Noche Latina at University of Saint Joseph

Press release

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Las Mariquitas, New York’s Queer and Trans Salsa Band, are the featured performers for Noche Latina on Friday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. in Bruyette Athenaeum’s Hoffman Auditorium at University of Saint Joseph.

Las Mariquitas is leading the way toward a new narrative of salsa music. This New York-based band fosters a culture of inclusion and celebrates salsa as liberation music. Despite its historical ties to the struggles of Black and Indigenous people for liberation and decolonization across the Caribbean and Latin America, salsa has been characterized traditionally by misogyny, queer- and transphobia. Las Mariquitas turns the page on this past, honoring salsa as liberation music by writing and performing new queer and trans-feminist versions of classic salsa songs. Through powerful live performances, Las Mariquitas foregrounds new voices, reimagining salsa as a genre that welcomes and includes LGBTQ+ performers and audiences in a joyful expression of community and freedom.

The Art Museum at University of Saint Joseph’s presentation of Noche Latina, an annual celebration of music and dance, is supported in part by the NEH Humanities and Arts Fund at the University of Saint Joseph, and the Vincenza A. Uccello ’56 Lecture Fund.

Tickets are $15 for advance purchase, general admission, and $20 (cash only) at the door. For tickets, visit www.showpass.com/lasmariquitas. Hoffman Auditorium is located in Bruyette Athenaeum on the campus of the University of Saint Joseph at 1678 Asylum Ave, West Hartford, Conn.

This event will be preceded at 6 p.m. by a reception with light refreshments.