Barrio Sonoro: Lutchinha Leite Quartet, Grupo Alafia con Iré

BARRIO SONORO: A Global Sound Exploration in Berlin

Barrio Sonoro is a new concert series in Berlin that seeks to explore and showcase the rich legacy of global popular music. Featuring artists from all corners of the world, largely based in Berlin. This season offers an in-depth look at the musical heritage of regions such as Brazil, Latin America, the Caribbean, South Africa, Cape Verde, the Mediterranean & Bulgaria. With an emphasis on popular music and the musical traditions that shape local scenes, Barrio Sonoro serves as both a forecast and a reflection of Berlin’s evolving artistic landscape. 

A series created in collaboration with Hotel Continental – Art Space in Exile in Alt-Treptow, a former piano factory dedicated to artistic exchange in times of displacement.

Curated and produced by Héléna Fontaine and Félix Huet from A Panda do Sol.

MAY 16TH: Lutchinha Leite Quartet & Grupo Alafia con Iré

Door 19:00 Start: 20:00

Lutchinha Leite Quarteto: 20:00
Grupo Alafia con Iré: 21:00

TICKETS: 12€ EARLY BIRD, 15€ ONLINE, 20€ ON THE DOOR 

Lutchinha Leite Quarteto

The Lutchinha Leite Quartet brings one of Cape Verde’s most cherished voices to Berlin. Born Maria Neves Leite on São Vicente, Lutchinha has spent forty years performing across Europe, Africa, and the U.S., while nurturing Cape Verdean culture in her Brockton community. Deeply rooted in morna, coladeira, and other traditional forms that intertwine African rhythmic heritage with Lusophone melodic sensibility, her voice carries both the saudade and the resilience at the heart of Cabo Verdean identity.

She will be joined by pianist Igor Sassety, coming straight from São Vicente (Cape Verde) and by Félix Huet and Héléna Fontaine from the Berlin project A Panda do Sol on guitar, cavaquinho, and vocals. The four musicians first met one night at the legendary Bombu Mininu in Mindelo and have been musically bonded ever since. After two years of trying, they will finally reunite for this special evening at Barrio Sonoro, offering a transatlantic celebration of Cape Verdean song, rhythm, and memory.

Musicians:
Lutchinha Leite - Vocals
Igor Sassety - Piano
Félix Huet - Guitar, vocals
Héléna Fontaine - Cavaquinho, vocals

Grupo Alafia con Iré

Alafia con Iré is an Afro-Cuban music collective uniting artists from Havana and Berlin, dedicated to the living traditions of Cuban rumba and sacred Afro-Cuban drumming. Rooted in community practice, the ensemble brings to the stage the vibrant interplay of Batá, Cajón, song, and dance, honoring the ceremonial, social, and festive dimensions from which these forms emerge. Their performances evoke the spirit of Havana’s barrios and religious gatherings while situating these traditions within Berlin’s intercultural cultural landscape.

Over the years, Alafia con Iré has become a reference point for Afro-Cuban culture in Berlin, recognized for its authenticity, musical rigor, and deep connection to tradition. The collective’s members are active across the city’s Latin and world music scenes, collaborating with various rumba, salsa, jazz, and folkloric projects, thereby weaving Afro-Cuban heritage into a broad network of contemporary artistic exchange.

The name Alafia con Iré, drawn from Yoruba, expresses well-being and blessing—an intention that guides the group’s mission: to create spaces of shared rhythm, cultural memory, and collective celebration.

Musicians:

Rasiel Almanza
Angel Candeaux
Lila Charon
Matteo Bowinkelmann
Florian Schade
Vito Giacovelli
Chucho Palma
Regis Molina

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