com

Women are the Guardians of Culture

Women are the guardians of culture. The Brazilian Mother of Samba, Tia Ciata is the tell. She brought her Samba traditions from the Bahia heartland to Rio de Janeiro in 1876. At the time Samba (like all Latin music) was repressed. It could get you beaten, arrested or worse.

Tia Ciata’s house in Rio’s Little Africa was famous for its never-ending parties. She fooled the authorities by putting European style Choro bands in the front of the house while Samba drum, song and dance traditions carried on in the backyard.

When the President of Brazil, Veceslau Bres (1914-18) visited Tia Ciata for help with a leg infection that no doctors could cure, she used her knowledge of medicinal plants to cure him in just a few days. [Women hold this knowledge.]

In the 1930s, looking for ways to unite a diverse country, the Brazilian government chose Samba as the national culture of Brazil. The government began sponsoring Samba contests. These evolved into Brazilian Carnival, the world’s biggest and most famous Carnival.

None of this would have happened without Tia Ciata, the Mother of Samba.

Women Festivals in NYC

Women of New York City

Nydia Velázquez

U.S. Representative NY District 7. First Latina on the New York City Council and first Puerto Rican woman in U.S. Congress.
MANHATTAN
Lower East Side, East Village
BROOKLYN
Brooklyn Heights, Bushwick, Carroll Gardens, Greenpoint, Red Hook, Williamsburg
QUEENS
Maspeth, Ridgewood, Woodside

Continue Reading Nydia Velázquez

Anna Tonna

December 4, 2012
HISPANIC SOCIETY
Washington Heights, NYC
The opera singer sang Spanish boleros for the Duchess of Alba (Goya) a lady of Spain, who watched coyly without saying a word
–
¡New York Latin Culture Sponsor!

Continue Reading Anna Tonna

Women of the World

Rosalía

Sunday, January 26, 2020
62nd GRAMMY AWARDS
Los Angeles, California
The Spanish flamenco pop singer performed and “El Mal Querer” won Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album

Continue Reading Rosalía

Nella Rojas

Monday, October 21, 2019
WORLD MUSIC INSTITUTE
LE POISSON ROUGE
Greenwich Village, NYC
–
Venezuela, Berklee, Limón, IMG, and “Everybody Knows.” The 2019 Latin Grammy winner for Best New Artist is on her way…”Voy, Voy, Voy”
–
Sponsored by
World Music Institute

Continue Reading Nella Rojas

Laura Pausini

November 15, 2018
~
“Hazte Sentir” wins “Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album” Latin Grammy
~
August 31, 2018
Radio City Music Hall
Midtown, Manhattan
~
March 16, 2018
‘Fatti sentire | Hazte sentir’ album

Continue Reading Laura Pausini

Angelita Montoya

Friday, March 16, 2018
FLAMENCO FESTIVAL
ROULETTE
Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
From one of the great Spanish flamenco families, she built this show around the female poets of the Generation of 27
–
¡New York Latin Culture Sponsor!

Continue Reading Angelita Montoya

Nona

TV ON DEMAND; Tue, Mar 19, 2019; Honduran movies ~ Nona (Sulem Calderon) trusts Hecho (Jesy MCKinney) to take her to her mother in America, but gets trafficked instead. The film launched first-time actress Calderon on the road to stardom, and it’s more than a movie. It’s a story that needs to be told and needs to be heard. This is real. By Michael Polish (2018).

Continue Reading Nona

Women’s Contributions Are Essential

Women's NYC (© Rawpixel/Dreamstime)
Women’s NYC (© Rawpixel/Dreamstime)

Women are about 50% of human kind. The economy feels good when it goes up 1 or 2%. The economy feels bad when it goes down 1 or 2%. You can’t succeed in modern life by marginalizing 50% of your people.

Many Latin cultures are very machista (male chauvinist). That doesn’t work in the United States and it doesn’t really work anywhere. It’s time to grow up.

A world map of countries suffering from war and poverty correlates strongly with a map of countries that marginalize women.

Women play an especially important role in raising and teaching children. Building a good future for women, builds a good future for all of us.

Ethel Waters, You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down

Ethel Waters (1929) was the first African-American woman on Broadway (© Everett Collection/Adobe)
Ethel Waters (1929) was the first African-American woman on Broadway (© Everett Collection/Adobe)

Ethel Waters (1917-1977) was one of those never-ending talents who had a most amazing career. She started working as a teenager singing the blues in the 1920s. She sang for Black Swan records in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance. Fletcher Henderson was her accompanist. Waters was the highest-paid Black recording artist of the time.

She recorded for Paramount and Columbia. She did vaudeville which was the MTV or YouTube of the day. She made movies. She starred at the Cotton Club.

Waters became the first Black woman on Broadway in the 1930s. She became the highest-paid Broadway performer. She was nominated for an Academy Award for a song.

In 1939 Waters became the first African-American to star in her own television show. In 1949, she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award. In 1950 she won a New York Drama Critics Circle Award and also became the first African-American actress to star in her own series.

No doubt the work was hard. We are just now trying to deal with systemic racism. See how hard it is? Imagine how tough it was back then.

But Ethel Waters’ indomitable spirit just goes to show you that you can’t keep a good woman down.

Sponsored by NYC's Leading Brands

Leading brands sponsor New York Latin Culture Magazine including: Jazz at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, New York City Center, Blue Note Entertainment and The City's own NYC & Company.

The project is led by Keith Widyolar, a marketing and communications consultant who builds brands and businesses through public, media and government relations. He was named a “key Hispanic journalist” and “Hispanic market influencer” by NYC & Company, New York City’s official branding and tourism agency.

The New York Stock Exchange had the team ring its closing bell for Hispanic Heritage Month. We can work for you too!

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