The Umoja Orchestra was a

Gainesville, FL Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which had a population of 339,247 in 2 ...

-based band whose music incorporated elements from

afrobeat Afrobeat is a Nigerian music genre that involves the combination of West African musical styles (such as traditional Yoruba music and highlife) and American funk, jazz, and soul influences, with a focus on chanted vocals, complex intersecting ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

afro-cuban Afro-Cubans or Black Cubans are Cubans of West African ancestry. The term ''Afro-Cuban'' can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community and the combining of native African and other cultural ele ...

as well as traditional African, Caribbean and South American styles like salsa and merengue. The band's instrumentation was modeled closely to bands such as

Fela Kuti Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti; 15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997), also known as Abami Eda, was a Nigerian musician, bandleader, composer, political activist, and Pan-Africanist. He is regarded as the p ...

's Africa 70 and the

Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra Antibalas (Spanish for "bulletproof") is an American, Brooklyn-based afrobeat band that is modeled after Fela Kuti's Africa 70 band and Eddie Palmieri's Harlem River Drive Orchestra. Although their music generally follows the musical architectu ...

. Umoja Orchestra was a strong presence in the Gainesville music scene. The band was especially known for its energetic, crowd-pleasing, and dance-oriented live performances, usually selling out local venues and putting on spectacular shows. They have gone on three national tours, mostly through the East Coast, but as far as Texas. The name "Umoja" comes from the Swahili word for "unity".

Members

*Sebastián López Velásquez: Guitar, Vocals,

Charango The charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, from the Quechua and Aymara populations in the territory of the Altiplano in post-Colonial times, after European stringed instruments were introduced by the Spanish during c ...

, Accordion *Natalia Pérez: Vocals, Percussion *Michael Pedron: Bass *Michael Claytor:

Banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

, Percussion *David Borenstein: Saxophone, Clarinet *Irving Campbell: Saxophone *Jason Prover: Trumpet *Evan Hegarty: Keyboard *Keegan Jerabek: Trumpet *Evan Garfield: Drumset *Doug Fischer: Trombone *Micah Shalom: Trombone *David Choo: Saxophone *Adam Finkelman: Percussion, Timbales *Scott Bihorel: Congas *Scott Clayton: Guitar *Paul Kronk: Guitar *Johnny Frias: Congas

Discography

Dinner at the Republic 2009 Dinner usually refers to what is in many Western cultures the largest and most formal meal of the day, which is eaten in the evening. Historically, the largest meal used to be eaten around midday, and called dinner. Especially among the elite, ...

Abre la Puerta 2008 ''Open Your Eyes'' ( es, Abre los ojos, links=no) is a 1997 Spanish film co-written, co-scored and directed by Alejandro Amenábar and co-written by Mateo Gil. It stars Eduardo Noriega, Penélope Cruz, Chete Lera, Fele Martínez and Najwa Nimri. ...

Umoja Means Unity 2007 Umoja, the Swahili word for "unity", may refer to: *Umoja, the first of The Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba), celebrated and highlighted each day of the Kwanzaa holiday celebration *Umoja, Kenya, an all-female village founded on the principles of w ...

External links

Umoja Orchestra On MyspaceOfficial WebsiteFacebook Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Umoja Orchestra American funk musical groups American jazz ensembles American world music groups

Members

Discography

See also

External links