Photo from Tiempo Libre’s Official Website
By Noor Awaidah, Assistant Arts & Entertainment Editor
As part of Moraine’s celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, three-time Grammy-nominated Cuban band Tiempo Libre will be performing in the Dorothy Menker Theater at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Labeled as one of the hottest Latin bands today, the band describes its music as an “exhilarating mix of jazz harmonies, contemporary sonorities and seductive Latin rhythms.”
The band’s performance is a highlight of Hispanic Heritage Month activities at Moraine Valley, which so far has included a program retelling Hispanic folklore and free walking tacos for students. Other upcoming events include an opportunity to play Lotería, or “Mexican bingo,” and a virtual presentation on Día de los Muertos.
Maria Elena Belmontez, departmental assistant for Multicultural Student Affairs, is looking forward to the show for the band’s “danceable rhythms and hypnotic beats.”
“It’s so important to hear how the African diaspora enriches Latin culture–and now MVCC gets to experience this love in person as well,” says Belmontez. Multicultural Student Affairs is organizing the month’s events, which are sponsored by the Celebrating Diversity Committee.
Belmontez says music has a “very sacred place in our cultural and spiritual identities.” She hopes to see the Moraine Valley community come out to show support.
It’s so important to hear how the African diaspora enriches Latin culture – and now MVCC gets to experience this love in person as well.”
Maria Elena Belmontez, Multicultural Student Affairs
The audience should expect music that is primarily based on the group’s national origins in Cuba. The band sees itself as “ambassadors for Cuban music around the world” and in combination with a largely Latino-based audience, draws people of all different ethnicities. They even get “a lot of native English-speakers” at their concerts, Tiempo Libre founder and musical director Jorge Gómez says.
This Cuban music is known as “timba”: an exuberant mix of salsa, jazz improv and contemporary vernacular music of Latin America. Along with the classical music education band members have received from conservatories in Havana, this bands brings a new angle on Afro-Caribbean music and expects to get the audience up to shake their hips and dance.
Tickets are free for students with an ID. Ticket prices for others and more information is available at this link.
Omar Eloiza, Arts & Entertainment Editor, contributed to this report.
