Miami Beat

The Rhythm Foundation celebrates its heart-skipping 20th anniversary

By John Hood

The Rhythm Foundation has brought in some amazing musicians, such as Brazilian singer-songwriter Seu Jorge, over the years.

Our town’s always strutted to the beat of many drummers. We’ve got Dominican bachata, Colombian vallenato and Cuban cha-cha-chá (not to mention respective merengue, cumbia and salsa). There’s soca, kompa, zouk and calypso from the Caribbean, downtown disco and inner booty bass from the mainland, and homegrown hip-hop from both the city and the barrio. We’ve had freestyle, we’ve had electro, we’ve had indie and, on occasion, we’ve had that old-fashioned rock ’n’ roll. Hell, for a minute we even had twang, but then The Mavericks left.

In other words, even at our most local, we are nothing but global.

And of the local globalists, no single entity has done more for Miami’s world class than The Rhythm Foundation, the two-decades-young outfit formed by husband-and-wife team James and Laura Quinlan. When Cameo was The Cameo, they brought down everybody from The Sugarcubes to Sun Ra, and when there was such a thing as The Stephen Talkhouse, they staged such disparate acts as Yma Sumac and Mario Bauza. They’ve brought to town Nigerian juju master King Sunny Ade and the Tibetan monks of Drepung Gomang, French electronic tangoists The Gotan Project, swinging Britress Jane Birkin and, most recently, Senagalese wonder-voice Youssou N’Dour, Brazilian crooner Caetano Veloso and the Argentine-blooded Swedish songster Jose Gonzalez.

But don’t think for a minute that Rhythm Foundation concerns itself solely with a far-flung country’s classics. According to Executive Director Laura Quinlan, who operates alternately between her historic coral rock home base and the Foundation’s high-rising Espirito de Santos headquarters: “We like to concentrate on modern global music,” she said, “the stuff kids are listening to now.” And if Jose G. and Gotan P. are not enough to convince you that they’re up to the minute, just check the 10-day lineup they’ve got slated for CIFO.

It’s now, all right; so now, in fact, that you might not even think the series was staged to coincide with the Foundation’s 20th anniversary. Kicking in on March 13 with Miami’s own DJ Pauer, who mixes and mashes everything from trip lounge to deep house, it then near-ends to the breaking beats of Winter Music Conference with San Francisco’s Six Degrees Records for an event called Dub Miami, starring none other than London’s DJ Gaudi, whose Dub Qawwali disc is to Pakistan what dancehall is to Jamaica.

In between, there are films (including Festival in the Desert, “the Fitzcarraldo of concerts,” which features the likes of Robert Plant and Ali Farka Toure in the sands outside of Timbuktu), there are parties (call in that favor) and there’s access to an onslaught of archives that contain everybody mentioned above and a gazillion others. It’s a rare treat indeed, for both us and them. “We’re always working on the next things,” said Quinlan. “So it’s fun to have a reason to get out the scrapbooks.”

Then later, for the TransAtlantic Festival, there’s Bonde de Role, a Miami bass-influenced baile funk trio from Curitiba, Brazil (at Studio A), Spanish DJ pop stars The Pinker Tones (at The Bandshell), and, in the thick of the CIFO series, the newly formed Miami Pops Orchestra will be backing Portland’s Pink Martini at the Arsht Center, an event that promises to bring swank to a whole new swell.

But don’t take our word for it — ask around. Better yet, hit the town and see if Rhythm Foundation doesn’t deliver the goods that give us groove. And while you’re out there, give ’em a great big thanks, for without them our world would turn with a lot less grace.

The Rhythm Foundation’s 20 Years of Rhythm takes place from March 13 to 30 at CIFO, 1018 N. Miami Ave., Miami. Open to the public Thursday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., or during special events. For more information, call 305-672-5202 or visit www.rhythmfoundation.com.