Swanky Kitchen Band, Live at the Library!

Swanky Kitchen Band, Live at the Library!

Co-Sponsored with the Library of Congress Homegrown Concerts Series

When: Wednesday, July 31, 2024 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm EDT

Where: Thomas Jefferson Building - Whittall Pavilion (LJG45E)
Ten 1st Street SE, Washington, DC 20540

Ticketing Information:

Free and Open to the public, but tickets are required: The event is free, but tickets are required, and there may be special restrictions. Get Tickets

Accessible seating is available upon request. Please request ADA accommodations at least five days in advance by contacting 202-707-6362 or ada@loc.gov.

Swanky Kitchen Band is on an essential quest to revive the traditional music of the Cayman Islands. Set amidst the crystal blue waters of the Caribbean Sea, the three tiny islands are home to kitchen dance music, an infectiously danceable fiddle-driven style. The kitchen dance sound, created through a crossroads of European and African influences, might have disappeared save for the efforts of Swanky Kitchen Band, the last of the Caymanian Kitchen Bands.  Kitchen dance bands were led by master fiddlers, including the late Radley Gourzong, who performed at the Grand Ole Opry in 1987, a surprising feat for a Caribbean fiddler.  Kitchen dance music owes its name largely to architectural necessity: because Caymanians traditionally lived in easily burned thatched-roof homes, their kitchens were constructed in open-air/semi-enclosed detached structures. Thus, the cooking of meals often became a community-wide event, with much comradery and celebration which often included music. In 2003, Samuel Rose, along with guitarist Nicholas Johnson, created Swanky Kitchen Band to preserve and revitalize this rapidly disappearing musical art form.

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