Trombone Shorty + All-Star Cast of Musicians Brought the Funk to Cuba, Performing For Thousands and Supporting Local Artists and Students
The Trombone Shorty Foundation and New Orleans Musicians United with Cimafunk and Cuba Educational Travel for the Third Cultural Exchange Visit
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“New Orleans is my home away from home and nothing makes me happier than connecting the youth in our two countries,” says Cimafunk, who helps curate the program. “Cuba and New Orleans have centuries of shared culture and traditions that we need to continue to embrace, celebrate and share with the world. I’m so grateful to Trombone Shorty, PJ Morton, Big Freedia, Tank and all the other New Orleans artists for bringing their art to Cuba.”
"The 'Getting Funky in Havana' program is all about celebrating the connection between New Orleans and Cuba,” says Trombone Shorty. “Bringing artists from both places onto the same stage gives us the chance to show off the transformative and unifying essence of music. This trip is a reminder of how music can connect people across nations, keeping the roots of New Orleans music alive and setting the stage for the next generation of musicians to come.”
Shorty’s connection with Havana dates back to 1988, when he, alongside his brother James Andrews, embarked on a transformative journey to Cuba as part of a cultural exchange program. The profound impact of this journey on Shorty has served as the inspiration behind his mission to recreate aspects of that experience through his foundation and the Havana Funk Expedition. In 2019, Shorty led the inaugural cultural exchange trip under his foundation’s name, followed by a second trip last year. You can find NPR's coverage of the 2023 trip here.
ABOUT TROMBONE SHORTY
If anybody knows their way around a festival, it’s Grammy-winning artist Trombone Shorty. Born Troy Andrews, he got his start (and nickname) earlier than most: at four, he made his first appearance at Jazz Fest performing with Bo Diddley; at six, he was leading his own brass band; and by his teenage years, he was hired by Lenny Kravitz to join the band he assembled for his Electric Church World Tour. Shorty’s proven he’s more than just a horn player, though. Catch a gig, open the pages of the New York Times or Vanity Fair, flip on any late-night TV show and you’ll see an undeniable star with utterly magnetic charisma, a natural born showman who can command an audience with the best of them. Since 2010, he’s released four chart topping studio albums; toured with everyone from Jeff Beck to the Red Hot Chili Peppers; collaborated across genres with Pharrell, Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson, Foo Fighters, ZHU, Zac Brown, Normani, Ringo Starr, and countless more; played Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Newport Folk, Newport Jazz, and nearly every other major festival; performed four times at the GRAMMY Awards, five times at the White House, on dozens of TV shows, and at the star-studded Sesame Street Gala, where he was honored with his own Muppet; launched the Trombone Shorty Foundation to support youth music education; and received the prestigious Caldecott Honor for his first children’s book. Meanwhile in New Orleans, Shorty now leads his own Mardi Gras parade atop a giant float crafted in his likeness, hosts the annual Voodoo Threauxdown shows that have drawn guests including Usher, Nick Jonas, Dierks Bentley, Andra Day, and Leon Bridges to sit in with his band, and has taken over the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival’s hallowed final set, which has seen him closing out the internationally renowned gathering after performances by the likes of Neil Young, the Black Keys, and Kings of Leon.
ABOUT CIMAFUNK
Cimafunk is a multiple GRAMMY-nominated Afro-Cuban Rockstar. His name refers to his heritage as a ‘cimarrón,’ Cubans of African descent who resisted and escaped slavery, as well as to the essence of his music that aims to subvert conventional sounds with rhythmic innovation. By bringing out the best in Cuban rhythms and traditions and infusing sounds and styles from Africa and the U.S., Cimafunk is redefining contemporary Cuban music as well as Afro-Latin identity and the fusion of black cultures. Cimafunk has made a name for himself as one of today’s great showman, performing an electric live show with his 9-person band from Havana. As innovative funk forefather George Clinton (Parliament-Funkadelic) says: “Cimafunk takes it back there while keeping it in the now. It’s what we do, always reinventing the Funk to keep it fresh.”
Cimafunk’s monumental second album El Alimento was released in October 2021, receiving overwhelming praise and 2023 GRAMMY-nomination for Best Latin Alternative or Rock Album. Rolling Stone ranked it #3 of the Best Spanish-Language and Bilingual Albums of 2021 and #23 of the 50 Best Albums of 2021. El Alimento was also among NPR’s Best Latin Music of 2021 and #1 of Le Monde’s Latin Music favorites. Singles also made their way through 2021 lists: Rómpelo ft. Lupe Fiasco was among NPR Alt. Latino’s best singles of 2021 and Funk Aspirin ft. George Clinton in Remezcla’s 10 Best Indie Pop, Rock, & Chill Songs of 2021.
Cimafunk has engaged in collaborations across generations with Cuban music Icons such as Chucho Valdés, Omara Portuondo, Juana Bacallao, Los Papines, La Orquesta Aragon, and in building bridges across segments of black music: celebrating New Orleans – Cuba connections with Trombone Shorty, Tank & The Bangas and The Soul Rebels, and Soul, Funk, Hip Hop and R&B with George Clinton, Ceelo Green, Lupe Fiasco. Now, with the start of 2024, CIMAFUNK has been named as the first Cuban-born music artist set to perform at Coachella, will return to this year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival as a mainstage performer, and is completing his highly anticipated next album set to arrive this summer.
ABOUT THE TROMBONE SHORTY FOUNDATION
The Trombone Shorty Foundation’s mission is to inspire the next generation of talented opportunity youth through music education, instruction, mentorship, and performance. By honoring the New Orleans tradition of “playing it forward” from the earliest jazz legends onward, the foundation seeks to preserve and perpetuate the musical heritage of a city where music is everything. Experienced and professional teachers, tutors, and mentors support every student in the pursuit of a well-rounded understanding of New Orleans’ musical traditions, experience in music performance, reading, writing, and now, even business, and the social and academic skills they need to make noise wherever they go – in music and in life.