Sunfest Connected Sessions

Joyce N’sana + Canalón de Timbiquí

Celebrating Black History / Black Futures month

DATE/TIME: Sunday Febrary 20th @8 PM

Location: ONline Straming via FB and Youtube Live

https://sunfest.on.ca/anacaona-cuba/

Exponents of traditional Afro-Colombian rhythms – featuring marimba, guasá percussion and a chorus of 5 sweetly exuberant female voices delivering songs about jungles, rivers and miners – Canalón de Timbiquí hail from a small town on Colombia’s Pacific Coast. The singers met in high school and became an official band by participating in the Festival Petronio Alvarez (their country’s biggest Afro-Colombian music festival) where they were awarded prizes for best vocals and best musical arrangements.

NPR contributor Betto Arcos marvels, “it’s the most uplifting, earthy sound you’ll ever hear. I went to their performance and I was in tears, I was blown away by the energy, by the excitement, by the passion. It’s infectious music that you have to see to be able to enjoy it.”

With Nidia Góngora as their musical leader (She’s a long-time collaborator with celebrated English producer Will Holland, aka Quantic), Canalón has released a handful of acclaimed albums, and toured Colombia, Europe and the USA.

Nidia explains, “We maintain the traditional format of the music (performed authentically on indigenous instruments from the Pacific Coast): we try our best to preserve it as we received it from our parents, teachers and leaders. For this reason, in 2012 UNESCO declared us representatives of the intangible heritage of humanity.”

These days, some of Canalón de Timbiquí’s members are still gold mining at home while “The Musical Jewel of the Colombian Pacific Coast” continues to score internationally. In 2017, they were invited to perform at the UK’s legendary Glastonbury Festival, and in 2019, they were nominated for a Latin Grammy.