Post a photo of where you wander in Warren County, NJ this weekend and you could win two tickets to see Matuto in concert Jan. 27 at the January Thaw Music Fest from Centenary Stage Company and the Explore Warren County Tourism Partnership, publishers of the Warren County Wanderings email newsletter.
All you have to do is take a photo while you're out enjoying an activity or scenery within the borders of Warren County, NJ, and post it to your own Facebook page with the hashtag #JanThawMatutoTix by 12 noon on Monday, Jan. 22. Be sure to set the privacy options on your photo to "Public".
The best ones will be shared to the Explore Warren Facebook page and the Explore Warren team, in conjunction with Centenary Stage Company, will judge the photos and select the winner Monday afternoon. That winner will receive two tickets to the final show of this year's CSC January Thaw Music Fest in the Lackland Performing Arts Center, located on the campus of Centenary University in Hackettstown, NJ.
Eligible photos are anything taken between 12 noon on Friday, Jan. 19 and 12 noon on Monday, Jan. 22, in Warren County. Scenery, events, selfies, other people (but make sure you have their permission to post the photo), inside or outside - anything to show what you did in Warren County on this winter weekend. By submitting a photo, you agree to have it posted on Explore Warren's Facebook page.
The winner will be notified Monday evening and can claim the tickets at the Centenary Stage Company box office prior to the 8 p.m. show on Jan. 27 of the Brazilian bluegrass of Matuto. Brazilian slang for “country boy”, Matuto infuses the syncopations of Brazilian music with the folk traditions of the American South.
It’s Bluegrass meets Brazil and features the rich tones of Rob Curto’s forró accordion playing. Matuto mixes the rural rhythms of maracatu (from the Pernambuco region), the urban beats of Rio’s samba, and the intricate, chorinho-inspired melodies all balanced with clear connections to American jazz, blues, bluegrass, and folk. The band’s core members share a combined obsession with connecting the dots between Brazil, rural America, and creative reinterpretation of long-standing party-hardy forms.
In 2002, South Carolina native Clay Ross moved to New York to pursue a jazz career, but just a few years later found himself in Recife, Brazil, immersed in the region’s folkloric music. Returning to New York, he began looking for like-minded collaborators and found the perfect match for his love of Brazilian music in renowned accordionist Rob Curto (Forró for All). Born in New York, Curto is widely regarded as forró’s (NE Brazil’s accordion-driven country roots music) foremost ambassador in the States. He spent years living and playing in Brazil, completely absorbing and interpreting the country’s musical traditions.
Since their debut performance during Carnaval in Brazil’s party-ready northeastern city of Recife, Matuto has toured North America and Brazil, playing hundreds of shows each year, from popular American world music and folk festivals to major Brazilian celebrations. They have been featured showcase artists at the prestigious annual world music gathering WOMEX and have toured as U.S. State Department musical ambassadors in Africa, Europe, and The Middle East. Tapping NYC’s diverse jazz, roots, and world music scenes, they have recorded three highly regarded albums including most recently The Africa Suite, a series of original pieces based on the band’s engagement with the people, sounds, and traditions on the road as ambassadors.
Matuto revels in cultures colliding and in the ongoing exchange of ideas. They know its history is not without tension, but those very tensions can fire creative expression and good times. “We’re questioning the boundaries and borders of the present and past,” muses Ross. “We can’t always answer these questions, but we can let them guide us towards new possibilities through music.”
Tickets for Matuto on January 27 at 8 p.m. in the Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center are $22.50 for adults and $17.50 for children under 12 in advance. As with all concerts, jazz and special events ticket prices increase $5.00 on the day of the performance. Matuto is sponsored in part by Heath Village Retirement Community and Home Instead Senior Care.
For more information or to purchase tickets visit www.centenarystageco.org or call the Centenary Stage Company box office at (908) 979-0900. The box office is located in the Lackland Performing Arts Center at 715 Grand Ave. Hackettstown, NJ, and is open Monday through Friday from 1-5 p.m. and two hours prior to every performance.
The 2017-2018 season of performing arts events at the Centenary Stage Company is made possible through the generous support of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the NJ State Council on the Arts, the Shubert Foundation, the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, the Sandra Kupperman Foundation, and CSC corporate sponsors, including Premier Season Sponsor Heath Village Retirement Community, The House of the Good Shepherd Silver Sponsors Hackettstown Medical Center, Home Instead Senior Care (Washington), and Fulton Bank of New Jersey, and Centenary Stage Company members and supporters.
The photo of Matuto is by Matt Carr.
CSC January Thaw Music Fest: Matuto (Brazilian Bluegrass)
The January Thaw fest wraps up with Brazilian bluegrass from Matuto. Their name is slang for "country boy" but these urbanized virtuosos have headlined renowned Bluegrass, Jazz, and World Music Festivals across North America. "The joyous, ebullient music of Matuto merges the folkloric music of Brazil with the sounds of all-American bluegrass" says the Chicago Tribune.
Centenary Stage Company
Centenary Stage Company is a performing arts center located on the campus of Centenary University. Year-round events include Professinal Theater Series, music events, dance events, a Women Playwrights Series, Young Performers Workshop, an annual holiday spectatular, and more!