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Afro-Caribbean History Through the Arts

 

Celebración de Juneteenth en Holyoke, MA — 19 y 20 de Junio de 2026

COMUNICADO DE PRENSA: PARA PUBLICACIÓN INMEDIATA

Contacto: Dr. Gloria Caballero Roca

Correo electrónico: caballero.gloria3035@gmail.com

Holyoke Celebra el Legado Afro-Caribeño y Juneteenth a Través de las Artes

Los Doctores Gloria Caballero e Ivor Miller se enorgullecen en presentar la segunda edición de la celebración de Juneteenth, honrando el legado afro-puertorriqueño y afro-cubano a través de la música, la danza y la comunidad. Este evento gratuito y familiar se llevará a cabo los días 19 y 20 de junio, con artistas de renombre internacional, talleres interactivos y presentaciones llenas de alegría.

    
‘Román’ Díaz & Danys Pérez Lázaro Galarraga “From the heart”

Entre los destacados del evento se encuentran:

  • Brendaliz Cepeda y Bomba de Aquí desde Holyoke, MA — guardianes de la rica tradición de la Bomba puertorriqueña.
  • Maestro Lázaro Galarraga, bailarín, percusionista y cantante principal desde Los Ángeles, conocido mundialmente por su maestría en la música afro-cubana.
  • Danys Pérez “La Mora” y su reconocida compañía de danza Oyu Oro Afro-Cuban Dance Ensemble desde la ciudad de Nueva York, transmitiendo el espíritu del legado Yoruba.
  • Azaka Group, pioneros de mizik rasin (música de raíz) con Harry Ayizan Sanon de Holyoke y sus hermanos musicales.

La celebración inicia el viernes 19 de junio a las 4:00 p.m. en Lyman Park con talleres gratuitos de percusión y danza para todas las edades. Ese mismo día el festival continuará con actuaciones en vivo a las 6:00 PM en Holyoke Media Center.

El sábado 20 de junio continuarán las celebraciones con talleres gratuitos en St. Paul's Church (485 Appleton Street, Holyoke) a las 4:00 PM, y a las 6:00 p.m., se realizarán nuevamente presentaciones en vivo en el Holyoke Media Center.

Esta celebración es una expresión de alegría, unidad y orgullo cultural. Invitamos a toda la comunidad a unirse, aprender y honrar las contribuciones de las comunidades afrodescendientes a nuestra historia compartida. Todos los eventos son gratis y abiertos al público.

Detalles del Evento:

Viernes 19 de junio
📍 Lyman Park, 498 Dwight St., Holyoke
🕓 4:00 p.m. – Talleres de Percusión y Danza Gratuitos
📍 Holyoke Media Center, 1 Court Plaza, Holyoke
🕕 6:00 p.m. – Presentaciones en Vivo

Sábado 20 de junio
📍 St. Paul's Church, 485 Appleton Street, Holyoke
🕓 4:00 p.m. – Talleres de Percusión y Danza Gratuitos
📍 Holyoke Media Center, 1 Court Plaza, Holyoke
🕕 6:00 p.m. – Presentaciones en Vivo

¡Celebremos en unidad, comunidad, alegría y comprensión!

 

June 19-21, 2026
Workshops: Lyman Park, Holyoke, MA. (June 19-20, 4-5PM)
Performances Holyoke Media Center, Holyoke, MA. (June 19-20, 6-8PM)
Service: Congregational Church, Old Lyme, CT. (June 21, 10AM)

 

Afro-Caribbean History Through the Arts Festival

Celebrating Juneteenth in Holyoke, MA — June 19th and 20th, 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Dr. Gloria Caballero Roca

Email: caballero.gloria3035@gmail.com

Holyoke Celebrates Afro-Caribbean Heritage and Juneteenth Through the Arts

Dr. Gloria Caballero and Ivor Miller are proud to present the second edition of the Juneteenth celebration, honoring Afro-Puerto Rican and Afro-Cuban heritage through music, dance, and community. This free and family-friendly event will take place on June 19 and 20, featuring internationally renowned artists, interactive workshops, and performances full of joy.

Azaka Haitian Culture Band: Azouke / Ayizan / Yatande

Among the highlights of the event are:

  • Brendaliz Cepeda and Bomba de Aquí from Holyoke, MA — guardians of the rich tradition of Puerto Rican Bomba.
  • Maestro Lázaro Galarraga, dancer, percussionist, and lead singer from Los Angeles, known worldwide for his mastery of Afro-Cuban music.
  • Danys Pérez “La Mora” and her renowned dance company Oyu Oro Afro-Cuban Dance Ensemble from New York City, transmitting the spirit of the Yoruba legacy.
  • Azaka Group, pioneers of mizik rasin (roots music) with Harry Ayizan Sanon of Holyoke and his musical brothers.

