Xiomara Laugart & Rumbanza Celebrate Celia Cruz
Friday, October 23, 2026
7:00 PM
Queens Theatre
Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NY 11368
Scheduled
About This Event
Xiomara Laugart and Rumbanza present a program honoring Celia Cruz at Queens Theatre. They move through son, bolero, mambo and salsa, pairing Laugart’s nueva trova grounding, jazz phrasing and open improvisation with Rumbanza’s rhythmically clear, song‑centered arrangements of Afro‑Caribbean forms.
About Celebrate Celia Cruz
At Queens Theatre, *Celebrate Celia Cruz* frames a tribute to the Cuban singer through a live program led by Xiomara Laugart with Rumbanza, drawing directly on Cruz’s songbook. Laugart’s roots in nueva trova, jazz-inflected phrasing, and free improvisation meet the architecture of son, bolero, mambo, and salsa with an emphasis on rhythm and clear storytelling. In New York City, where Latin music has long shaped neighborhood nightlife and mainstream stages, the piece reads as both remembrance and record. Its most telling choice is restraint: the repertoire carries the weight without excess ornament.
About the Artists
Xiomara Laugart
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Rumbanza
Rumbanza is a performance group heard in New York City at Queens Theatre, often in programs that frame Afro-Caribbean song forms in a concert setting. The group has shared bills with artists including Xiomara Laugart and has worked in tribute contexts connected to the repertoire of Celia Cruz.
Celia Cruz
Celia Cruz was a Cuban vocalist who emerged from Havana’s 1950s dance‑band circuit and went on to become a defining voice in salsa and related Afro‑Caribbean styles. Her recordings and touring output reached a global audience, with a catalog that moves through son, bolero, mambo, and Latin dance forms.