Events

Making TAMBÓ Influences, Rhythm, and Roots

Wednesday, March 25, 2025 | 7:00 PM

Center for Ballet and the Arts Studio
16 Cooper Square

About
Participants

About

The event will offer a deep dive into the influences and compositional processes that shaped TAMBÓ, David Sánchez’s upcoming album. The conversation and musical demonstration will explore the ways in which research and experimentation translate into structure, rhythm, and sound. The discussion will foreground Pan-African contemporary music as a living practice, rooted in Afro-diasporic traditions from San Basilio de Palenque, Colombia, to Loíza, Puerto Rico, and beyond.

David will be joined by invited artists Franklin Tejedor (San Basilio de Palenque, Colombia), and Jhan Lee Aponte (Santurce, Puerto Rico), both of whom recorded on Tambó. The conversation will be moderated by Carlos Chirinos, an anthropologist, music curator, and NYU professor whose work focuses on social innovation through music and music curation.

Participants

David Sánchez

David Sánchez is a GRAMMY Award-winning saxophonist, composer, and educator from Puerto Rico. Recognized worldwide as one of the finest saxophonists and bandleaders of his generation, his work draws deeply from Afro-Caribbean and Pan-African traditions blended seamlessly with jazz. His acclaimed recordings include Obsesión, Melaza, Coral, and Carib, and he has performed with legends such as Dizzy Gillespie, Eddie Palmieri, Kenny Barron, Charlie Haden, Roy Hargrove, Roy Haynes, Pat Metheny, and Elvin Jones. A member of the prestigious SFJazz Collective and faculty member in the RJAM program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Sánchez’s Spring 2026 Residency at the Hemispheric Institute will center on his upcoming album TAMBÓ, conceived as a living Pan-African musical archive.

Franklin Tejedor

Franklin Tejedor is a master percussionist and cultural bearer from Palenque, Colombia, specializing in the tambor alegre. His work represents the continuity of Afro-Colombian musical traditions rooted in resistance, memory, and communal practice.

Jhan Lee Aponte

Jhan Lee Aponte is a Puerto Rican musician and percussionist deeply rooted in the tradition of bomba, particularly the barril from Loíza. His work carries forward Afro–Puerto Rican rhythmic knowledge as both cultural inheritance and contemporary expression.

Carlos Chirinos

Carlos Chirinos, PhD, MMus, Assistant Professor, Director of NYU Music and Social Change Lab. He’s a scholar, producer, and musician whose work connects music, social impact, and global development. His research explores how music creates social value beyond entertainment to build community, shape public health communication, and express cultural identity.

Center for Ballet and the Arts Studio
16 Cooper Square
New York, NY 10003

This event will be in English.

This is an in-person event that requires registration. All non-NYU attendees must RSVP in advance. Video documentation will be made available on the Institute website following the event.

Mobility Access

The main entrance to the Hemispheric Institute at 20 Cooper Square and the ground floor event space at 16 Cooper Square is wheelchair accessible and there is elevator service to our space on the 5th floor.

Nearby ADA accessible subway stations include: B, C, D, and F at Broadway and Lafayette station. Q, N, R, W, 4, 5, and 6 trains at 14th Street station. Nearby ADA accessible bus stops include: M1, M3, M8, M101, M102, and M103 at the Astor Place stop.

Accessible Programming

All of our virtual and pre-recorded programming are equipped with automated closed-captioning.

Accessibility Inquiries

If you have additional accessibility needs, please message us, and we will make every effort to accommodate you.

Restrooms

The Hemispheric Institute at 20 Cooper Square and 16 Cooper Square, offers ADA accessible and gender neutral restrooms with changing tables.