Chontadelia’s marimba-driven funk gives voice to Afro-Colombian stories and struggles
Celebrating and sharing its culture and community through music, Colombian band Chontadelia will have the audience grooving in the aisles when it brings an exuberant, high-spirited party to the Moss Arts Center on Thursday, March 24, at 7:30 p.m.
The performance will be held in the center’s Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre, located within the Street and Davis Performance Hall at 190 Alumni Mall.
Chontadelia fuses two words: “chonta,” the wood that the marimba is made of, and “delia,” psychedelic sounds. A seven-piece band from Bogotá, Colombia, Chontadelia is centered on the Pacific coast’s Afro-Colombian culture, identity, and history, including the iconic “marimba de chonta,” a percussion instrument that not only creates beautiful, melodious notes, but serves as a symbol of Afro-Colombian identity.
As a collective of academic and traditional musicians with broad musical knowledge and interests, Chontadelia has been making its mark since 2015. Its roots lay in a community-based arts organization working to preserve Pacific Coast culture in urban Bogotá. Chontadelia’s outspoken, marimba-driven funk gives voice to its communities’ histories, stories, struggles, and concerns.
“The capacity to enjoy, to have a good time, is not separate from what is happening to you, your country, your community,” says Chontadelia’s bassist, Diego Agudelo Gómez. “Stand up, talk about the issues, dance.”
Chontadelia’s Blacksburg performance is the first in a five-week U.S. debut tour that includes stops in Lexington, Kentucky; New Orleans; Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico; New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
The band is one of five ensembles from Colombia and Perú touring the U.S. this spring as part of Center Stage, a public diplomacy program that has introduced and toured performing artists from abroad in the United States since 2012. To date, 29 groups from Algeria, Egypt, Haiti, Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan, Tanzania, Ukraine, and Vietnam have made month-long tours from coast to coast.
Hosted by colleges and universities, festivals, music clubs, and cultural centers, Center Stage ensembles reach large cities and small towns. They engage with communities onstage, offstage, and online through performances, workshops, and discussions, artist-to-artist exchanges, master classes, and community gatherings, and return home to share these experiences with peers and fans.
Engagement events
Members of Chontadelia will connect with Virginia Tech students both in and outside of the classroom during their visit. They will meet with undergraduate students in the political science course Global Latin American to discuss current affairs in the ensemble’s native Colombia, and speak with students in a Spanish program course about their artistic and cultural influences. Chontadelia’s percussionists will coach Virginia Tech music students in the School of Performing Arts Percussion Ensemble, and students in the Creativity and Innovation District living-learning programs will gather with the group for a night of acoustic music, storytelling, and conversation.
Ticket information
Tickets for the performanceare $25 for general admission and $10 for Virginia Tech students and youth 18 and under. Tickets can be purchased online; at the Moss Arts Center's box office, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; or by calling 540-231-5300 during box office hours.
The Moss Arts Center adheres to the guidelines of the Virginia Department of Health and Virginia Tech in its operations, including protocols for face coverings and cleaning and sanitation. More information about these requirements is available on the Moss Arts Center website.
Paid parking is available in the North End Parking Garage on Turner Street. Virginia Tech faculty and staff possessing a valid Virginia Tech parking permit can enter and exit the garage free of charge. Virginia Tech has also partnered with ParkMobile to provide a convenient, contactless electronic payment option for parking, which may be used at any parking meter, campus parking space, or lot with standard F/S, C/G, or R parking.
If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact Jamie Wiggert at least 10 days prior to the event at 540-231-5300 or email wiggertj@vt.edu during regular business hours.
