Trenton Downtown Association

Put on your dancing shoes! Orquesta Rumba Con Son will bring the “full Latin band sound” reminiscent of the salsa bands of the 1970s to Maxine’s 2 this Friday. Expect an energetic show that combines classic salsa from the 1970s and 1980s, sung by a front man whose voice has a hint of Domingo Quiñones, Oscar D'Leon, and Hector Lavoe.

The band traces its roots back to Rutgers University where music director Jose Abreu majored in music theory. Abreu, who also studied classical piano, spent the 1990s playing with several bands, including his own. In 2006, he took over “The Rutgers Salsa Band” (founded by Rutgers Professor Dr. Nanette de Jong to give students an opportunity to learn about and perform salsa music), and changed the name to Rumba Con Son. “Although there is only one musician left in Rumba con Son from the musicians I took over from the Rutgers salsa band, it was the combination of the Rutgers salsa band and my band mates from the mid 90s that ultimately resulted in Rumba con Son,” said Abreu.

Lead Singer Moises “El Salsero” Torres joined the band in 2007. Like many artists, Torres found his calling in church. His earliest performances were as a member of the youth band at St. Mary’s Cathedral when he was 12. “I was the kid with the maracas,” he said. The band has performed at numerous festivals and events throughout the state, but for Torres, nothing beats playing for the home crowd. “Trenton is my hometown no matter where I go. This is where the foundation of singing salsa was constructed for me. Without my friends and family (here), I would have never been able to get as far as I have. I was born and raised in Trenton and I am proud of that,” said Torres.

Rumba Con Son will perform from 6-9 PM this Friday, August 8 at Maxine’s 2, 120 S. Warren St, as part of the Trenton2Nite festivities. The show is FREE and open to all ages. For a complete listing of Trenton2Nite events, click on the events calendar above.

It was during a trip to Cuba in 1996 that Jorge Armenteros fell in love. His muse? The people of the island and their art. In Cuba to educate himself on the cigar industry and history for his cigar business, Armenteros, a Cuban-American, “stumbled” upon Cuban art and a new passion was born. He would return each year after to buy art, and in 1999 created ArtistaCUBA, a company dedicated to the study and promotion of Cuban art. All paintings displayed by ArtistaCUBA are of artists working and living in Cuba. Its focus is to display contemporary Cuban folk art representative of the Island and its culture.

“The whole purpose of the ArtistaCUBA collection was to capture a place and time, and capture the whole spectrum of it, not just to buy paintings for resell, but more importantly, to try and represent a whole era that as Americans we’re not exposed to,” said Armenteros, from his home in Hopewell. “For whatever reasons, good, bad or indifferent, 90 miles away from Key West, lies a country that we can’t go to, but what they produce is as extraordinary as anything that gets done anywhere else in the world.”

The ArtistaCUBA collection includes works of fine art from world-renowned artists, as well as rustic folk art made by untrained artists with rudimentary materials. Thirty-six pieces from the collection will be exhibited next month at Gallery 125, 125 S. Warren Street, Trenton. An opening reception for “ArtistaCUBA – The Art of Cuba” will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, August 8 as part of the Trenton2Nite activities. The art chosen range from folk art pieces utilizing rustic simplicity and strong use of color, to psychologically nuanced surrealism juxtaposing ordinary objects in extraordinary places.

“This lively exhibit speaks volumes about the nature of art itself. Voices are heard and thoughts translated in this colorful representation of human existence. Wants, desires, dreams and wishes are evoked from simple strokes and shapes as well as from complex abstract patterns. ArtistaCuba taps into not only creative energy but the energy of our souls, the human spirit,” said Gallery 125 Manager Joanne Donnelly Seglem.

For Armenteros, it’s not just about aesthetics, but the story or the circumstances behind a painting. He has brought paintings he disliked, but could not turn down after realizing the impact the purchase would have on the artist’s daily struggle for survival. Then there are the ones that translate everyday life in Cuba at its most inspiring and heartbreaking. Armenteros points out a painting hanging in his living room. It is of a young woman, she is naked, her head is lowered and her faced is covered. He says it conveys the shame of Cuba’s “jineteras,” young women who offer themselves as escorts to tourists in exchange for luxuries as routine to Americans as a dinner at a restaurant. The artist was the father of a 15-year old girl who lived with his family in Old Havana – Cuba’s tourist mecca.

