Dancing To a New Beat: Percussion Army Comes Marching In
World Renowned Percussionist Cyro Baptista and His 8 piece Drum, Percussion, and Dance Ensemble 'Beat the Donkey' To Perform Makor Valentine's Day
New York, NY (PRWEB) February 7, 2004 --Grammy-award winning Brazilian percussionist, Cyro Baptista, presents his 8-piece percussion orchestra, Beat the Donkey in a musical, dance, and visual event like no other when they perform New York City Saturday, February 14 at 92nd Street Y (Makor). Beat the Donkey is a literal translation of the Brazilian expression "Pau Na Mula" which, loosely translated, means "lets take it up a notch," or "let's go, let's do it!"
Since 1997, Beat the Donkey has been creating and performing music and dance which has been described as a "wild, world-beat percussion ensemble that blends and beats up a bewitching stage stew of untamed percussion, tap dance, samba, jazz, rock and funk." Founded by Cyro Baptista, Beat the Donkey is a high energy musical carnival of untamed drummers and dizzying dancers performing with jaw dropping precision including individuals from the U.S., Israel, Europe, Asia, and Brazil. The New York Times has called it "wild, vivid entertainment" and Time Out New York noted it as "a most unforgettable spectacle."
This multi-ethnic drum nucleus is complete with members and influences from Africa, Indonesia, Europe and South America. Beat the Donkey's rhythmic performances are in the vein of Stomp and Blue Man Group-intense visual interaction with heavy beats and enjoyable theatrical performance. Band leader Cyro Baptista has gained international recognition by performing with such artists as Paul Simon, Sting, Trey Anastasio, Herbie Hancock, Yo Yo Ma, Dr. John, David Byrne, and numerous others. He has also managed to record on four Grammy-winning albums throughout his career; additionally, Cyro is the Brazilian percussionist present on Yo-Yo Ma's recent critically-acclaimed release, Obrigado Brazil, which has been nominated for three Grammy awards in 2003.
Cyro leads a torrid ensemble of drummers, percussionists, samba dancers, tap dancers, singers, and exotically costumed half naked players. He has always rejected rigid classification of instrumentation and with Beat the Donkey, lets his imagination run wild, combining music with dance and martial arts, mixing instrumentation from all over the globe, and unusual percussion inventions of his own to create a show of infectious dance music, both spellbinding and mysterious.
"An assemblage of musicians and dancers in outrageous costumes, banging on drums for all theyre worth-Mr. Baptistas band is Brazilian carnival crossed with Lower East Side performance art. It makes a ruckus, and its wild, vivid entertainment."
-Jon Pareles, The New York Times
"The conceptual lines between music, voice, rhythm and dance melt into air, as the percussionists interact in a sweaty tag-team musical kinesthesia."
--Michael Stone, RootsWorld
"Beat the Donkey expresses the physicality of music. It is a thunderous, theatrical, multicultural ensemble accompanied by dancers who have the enthusiasm of martial arts students."
--Jeff Spevak, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
"There was sword dancing, acrobatic stunts, carnival costumes, and through it all, some of the most innovative percussion I've ever seen. Thank goodness for musicians who have the courage to really get out there and try to do something completely different."
--Leigh Buckley Fountain, Richmond Times Dispatch
Audio and video clips of Beat the Donkey are available at http://www.cyrobaptista.com
The Beat the Donkey performance at the 92nd Street Y is at the Steinhardt Building, 35 West 67th Street is Saturday, February 14 at 9 PM and admission is $15. Tickets are available now at the http://www.92Y.org website. The show is all ages.
Publicity Contact:
Dave Weissman
Musical Earth
614-487-1403
dave@cyrobaptista.com
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