Events

NYU’s Hemispheric Institute in collaboration with The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at Tisch School of the Arts, at New York University present a special evening of music and discussion

Co-sponsored by
NYU’s Institute of African American Affairs and the Center for Black Visual Culture

Garífuna singer-songwriter, guitarist, and percussionist Aurelio Martinez is one of Central America’s most gifted composers and performers. Born in Honduras, the artist is known for his powerful and evocative voice and for compositions that bring a modern expression to Garífuna music. He is a major tradition-bearer of Garifuna diasporic culture, a former Honduran congressman, and a global ambassador for the Garifuna nation. His albums have been named to multiple year-end critics lists, including The Sunday Times and The Guardian. Roots named Martinez as “the finest living exponent of the music of the Garifuna people” and TheLondon Evening Standard called him “one of the great artists of Latin America." Martínez joins NYU’s Hemispheric Institute as artist in residence during the 2022 calendar year as part of the Mellon Foundation’s World Making and Social Emergency Initiative.

As a kick-off event for a new partnership between the Hemispheric Institute and the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, Martínez will perform music and engage in discussion at NYU’s 370 Jay Street campus in Brooklyn. Martinez will be joined by curator and festival producer Natalia Algarín.

They will discuss Garífuna cultural history, Martínez’s personal history and formation as a musician, his priorities as a composer and performer, the connection between Garífuna music and Latin and World music, and how Martínez’s work builds the future of music from GarífunAmérica.