Rolando Silva Photo
Orquesta el Macabeo
Rick Omonte recalled the first time he heard of the band Orquesta el Macabeo on a trip to Puerto Rico, the band’s native island.
“My entire life I’ve gone to Puerto Rico,” Omonte said. “I found them while looking for underground punk music there. People asked me if I had heard of them while in record stores there digging around for punk and salsa records.” The band “popped up on radar” because “they have roots in salsa but also grew up listening to and playing punk and metal music.” He finally caught the band in San Juan about five years ago after missing them many times, and opened a dialogue with the bass player, José Ibanez. The two kept in touch and traded playlists according to Omonte, who not only spins records on WPKN and at local clubs under the name DJ Shaki but is also a bass player himself for New Haven-based bands Mountain Movers and Headroom.
Their mutual goal: to get the band to play in New Haven.
Omonte, who also books shows for the newly opened State House, was finally able to book the band for a show in July of this past year which ended up being held at The Grove. When he found out they were touring again a few months later for their 10th anniversary, he worked on booking them at The State House.
“We were looking at mostly weekdays. I pitched a Monday and saw it was the holiday and it clicked,” said Omonte. That holiday was Indigenous Peoples Day, which will be celebrated this Monday, Oct. 8.
“Their last record, La Maldicion del Timbal (translated: The Curse of Kettledrum) — half of it is about world and social issues and growing up in Puerto Rico.” said Omonte, a self- described huge fan. “They have a lot of crossover with funk, psychedelic, and rock ‘n’ roll. They clearly appreciate all kinds of music in a subtle nuanced way.” Omonte even praised their aesthetics. “Their logo is a skull with maracas instead of crossbones. They have amazing videos and are amazing live. They are the real deal.”
Chad Browne-Springer Photo
The Lost Tribe
Omonte also booked a CT band — The Lost Tribe — that has been on his radar for a while. “They are a world groove band that are genuine and earnest and refreshing,” said Omonte, “and they embrace positivity.”
Jocelyn Pleasant, leader and percussionist for The Lost Tribe, said her band had been trying to work out a day to play the State House for a while and was excited to open for Orquesta el Macabeo and experience them. Experience is the key to both Pleasant’s and The Lost Tribe’s mission as well. Playing drums since the age of nine, Pleasant has been involved in music most of her life, as a performer and as an educator. Previously a teacher at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, she is now a full-time student at Wesleyan University getting her masters in ethnomusicology.
“I want to take my experience and bring it to the audience,” she said. “Beginning with traditional West African drumming and djembe music, then expanding the full band format, adding guitar, bass, drums, adding the melodies via horns, the horns improvising and adding as a singer would, I want to try something different.”
Recently she has collaborated with the Hartford-based Artists Collective and the Mudcloth Cultural Arts Movement, and will be doing so again as part of Hartford’s Felabration, celebrating famed Nigerian musician Fela Kuti. She also has plans to bring The Lost Tribe back to New Haven in November for Phat Astronaut’s anniversary show at Pacific Standard Tavern (where this reporter first saw this band last year).
“Drumming and dance go together,” Pleasant said. “When you hear a drum you want to move. It’s part of the culture itself. There’s movement and dancing. It’s audience participation. You don’t sit, everybody participates — sings, dances, chants.”
One of her goals is to “take that energy from traditional settings and bring it to outside venues, to mix and match from different backgrounds and come together to celebrate community.”
Ibanez, Orquesta Macabeo’s bassist, also spoke about his band, its music, and the importance of community.
“Everyone has their own space for music, but we are together in this,” Ibanez said. “Our minds are filled with world music, rock, tropical, and from this we create our own sound. Others might say it is not traditional, but for us it’s amazing, delivering our own message, using art as a weapon. Saying these things and getting people to identify, and then they are grateful and feel identified. We might break the rules, but we want to try things as long as it sounds good.”
It is music with a message. “Don’t be afraid of new things,” said Ibanez. “Encourage new things. Be brave.”
That embrace of the new is in keeping with Ibanez’s punk roots. “I come from punk bands. They talk about problems in society and the government and injustice. I wanted to do it the same way with this band, the same message in a different style,” Ibanez said. “The older you get the more grateful and interested you become, learning more and learning how things work. Every year I’m becoming more punk than the year before.”
“Everyone tries to make music a product, but that’s not from the heart,” Ibanez added. “We are doing it from the heart. We started from nothing, just jamming and having fun.” But “I care for humanity and helping people, the education of people. It is important to put out our ideas and present them to people. To tell them ‘I’m just like you and have problems just like you. Let’s have fun and maybe you go home and think about a song.’ Why not?”
Omonte likewise spoke about community and connection. “I’ve realized for me that the lines blur with music, musician, audience, band member — booking is making a connection to people and to music. I want the groups to show up and say, ‘this is cool and these people care and like it.’ You want hospitality, you want love. It’s more of an exchange. I want everyone to walk out of New Haven like, ‘hey, it’s cool here.’”
Omonte will also be playing a DJ set at the show with a heavy concentration on Latin, salsa, and world music as well as punk. There will also be Caribbean-inspired food by Feliz PopUps.
“I wanted this show to be a conscious party and for everyone to be here to have a good time and all be real aware,” Omonte said. “People think you can’t party and be woke, but you can’t party until you are woke.”
The show happens Oct. 8., 8 p.m., at the State House, 310 State St., and is all ages. More information and tickets can be found at The State House website.
