Tony Vacca
Rhythm Nomad
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Upcoming Concerts

Build a Floor Festival - Dancing Your Age Workshop/Event with Andrea Olsen
May
3
2:00 PM14:00

Build a Floor Festival - Dancing Your Age Workshop/Event with Andrea Olsen

May 3rd: Dancing Your Age in The Workroom in Northampton is a group improvisation that features the lives of participating dancers and the world-music of percussionist Tony Vacca. Each participant draws on their kinesthetic imagination and embodied memories to explore every year in their lives through movement, from their earliest days to the present, creating a shared experience that is at once individual but held within the rhythms of Tony Vacca's music and this unique place and time.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dancing-your-age-workshopevent-build-a-floor-celebration-festival-tickets-868545311407?aff=oddtdtcreator

https://www.apearts.org/build-a-floor-fest.html

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Build a Floor Festival - Dancing Your Age Performance
May
5
12:00 PM12:00

Build a Floor Festival - Dancing Your Age Performance

May 5th: Dancing Your Age is a group performance that features the lives of six dancers and the world-music of percussionist Tony Vacca inside the newly restored, historic Shepherd Barn (1805) in Northampton. Each dancer draws on their kinesthetic imagination and embodied memories to explore every year in their lives through movement, from their earliest days to the present, creating a performance that is at once individual but held within the rhythms of Tony Vacca's music.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dancing-your-ageperformance-build-a-floor-celebration-festival-tickets-867679431537?aff=oddtdtcreator

https://www.apearts.org/build-a-floor-fest.html

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Tony Vacca and The Senegal-America Project at Workshop 13
Jun
1
7:00 PM19:00

Tony Vacca and The Senegal-America Project at Workshop 13

June 1. Tony Vacca and The Senegal-America Project at Workshop 13 in Ware, MA. This concert is part of a series of performances to celebrate and promote the arts in the Ware community and beyond. Set in a reimagined church, it’s a great venue for performers and audiences alike.

https://workshop13.org/calendar-event/tony-vacca-and-the-senegal-america-project/

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Tony Vacca and The Senegal-America Project
Nov
20
to Nov 21

Tony Vacca and The Senegal-America Project

TIME TBA

Tony Vacca and The Senegal-America Project, featuring Tantra Zawadi, Abdou Sarr and Tony Vacca

 This two-day residency is part of the Goldstein Memorial Fund. Itincludes hands-on workshops and a concert performance for the high school’s students and faculty of Northampton High School, in Northampton, MA. 

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Wilmington Delaware: The Urban Arts Exchange Amphitheater
Oct
4
11:00 AM11:00

Wilmington Delaware: The Urban Arts Exchange Amphitheater

10/4: Wilmington Delaware: The Urban Arts Exchange Amphitheater. 

-11am. Tony Vacca and Abdou Sarr with special guest Pape Demba Samb.

-6:30 pm: Tony Vacca and World Rhythms Ensemble. Tony Vacca, Abdou Sarr, Derrik Jordan, Charles Langford and Jo Sallins.

https://delawarescene.com/organization/1646/urban-artist-exchange-amphitheater

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Global to Local: The Senegal-America Project at The Shea Theater.
Sep
16
9:00 AM09:00

Global to Local: The Senegal-America Project at The Shea Theater.

TIME 7:30 pm

“In Song and Conversation: a cultural exchange between Franklin County and Senegal.”

 Details to be announced. For more info go to: https://sheatheater.org

The Shea Theater: 71 Avenue A, Turner’s Falls, MA.

 Both The Shea Theater and The Senegal-America Project see themselves connecting communities near and far through the arts… and that’s exactly what’s happening here. Franklin county residents Tony Vacca (percussionist, USA) and Abdou Sarr (dancer, Senegal) have been performing in support of the S.A.P. for over two decades. And so have the rest of these performers. They’ll be joined by longtime project members, poet Ms. Tantra Zawadi (Brooklyn) and electric violinist Derrik Jordan of Brattleboro, VT.

 Videographer and Franklin County resident Scot Broderick has created an accompanying video for the grant that is making The Shea Theater’s presentation possible. Global to local… it’s all part of what the arts can do to bring us together.

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Do It Now at the National Beat Poetry Festival
Sep
1
to Sep 3

Do It Now at the National Beat Poetry Festival

DO IT NOW is Beat poet laureate Paul Richmond, innovative American percussionist Tony Vacca, and guitar wizard John Sheldon.

Together they’ve created a bold mix of poetry, storytelling, wise-ass commentary and World Fusion music. They’ve performed on stages near and far: from The Edinburgh Fringe Festival to The Daniel Sorano National Theatre of Senegal, and then back again to their favorite home turf venues in Western Mass like Gateway City Arts and The Shea Theater.

