ENTERTAINMENT
Oneza Lafontant, founder and lead singer of KONGO. Oneza Lafontant
Caribbean Life, JANUARY 1-7, 2021 17
By Nelson A. King
The Center for Traditional Music
and Dance (CTMD)’s online series,
Beat of the Boroughs: NYC Online,
which highlights the artistry of the
city’s leading immigrant performers
from around the world, will continue
through the Spring of 2021, thanks
to a $33,000 grant from the Howard
Gilman Foundation.
CTMD said the grant, in addition
to previous funding from the
Scherman Foundation and the NYC
COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund,
will allow CTMD to spotlight 100
New York city-based immigrant and
folk artists.
The artists — including several
National Endowment for the Arts
National Heritage Fellowship Award
winners — represent the strength
and diversity of the cultural sector in
the city’s five boroughs, with traditions
hailing from Bulgaria, China,
Colombia, Gambia, Haiti, Iraq, Japan,
Mongolia, Ukraine and West Africa,
among other areas.
CTMD said the livelihoods of
immigrant artists in New York City
have been severely impacted as a
result of the COVID-19 pandemic,
with many unable to support themselves
due to venues shutting down
and the lack of endowments.
A recent report by the Center for
an Urban Future found that many
immigrant-led and immigrant-serving
arts organizations are facing fiscal
catastrophe, reporting revenue
losses amounting to 50 percent or
more of their annu al budgets, accord-
Continued on Page 18
Daria Performing for Tropicalfete Finale
2020. Tropicalfete, Inc.
By Nelson A. King
Daria Primus, the Vincentian-born
teaching artist with the Brooklyn-based
Tropicalfete cultural organization,
rocked the house during the group’s
grand 2020 Finale last Sunday.
Primus, who earlier this year won
the NYC Beatz Coronavirus Song Contest,
served as Mistress of Ceremonies
during which she serenaded the audience
with her “beautiful voice with a
30-minute set,” Alton Aimable, Tropi-
Continued on Page 18
By Nelson A. King
Brooklyn College News (BC News)
says that when US Supreme Court Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away
on Sept. 18, it sent shockwaves around
the world, impacting people in many
ways.
For Brooklyn College adjunct piano
professor, Jeffrey Biegel, it was a loss
that touched him on many levels, said
BC News, the college’s online news
outlet.
“Coming from a law enforcement
family—his father was the youngest
captain in the NYPD in the 1970s, serving
in three precincts, while his grandfather
was a lieutenant before that—he
was raised with a healthy respect for
justice that Ginsburg dedicated her life
to,” said BC News about Biegel.
Continued on Page 18
FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT, GO TO CARIBBEANLIFENEWS.COM/ENTERTAINMENT
Daria Primus
rocks finale
Musical tribute
to late RBG
BEAT
CONTINUES
NYC Online receives $33K to extend performances
/ENTERTAINMENT
