William Cepeda Projects

AFRORICAN JAZZ

Afrorican Jazz - celebrates the heritage of Puerto Rico music and its African roots while creating a new shade of jazz with a hip flavor steeped in the jazz tradition.

 Sample track:
 "Bomba Flamenca"

WILLIAM CEPEDA QUARTET

This group of virtuoso musicians.makes this spectacle unique, and presents different facets of contemporary jazz.

WILLIAM CEPEDA QUINTET

The show has movement and presents different facets of contemporary jazz. Their original compositions are a testimony of the dynamic structure of jazz.

 Sample track:
  "Unity"

AFROBORICUA

This seven-member troupe of percussionists, dancersand singers brings to audiences a taste of the traditional Puerto Ricanperforming arts that are infused with an African aesthetic.

 Sample track:
 "Seshuque y Balance"

Special Projects & ResearchInterests:

Ethno Jazz  
A unique multi-cultural jazz project combining traditional instruments and artistsfrom various countries/cultures including Arab, Japan, Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

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Caribbean Cruise  

An educational project that provides a comprehensive cultural guide consisting of the food, language, historical backgrounds and musical traditions of up to 10 Caribbean countries. Unique musical compositions representing each Caribbean country are also taught to students culminating in a multi-cultural performance.

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Encyclopedia -
Puerto Rican Music Roots & Beyond 

An educational and artistic project that provide, for the first time in history, an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of the four genres of traditional Puerto Rican music and dance – bomba, plena, la danza and música jíbara –and the full range of how these genres can be interpreted and represented in a contemporarycontext. This project will provide a comprehensive set of teaching materials including highquality musical recordings, digital video recordings, monographs, songs books, website, and curriculum and teacher guides for elementary, middle and high school levels.

Bomba Sinfónica

A fusion of Afro-Puerto Rican musical traditions and European classical music. Folk instruments, in particular a set of Bomba drums, have been incorporated with the symphonic ensemble, to develop an original dialogue with classical instruments. The orchestra is joined by a vocal choir and four vocal soloists—a classically trained tenor and soprano, as well as a folkloric contralto and a well-known pop tenor. In live performance, the works heard on this recording are illuminated with multimedia projections and by colorfully costumed Afro- Puerto Rican folk dancers. 2003 Suite Tierra Negra - A multi-disciplinary artistic performance that includes a mix of musical genres (symphonic, jazz, world) and art forms such as dance, multimedia tools, poetry, and theatre exploring the cultural and historical context of the Puerto Rican people.

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Documentary Film

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2003 El Trombón de Bomba and El Jazz de William Cepeda. A 65 minute documentary by a French film maker

Louise Ernst about William Cepeda and the development and creation of his Afro-Rican style of jazz.

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