For more information, visit: http://nationalbeatpoetryfoundation.org/index.php/2023-events/

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Tony Vacca and Do It Now
Aug
20
9:00 AM09:00

Tony Vacca and Do It Now

TIME TBA

Do It Now: 

The Band Shell in Peskeompskut Park. Avenue A and 7th Street, Turners Falls.  

Do It Now is Beat Poet Laureate Paul Richmond, innovative American percussionist Tony Vacca, and John Sheldon, “One of the great guitarists of our time.” They combine poetry, story-telling, political commentary and musical improvisation to create something… all their own.

For more on Do It Now: https://doitnow.myportfolio.com

Info and directions at: https://www.riverculture.org/parks-and-outdoor-recreation-with-the-best-river-views-in-franklin-county/

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Massamba Diop and Tony Vacca: Rhythm Griots
Aug
18
9:00 AM09:00

Massamba Diop and Tony Vacca: Rhythm Griots

TIME TBA

Kennesaw University, Kennesaw, GA

This day is part of Kennesaw University’s year long focus on the Nation of Senegal. The music, the culture, the people and the world wide influence of this West African nation.

 Massamba Diop and Tony Vacca are the co-founders of The Senegal-America Project, and they have been working together in Senegal and America for over two decades. It looks like that when you see them together, it sounds like that when you hear their music, and it feels like that when they perform.

 The music they have created together is a contemporary living link between the ever-evolving traditions of their respective countries. Where Massamba Diop grew up immersed in the confluence of village and city sounds in Senegal’s capital city of Dakar, Tony Vacca grew up outside of Newark, New Jersey just as Jazz, Blues Motown and Rock and Roll were about to explode into the music of The Sixties.

 They found each other on a concert stage in America where Massamba was touring with world renowned Senegalese singer Baaba Maal. Tony was part of the opening act that night, and from that point forward their friendship and their music became a dynamic fusion of possibilities. It was just the beginning of The Senegal-America Project.

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Tony Vacca performing with Avery Sharpe and The 400 Project at The Springfield Jazz and Roots Festival.
Jul
22
3:50 PM15:50

Tony Vacca performing with Avery Sharpe and The 400 Project at The Springfield Jazz and Roots Festival.

Tony Vacca in concert with bassist Avery Sharpe at The Springfield Jazz Fest

Saturday: 3:50 PM on the Charles Neville Main Stage. 

Details at: https://springfieldjazzfest.com/2023-schedule/

Avery Sharpe’s project, “400 An African American Musical Portrait” was recorded in 2018 for its 2019 release on JKNM Records. Sharpe decided to mark the 400th year of Africans being brought to the US shores in Virginia in 1619 as enslaved people with a musical portrait/recording.

The project was originally conceived for a small choir and Avery’s sextet. To help commemorate the 10 year anniversary of the Springfield Jazz and Roots Festival, Avery has combined his group and his Extended Family Choir with members of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Chorus, to bring about an unbelievable collaboration for the Springfield Jazz and Roots Festival. Sharpe has expanded the compositions and added instrumentation, to express 400 in the most powerful way possible.

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Tony Vacca and World Rhythms at The Porter Phelps Museum
Jul
19
6:30 PM18:30

Tony Vacca and World Rhythms at The Porter Phelps Museum

  • The Porter Phelps-Huntington Museum (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Tony Vacca and World Rhythms, featuring Derrik Jordan on electric violin and Jo Sallins on Electric bass.

The Porter Phelps Museum, Hatfield, MA

6:30 pm, $12

All Wednesday Folk Traditions concerts begin at 6:30 pm in the Sunken Garden at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, 130 River Drive, Route 47, Hadley, MA 01035. General admission is $12, or $2 for children 16 and under. Tickets are available for purchase the day of the concert. Free admission for up to 4 adults and children with EBT, WIC, or ConnectorCare card. Picnickers are also welcome on the museum grounds beginning at 5:00 pm. This is a smoke-free site. Please also note that pets are not allowed on the museum grounds. 

In case of rain: concerts will be held at Wesley United Methodist Church at 98 N Maple St Hadley, MA 01035. If concerts are moved, information will be posted to the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Facebook page.

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Workshop13, Ware, MA, United States
Mar
11
7:00 PM19:00

Workshop13, Ware, MA, United States

Do It Now 

is all about a free form and daring mix of Beat Poetry and World Fusion music. The group is lead by beat poet laureate Paul Richmond whose poetic visions transcend any easy description, and features genre-bending players like percussionist Tony Vacca, with additional players like guitarist John Sheldon, bassist Jo Sallins and/or others.

SATURDAY,  MARCH 11   WORKSHOP 13    WARE,  MA

BUY TICKETS

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