Belongó is New York City’s leading Latin jazz organization. It’s dedicated to performing, teaching, and preserving the music of the Americas through the African, Indigenous, European, and Asian roots of jazz. It’s the next phase of the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance founded by Cuban jazz legend Arturo O’Farrill.
Belongó in New York City
SEPTEMBER
Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
Belongó Worldwinds is a dance performance to live Latin jazz by Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble, featuring LaTasha Barnes & the Continuum Collective, and Soles of Duende. It’s at Roulette Intermedium in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn; on Saturday, September 28, 2024 at 8pm (7pm doors). From $35.
- LaTasha Barnes is a Black social dancer choreographer and teacher. @tasha_b_va 🇺🇸
- Soles of Duende blends African American tap, Spanish flamenco, and Indian kathak percussive dance. @solesofduende 🇺🇸 🇪🇸 🇮🇳
OCTOBER
Hamilton Heights / West Harlem
Pueblo Harlem is a day of live music, youth workshops, and salsa dance lessons led by the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and special guest artists; at Riverbank State Park in Hamilton Heights (West Harlem); on Sunday, October 6, 2024, from 11am – 7pm. FREE. 🇨🇺
“Pueblo” in Spanish literally means “town,” but in usage it means the regular people of the community. So this is a day of Harlem community.
APRIL
Cuban and Afro-Latin Jazz
Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra with vocalists Daymé Arocena, Emeline Michel, and Telmary Díaz, sing Latin jazz (and probably dance a little too); in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in Midtown, Manhattan; on Friday, April 11, 2025 at 7:30pm. From $65. 🇨🇺 🇭🇹
SUNDAYS
Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra plays Latin jazz at Birdland jazz club in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan; on Sundays at 8:30pm & 10:30pm. From $36+ per person minimum. 🇨🇺
New York City Venues
- Birdland
- Carnegie Hall
- Hostos Center
- New York City Center
- Riverbank State Park
- Roulette Intermedium
Belongó
Belongó is a busy organization with several core elements:
- Arturo O’Farrill is one of New York City’s most important jazz musicians. Not just because he is very talented and successful, but because he gives so much back to New York City’s communities. Arturo is a multiple-Grammy winning artist who plays the world’s biggest stages, but has no problem showing up at a New York City high school and playing with the band. He has dedicated himself to the next generation of jazz with a vision that is inclusive and global. Arturo also composes and performs music for dance companies. That makes sense because in traditional Latin communities, music and dance go together. If there is music, we’ll dance.
- Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra carries on the O’Farrill family’s legacy of big band Latin jazz on Sunday nights at Birdland. Arturo’s father Chico O’Farrill started the orchestra and the Birdland gig over 20 years ago.
- Belongó orchestras and ensembles.
Belongó is currently raising funds to build Casa Belongó, a music and performing arts center in “El Barrio” East Harlem, scheduled to open in 2027. East Harlem is where cubop Latin jazz was created in the 1940s, at the same time that bebop modern jazz was being created in Harlem.
This is our own opinion, but to us the name is inspired by a traditional Afro-Cuban love spell. So to us it suggests that Belongó will teach you to love Afro-Cuban jazz by having you get up and dance. Promise you that if you do get up and dance to Belongó, you will love it. That’s what African and Indigenous drum, song, and dance traditions are all about. Every time we see the name, it makes us smile. See it works!
Information
Belongó is a rebrand of the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance. The Belongó and Afro Latin Jazz brands are interchangeable at this point in time.
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