Miami festival to feature Aterciopelados, Ximena Sariñana, Curumin, Tiniariwen and more.

by Tom Pryor
03/30/09

Miami's Heineken TransAtlantic Festival enters its sixth year with a focus on the new generation of global sounds with a lineup that includes some of the hottest emerging artists from around the world. The festival will be held over the course of April at various venues in Miami and will include both free and ticketed events (see complete listing of dates and events below).

This year's lineup features Colombian art rockers Aterciopelados, a solo turn from Yerba Buena's songwriter and diva CuCu Diamantes, New York afrobeat/funk ensemble The Budos Band, Brazilian pop provacateur Curumin, Mexican indie rock ingénue Ximena Sariñana (pictured), Buenos Aires electronica collective Zizek, and the Malian Tuareg guitar-rockers Tinariwen.

Created by Miami's prestigious Rhythm Foundation, The Heineken TransAtlantic Festival's brief is to explore modern world music from the great cities and nations of the Atlantic rim - a wide swath that binds Africa, North and South America, the Caribbean and Europe into a coherent cultural continuum. The festival spotlights those artists mining the faultlines between traditional rhythms, pop, rock and electronica/dance music. The series showcases the city of Miami as a true modern TransAtlantic capital, a crossroads of the Americas and Europe.

"When I am imagining the artists of the Heineken TransAtlantic Festival, I see a kid who grew up in Bogota listening to the cumbia of his parents, while at the same time listening to Massive Attack," Rhythm Foundation Director Laura Quinlan reflects. "The same thing is going on with the Miami second generation. Their parents have Benny Moré on, but they are out in the clubs listening to trance. That's the focus of the Festival: the music that comes out of this kind of musician's imagination."

For further information, including ticketing and showtimes, please consult the Heineken TransAtlantic Festival official website.

Heineken TransAtlantic Festival Dates & Venues:

Thur. April 2
Launch Party: Zizek
News Lounge
5580 NE 4 Court, Miamii

Tues. April 7
Curated Listening
Globesonic DJ Fabian Alsutany
News Lounge
5580 NE 4 Court, Miami free

Fri. April 17
Aterciopelados
Curumin
North Beach Bandshell
7275 Collins Avenue, MiamiBeach

Sat. April 18
Ximena Sariñana
Rachel Goodrich
North Beach Bandshell
7275 Collins Avenue, MiamiBeach

Fri. April 24
Budos Band
Javier Garcia
North Beach Bandshell
7275 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach

Sat. April 25
Cucu Diamantes
Tinariwen
North Beach Bandshell
7275 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach