People of Earth (PoE) is a global music collective, its 13 musicians representing a cross-section of the world, and boasting an array of some of the best musicians from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Canada, Switzerland, Haiti, Greece and more. It has a frontline of three singers, backed by four horns, three percussionists, two keyboards, and electric bass. The band plays original music that blends influences from Cuban Timba and Rumba, Puerto Rican bomba and plena, Haitian Kompa, Brazilian MPB, and American soul, RnB, and hip-hop, with songs in Spanish, English, Portuguese, and Kreyole.
In 2019 PoE partnered with Musical America’s Conductor of the Year Teddy Abrams and won a grant from New Music USA to commission MacArthur Fellow Dafnis Prieto to compose a concerto for the band and string orchestra. The piece, Tentacíon, was premiered in 2022, with Maestro Abrams conducting, in a tour that included performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Louisville Orchestra, New World Symphony, and Britt Festival Orchestra.
People of Earth’s self-titled debut album was released in May on the Truth and Revolution Records label, its nine tracks including seven original compositions by members of the group, along with a cover of Djavan’s Te Devoro and Leonard Bernstein’s Mambo.
PoE is devoted to education, and its members have led workshops at such venues as the Kimmel Center and Carnegie Hall, and have presented children’s concerts for the Mann Center, 92nd Street Y, and Afro Latin Jazz Alliance. Its members are committed to using music as a vehicle for social change.
September 23 @ 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Bringing It All Back Home to Washington Square
Free concert with the Peace Poets, People of Earth, & BETTY