Your guide to Miami’s unmissable February festivities
By Stephen Robb, Miami Times Staff Writer
As Black History Month approaches, there is no shortage of concerts, recitals, activities, food and drink to help you celebrate. Here’s a lineup of some of the Magic City’s must-see events.
Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
“Black History Month is a highlight for sure for the Arsht Center season each and every year,” said Suzette Espinosa Fuentes, vice president of communications for the performing arts center. “Our goal is to highlight the diversity of the African diaspora, particularly in Miami, as well as the incredible Black voices that exist in the performing arts in a number of genres.”
Espinosa Fuentes says there are cultural advantages for everyone.
“For those of us that are part of Black culture, it’s an opportunity to celebrate our culture,” she said. “And for those of us who are not, it’s also an opportunity to immerse yourself, learn something and really create a connection with others.”
Asked about highlights, Espinosa Fuentes pointed to Kamasi Washington’s concert on Feb. 13.
“If you don’t know him, you will soon,” Espinosa Fuentes enthused. “He’s a multi-instrumentalist. He actually just scored the Netflix documentary about Michelle Obama, and he’s collaborating with Kendrick Lamar and Snoop and George Clinton and Herbie Hancock. His star is really, really on the rise. He’s an excellent, wonderful jazz musician.”
Washington will perform Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m. at Knight Concert Hall. Tickets are $45 to $120.
Also at the Arsht for Black History Month:
Afro-Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés will treat audiences with musical performances that draw from jazz, blues, funk, Latin, classical and African influences. Valdés’ new album, Cuba & Beyond, finds inspiration from a diverse array of artists, from Chick Corea to Mozart.
The Chucho Valdes Royal Quartet will perform Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. at Knight Concert Hall. Tickets are $40-$130.
Also, the sixth-annual Heritage Fest returns to welcome visitors to the Arsht’s campus. The free, all-ages event will feature dance and movement workshops, a children’s reading corner and a community vendor marketplace featuring local Black-owned businesses. The event closes with a performance by Stout.
Heritage Fest will be held Feb. 8 from 3-6 p.m. at the Ziff Ballet Opera House – Thomson Plaza for the Arts.
Pioneering hip-hop group De La Soul — which has established a gentler, more inventive, one-of-a-kind presence in a rap landscape largely defined by aggression and righteous anger — will also grace the stage.
De La Soul incorporates funk, soul, pop, jazz, reggae and psychedelia into its alluring patchwork of sounds. They will perform Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. at Knight Concert Hall. Tickets are $45-$125.
The spirit of gospel music will fill the streets with a special pop-up gospel performance by local artists in Miami’s Gwen Cherry Park. Gospel on the Road is part of the Gospel Fest Miami series, a six-month celebration of gospel music in South Florida.
Gospel on the Road will be held Feb. 22 from noon to 4 p.m. at 7090 NW 22 Ave.
For over 50 years, Ailey II: The Next Generation of Dance has merged the spirit and energy of the country’s finest early-career dance talent with the passion and creative vision of today’s most outstanding and emerging choreographers. Founded by Alvin Ailey in 1974, this universally renowned company embodies Ailey’s pioneering mission to establish an extended cultural community that provides dance performances, training and community programs for all people.
Ailey II: The Next Generation of Dance will be held Feb. 28 at 8 p.m. at Knight Concert Hall. Tickets are $30-$75.
West African Beats returns
Vocalist, violinist Nicole Yarling wants you to come along on a musical trip — and if you’re not careful, you might learn something.
“We start in West Africa, and then we’re going to go to Cuba, and then we’re going to go to Haiti, and we’ll touch on Trinidad. Then we come to the United States,” Yarling said.
(Dranoff 2 Piano Fusion)
On Sunday, Feb. 16, as part of its West African Beats series, Dranoff 2 Piano Fusion will present a 12-member ensemble performance of “One Song,” which will explore the evolution of West African music and its centuries-long journey to the Americas.
“Basically, we’re going to celebrate the African diaspora,” Yarling said. “That’s the best way to describe it. There’ll be dancers, percussion, horns, singing. I like to educate people, along with entertaining them without boring them. That’s the important thing. People like to be entertained.”
The West African Beats One Song performance will be held Feb. 16 at 4 p.m. at the Miami Beach Bandshell, 7257 Collins Ave. Tickets at $30 to $45 are available at www.Dranoff2Piano.org. Students with ID can purchase them for $5 at the door.
‘Oskuneru’ premieres
A Miami-born, Suriname-raised playwright is telling a little-known story about resilience in the new theatrical production “Oskuneru,” opening in February at the Art Lab.
“It is based upon my ancestors and their journey from Africa through the Middle Passage to Suriname, where they fought for their freedom against the Dutch colonialists,” author Sefanja Richard Galon said. “It’s an attempt to tell the story of colonialism and slavery through the eyes of the enslaved people. And it is meant to be a really light and a shiny definition of what it is to be resilient against the odds.”
Galon, who is also the director, said the play got its start when he was a student in 2020 at the New World School of the Arts. He said there’s more to Black history than slavery. He wants to tell what happened before slavery.
“There’s more to our history, there’s more to our culture than just being slaves. I really wanted to display what that life would have looked like before European influences, and what these people may have believed and practiced and what the culture might have been,” Galon said.
Oskuneru will be performed Feb. 6-8 and 13-15 at the Art Lab, 300 NE 2nd Ave. Tickets can be bought at the Main Street Players website, or at the box office at (305) 445-1119 / boxoffice@gablestage.org
White Shadows in Black Art
In this talk, Johns Hopkins historian Minkah Makalani considers how writer Langston Hughes and poet Jacques Roumain created images of modern Black folk as the focus of political struggle and artistic production, and explores how their correspondence sheds light on the politics of art in the 21st century.
White Shadows in Black Art will be held Friday Jan. 31, 7 to 8 p.m. at The Wolfsonian–FIU at 1001 Washington Ave.
For more information, go to the Florida International University website.
Step Afrika! at The Parker
Step Afrika!, the world’s first professional dance company dedicated to the tradition of stepping and one of the top 10 African American dance companies in the U.S., will perform as part of the Broward Center’s Mosaic Series.
Ticketmaster is the only official ticketing service for The Broward Center and The Parker. Buy tickets online at ParkerPlayhouse.com and Ticketmaster.com; by phone at 954-462-0222; and in person at the Broward Center’s AutoNation Box Office.
Step Africa! will perform in the Lillian S. Wells Hall at The Parker, 707 NE Eighth St. in Fort Lauderdale, on Jan. 29 at 7:30 p.m.
The Drifters at the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center
They’re known for the classics “Up on the Roof,” “Under the Boardwalk,” “This Magic Moment,” “There Goes My Baby,” “Dance with Me,” “Spanish Harlem” and “Stand by Me.” And now the Drifters are coming to Aventura.
The first Black artists inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame were also the first artists to sell two million records. The Drifters received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock and Roll Recording for “Under the Boardwalk,” which has been listed as the most-played rhythm and blues record of all time.
The Drifters will play Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. at the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, 3385 NE 188th St.