“This guy’s daughter is growing up and becoming a woman. His greatest fear in life is not that she will be a whore, but (that she will be) swayed into a lifestyle because she gets to experience very simple things that she hasn’t had the ability to. So he painted this painting. It’s kind of rustic, but what’s more important is what he was painting: the shame of a whole generation of women to experience something as simple as a dinner or to see a live band at a nightclub in Cuba,” said Armenteros. “That piece is not going to hang in the MoMA or the Met, but what’s important is who is painting it and why. What it says about the time and place they are living in. To me, the painting is extraordinary.”

Another one of his favorites, which will be on display at Gallery 125, is a painting of a money-printing typewriter, which playfully showcases the ingenuity of a people who have been cut off from the rest of the world. “You wouldn’t believe the industriousness of the people who don’t have things. This is what Cuba is like believe it or not,” said Armenteros. “They are not making money on typewriters, but they know how to make things work with what little they have, and it’s something that transcends our own imaginations because if you need something (here), you go to Wal-Mart and you buy it.”

Displaying his collection in Trenton is almost like a homecoming for Armenteros. He spent two years looking for a building in the city he could turn into a gallery – his way of contributing to the city’s revitalization. But he eventually settled in Hopewell after a potential buy fell through. Armenteros feels he has come “full circle” with this exhibit. He is curious about the kind of message that people will pull from the artwork, and what connections will be made to the city’s struggle to reinvent itself. “Whenever you find a city attempting to be revitalized or being revitalized, whenever you find culture trying to take that next step forward, art has a huge role to play in that process,” said Armenteros..

What struck Armenteros during his visits to Cuba and fermented his love affair with its people is, “that I didn’t see Cubans as any less happy than Americans. If anything, perhaps as poor countries go, or any country goes, I’ve found them to be extraordinarily happy, perhaps more happy, more fulfilled than we are in this country because their circumstances have nothing to do with their quality of life or existence,” he said. “Maybe that’s the lesson for Trenton. Through creativity there’s salvation, there’s hope.”

They say nothing happens by coincidence. It was at a Brooklyn club three years ago that members of Judah Tribe would converge one night, and the rest is their story: a reggae band that blends soul, rhythm & blues and roots reggae, “reminiscent of the heyday of roots reggae when The Wailers, Jacob Miller, Peter Tosh and Third World spoke to the world,” said band manager Roger Thomas. Brooklynites, by way of the world, the six-plus member band counts Jacob Miller & Inner Circle, The Heptones, Peter Tosh, Burning Spear, The Ethiopians, The Abbysinians, Third World, and Bob Marley & the Wailers, as some of the musical influences who helped hone their sound.

Like that of their musical heroes, their music is cool and breezy, yet rebellious against social injustice. “The music we create is for levity. We make all the bad vibes go away,” said lead singer Josh David, who found reggae after studying jazz performance. But, “people should also know we are fighters in the real-life struggle for our people of African descent.”

One of those fights has been to keep the tragedy of Sean Bell, the Queens man who was killed by NYC police officers two years ago on the eve of his wedding, alive in the social consciousness. Les Paultre, the father of Nicole Paultre, Bell’s fiancée, is an extended member of Judah Tribe. Paultre plays guitar on “Judgment”, a song written by David in honor of Bell. The song is featured on Judah Tribe’s debut album “New Day Dawnin,” slated to drop in the fall. Album guests include Rene Neufville, Q-Tip, & Star Blackshear.

The musical exchange has gone both ways. Individual members have worked with some notable names in the music industry. David played bass on Q-Tip’s upcoming solo album, and will join the former Tribe Called Quest member on the Rock The Bells Tour. He also worked with German singer Joy Denaland, who recorded her own version of the Judah Tribe original “Sometimes Love.” Producer Chris Sholar, who collaborated with David on “Be Ya Shelter”, has produced for Snoop Dogg, Beyonce, Jay-Z and has toured with Mos Def, Q-Tip, and Stanley Turrentine.

Hear Judah Tribe from 7 to 9 p.m. at Maxine’s 2, on Friday, July 11 as part of Trenton2Nite’s Caribbean Friday. Scroll down for a full list of events.