Afro-Indigenous música de gaita, two-time JUNO-nominated multi-instrumentalist and lyricist

Fusing spoken word and Hiphop’s cultural expressions with Colombian Afro-Indigenous música de gaita, two-time JUNO-nominated multi-instrumentalist and lyricist Beny Esguerra and New Tradition Music deliver an urgent call for justice, environmental healing and respect for ancestors and land treaties through an interactive multi-arts performance.

Beny Esguerra arrived as a child to Tkaronto (Toronto, Canada) from Bacatá (Bogotá, Colombia) as a political refugee with his parents, who were involved in cultural work and human rights activism. Today, he is an award winning multi-instrumentalist/producer, spoken-word poet, arts educator and community worker. In 2021, he was chosen as the laureate of the 2020 Ontario Arts Foundation Arts Educator Award. Most recently, his songs–from the 2022 JUNO nominated album Northside Kuisi–have been nominated for collaboration of the year at the 2022 International Indigenous Hip Hop Music Awards and have won Music to Life’s Hope Rises II song writing contest and international call for songs for social justice.