Liven Up Your Weekend with Summer Beats

Red Baraat. Photo courtesy of the artist.

If your idea of the perfect summer afternoon involves fresh air and live music, then you’re in luck: The Providence-based nonprofit FirstWorks has two fun and free outdoor concerts on tap for their annual Summer Beats Concerts lineup at the Roger Williams Park Bandstand. The first is coming up Wednesday, July 19 (rescheduled from Sunday, June 25) at 6 p.m. and will feature the multigenerational Garifuna Collective with powerful Afro-Indigenous music from coastal Belize and Honduras. The second is slated for Sunday, July 23, when Brooklyn-based band Red Baraat will unleash their explosive bhangra funk on stage.

“FirstWorks Summer Beats concerts give audiences a chance to experience groundbreaking global artists in one of Providence’s iconic outdoor settings,” says Kathleen Pletcher, FirstWorks Executive Artistic Director. “We launched our free outdoor concerts in the summer of 2020 to provide joy and connection to our community. We are thrilled to animate Roger Williams Park with world-class artistry for a fourth year in 2023.”

The Summer Beats Concerts are also presented in partnership with Roger Williams Park Conservancy and Providence Parks Department.

“I’m thrilled to be part of this partnership with FirstWorks and to be able to bring such a diverse lineup of performers each year,” says José Ramirez, Program Manager at Roger Williams Park Conservancy. “Thank you to the Providence Parks Department for allowing us the opportunity to activate such beautiful places here at Roger Williams Park for our park neighbors to enjoy as well as the community at large.”

The Garifuna Collective. Photo by Jeremy Lewis.

For those curious about the performers themselves, the Belize-based Garifuna Collective is the “living embodiment of a unique Afro-Caribbean heritage” according to FirstWorks. As representatives of the Garifuna people — descendants of an Afro-Indigenous population from St. Vincent who were exiled to the Honduran coast in the eighteenth century and subsequently relocated to Belize — the musicians harness the indomitable energy of their African and indigenous ancestors. Their performances inspire feverish dance floors through ancestral beats, relying on two traditional Garifuna drums known as the Primero and the Segunda. They also blend the sounds of maracas, turtle shells, guitars and swinging bass grooves with powerful call and response vocals to tell stories through music, dance and traditional costume. The Garifuna Collective have not only performed in more than thirty countries across five continents, but they also played a role in the critically acclaimed “Wátina.” The album received the Womex and BBC World Music Award and has been voted Number One World Music Album of All Time by Amazon.

“The Garifuna Collective is about maintaining and growing the Garifuna cultural identity, in a conversation between generations and traditions, based on the concept of sharing, reciprocity, the spiritual principle of “Au bun, Amürü nu” (I for you and you for me),” says Tomás Ávila, FirstWorks Board Member and the Associate Director Rhode Island Office of Diversity, Equity and Opportunity.

Prior to the start of the concert on July 19, members of Garifuna Collective will also teach a free, interactive workshop on Garifuna drums, rhythm, and culture from 4–5 p.m. A limited number of Primero and the Segunda drums will be on hand to demonstrate and teach the techniques and patterns that make up the Punta and Paranda rhythms (traditional Garifuna music) to attendees. The all-ages workshop will be conducted in both English and Spanish and will also share the history of the mixed free African, Indigenous and Caribbean ancestry that tells the story of the Garifuna people.

Red Baraat. Photo courtesy of the artist.

The second band taking the Bandstand stage in July is equally impressive. Founded by Brooklyn dhol player Sunny Jain with the intention of to manifesting joy and unity in all people, the Red Baraat has drawn worldwide accolades for its singular sound which merges hard-driving North Indian bhangra with elements of hip-hop, jazz and raw punk energy. Their high-octane live shows have reached worldwide stages and audiences, including WOMAD, the White House, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, globalFEST, the Lincoln Center, New Orleans Jazz Fest, the Olympic Games and even Rhode Island’s own PVDFest.

“If we can unite people of all backgrounds and ethnicities to partake in the exuberance of life through the universal language of music, then life is that much sweeter,” says Jain.

For more information about the FirstWorks Summer Beats Concterts Series, visit firstworks.org.