The celebration begins Friday, June 19 at 4:00 p.m. at Lyman Park with free percussion and dance workshops for all ages. That same day, the festival will continue with live performances at 6:00 PM at the Holyoke Media Center.

On Saturday, June 20, celebrations will continue with free workshops at St. Paul's Church (485 Appleton Street, Holyoke) at 4:00 PM, and at 6:00 p.m., live performances will once again take place at the Holyoke Media Center.

Bomba de Aquí percussion ensemble

This celebration is an expression of joy, unity, and cultural pride[cite: 28, 48]. We invite the entire community to join, learn, and honor the contributions of Afro-descendant communities to our shared history. All events are free and open to the public.

Event Details:

Friday, June 19
📍 Lyman Park, 498 Dwight St., Holyoke
🕓 4:00 p.m. – Free Percussion and Dance Workshops
📍 Holyoke Media Center, 1 Court Plaza, Holyoke
🕕 6:00 p.m. – Live Performances
Saturday, June 20
📍 St. Paul's Church (485 Appleton Street, Holyoke) [
🕓 4:00 p.m. – Free Percussion and Dance Workshops
📍 Holyoke Media Center, 1 Court Plaza, Holyoke
🕕 6:00 p.m. – Live Performances

 

June 19-21, 2026
Workshops: Lyman Park, Holyoke, MA. (June 19-20, 4-5PM)
Performances Holyoke Media Center, Holyoke, MA. (June 19-20, 6-8PM)
Service: Congregational Church, Old Lyme, CT. (June 21, 10AM)

 

Articles/Artículostop

 

Links/Enlacestop

Oyu Oro Afro-Cuban Dance Ensemble

Centering Black History in the 250th | A Holyoke gathering, 2026


Afro-Caribbean History Through the Arts, YouTube, 2024

Drs. Gloria Caballero & Ivor Miller, organizers.
With Lázaro Galarraga (voice), Román Díaz Rumba Ensemble, Danys Pérez and dancers
June 14-16, 2024

We gather in Holyoke, MA., to honor the cultural systems of the circum-Caribbean as an innovating force in Our Americas. This first event — of what we plan to be an annual cycle — highlights the spirituality of Caribbean peoples. We recognize Holyoke as an extension of the Caribbean through its contemporary Puerto Rican, Santo Domingan, Haitian, Cuban and other island populations.

Our program title, ‘Afro-Caribbean history through the arts’, is inclusive to welcome all to this occasion with some of the best folk artists of this genre, who will guide and teach us about the collective genius of Caribbean peoples, through inherited methods of evoking and memorializing their history within a sacred context.

Our artists are initiates into Afro-Caribbean systems — traditions that have developed over the centuries to teach mutual respect and co-existence — whose performance art sustains collective support for the expression of visions and sentiments.

We are celebrating Juneteenth by embracing the African heritage of the Caribbean as integral to the history of New England. As evoked by Herman Melville in Moby Dick, as exemplified by the DeWolf family of Rhode Island, as well as the Amistad ship in Mystic, Connecticut, the historic wealth of our coastal communities was developed through Atlantic shipping routes and Caribbean plantations. Today, this history is being recovered through research, for example by members of the Congregational Church of Old Lyme, who have worked to identify and memorialize the enslaved Africans and descendants in their community, as reflected in their African burial ground.

Understanding the value of ancestors in our lives (even if to appreciate the traditions and ideas they left for us), the artists will lead us through a spiritual mass to evoke the deceased who impact our lives positively, to evoke their legacies, whether they came from the Kongo, China, Native America, Europe, and to recall how they fought colonial bondage to give us sovereignty.
Responding to a sequence of images from paintings created by culture bearers in the Cuban ritual systems, the artists will then evoke the Carabalí people, whose presence in Santiago de Cuba lives through its carnival ‘comparsa’ groups, and in Havana and Matanzas through the Abakuá society for mutual aid.

Then they will evoke the West African deities known as Orishá, who are structured into a group known as the Lukumí Confederation, where they act essentially as a system of Laws to guide and heal those who serve them. Here in the northeast, the closest equivalent might be the Iroquois Confederation, or the Six Nations, an egalitarian society whose ideas have contributed greatly to North American society.

 

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