Global Mashup #1: Latin Boogaloo Meets Afrobeat

QPTV’s Roslyn Nieves joins Flushing Town Hall’s Executive and Artistic Director Ellen Kodadek, Deputy Director Sami Abu Shumays, Jazz Producer Clyde Bullard, and Shawn Choi, Director of Marketing and Community Engagement, to bring you Flushing Town Hall’s Global Mashups Series on Queens Public Television's channels. In each Global Mashup concert, two cultures are mashed up on one stage with an open dance floor! First, each band plays a set, then the two meet and jam. The mashup often results in a unique, never-before-heard blend of two different cultures. QPTV captured the entertaining cultural series and now the television programs will cablecast in Queens on Spectrum, RCN, and Verizon FiOS for the first time! SPANGLISH FLY is part band, part celebration: 12 musicians igniting a party that quickly spreads to the audience. They have been hailed as the premier band of the Latin boogaloo revival, “single-handedly reviving sixties bugalú in NYC" (NBC New York). Boogaloo! That mix of Latin and soul/R&B that emerged from the clubs, the street corners, the transistor radios and the pool halls of 1960s Spanish Harlem, "El Barrio." Inspired by Latin boogaloo, or bugalú, SPANGLISH FLY plays irresistible grooves that blend Afro-Caribbean rhythms with the fervor, the feeling, and the harmonics of 60s soul. SPANGLISH FLY "roars through covers, originals, and transformations of previously untouched soul hits" (Village Voice), paying homage to the boogaloo genre while refreshing it for a new generation. CHOP AND QUENCH “The Fela! Band”, is comprised of members of the cast and band of FELA! The musical. Individually, the musicians are some of the finest in New York, having performed with The Roots, India Arie, Elvis Costello, and many others. Lead singer Sahr Ngaujah was nominated for a TONY Award for his performance in the Broadway show and has been featured on film and television. As a unit, the band has gotten to accompany performers such as Beyonce, Femi Kuti, and Angelique Kidjo. Known for their straightforward performances of classic Fela Kuti compositions, they have branched out, bringing their own original music to the stage. After performing around the world, they recently performed at the Sundance Film Festival in conjunction with the premier of Alex Gibney’s film “Finding Fela”. They are now back home in New York preparing new material to take into the studio for their first recording since the Fela! Broadway cast recording.