Press Release

Rumba, Merengue, Reggae, Ska!

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Feels the Beat of Music from the Caribbean

The pop music of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Jamaica, and other Carribean cultures has unmistakably influenced popular music in the United States and throughout the world. The percussive roots of these forms, along with their current representation in the popular music of their native countries, are examined in Musica Popular/Misique Popilé/Popular Music of the Caribbean, an exhibition at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The exhibition is on view from June 13 through August 30, 1997 in the Library's Main Gallery and in its Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound.

On July 10, 11, 12, and 14, the Library will present a series of public programs focusing on popular music in Carribbean film and video, presented in cooperation with the St. Barth Film Festival. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts is located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza. Admission is free.

The exhibition in the Main Gallery traces the musical history of seven islands or regions: Trinidad and Tobago; Jamaica; the French West Indies; Haiti; the Dominican Republic; Cuba; and Puerto Rico. Each section includes an exploration of the region's history and a look at the evolution of the island's popular music industry. There also is an explanation of the rhythms and instruments which define such musical forms from each area as Rock-Steady, Zouk, Merengue, Danzón, and Plena.

Among the items in the exhibition are photographs, music manuscripts, published piano-vocal music, and promotional materials. The exhibition opens with an assortment of tuned percussion instruments, including box drums, claves, gourd rattles, and mbiras, for use by visitors to the exhibition. An extensive selection of audio recordings plays continuously in the gallery, including selections by Mighty Sparrow, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Juan Luis Guerra, José Urfé and his Orquesta Aragon, and many others.

Other materials on view include published sheet music to Cuban Danzones, including Danzón Mala Entraña, a piece by T. Corman from 1918, and La Pintura Blanca, a composition by Eliseo Grenet, published in 1925. There also are television monitors which play music videos from Guadeloupe, Zouk video compilations, and music documentaries from Trinidadian television.

In the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound on the Library's third floor, the exhibition will focus more specifically on sound recordings, including displays of LPs and CDs from Caribbean countries, music videos, and record catalogs. There also will be a compilation CD featuring recordings from the Archives, which can be listened to with earphones.

Musica Popular/Misique Popilè/Popular Music of the Caribbean is on view in the Main Gallery and in the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts from June 13 through August 30, 1997.

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts is open Monday and Thursday from noon to 8 p.m. and Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. The Library is located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza. Admission is free. For more information, please call 212-870-1630.

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts thanks Chivas Regal for its support of the 1996-97 season of public programming. The Library gratefully acknowledges the leadership support of Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman. Additional support for programs and exhibitions has been provided by the Miriam and Harold Steinberg Foundation.

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