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Fusing bilingual socially-conscious spoken word, beatboxing, Indigenous kuisi bunsi flute (aka Colombian gaita), turntablism, and Bronx-style 70s salsa, alongside Afro-Cuban and Colombian drumming, Beny Esguerra & New Tradition delivers an interactive multidisciplinary works exploring themes of justice, environmental healing, and respect for ancestors and land treaties.

 

Award winning arts educator, multi instrumentalist, vocalist and community worker

Ruben “Beny” Esguerra arrived as a child to Tkaronto from Bacatá (Bogotá, Colombia) as a political refugee with his parents, who were receiving threats for their human rights activism. Today, he is a JUNO nominated 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 and was nominated and chosen as a finalist for the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Community Arts Award.

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Esguerra now holds a PhD (ABD) in Musicology from York University, specializing in Latin American traditional and urban music. In the 90s, he joined an Afro-Colombian music orchestra. In 2008, he participated in a national poetry event The CBC Poetry Festival organized by the CBC, and has performed a spoken word piece for the former Governor General Michaëlle Jean.  Esguerra has been working as an arts educator at York University and Ryerson University and known for organizing workshops for Ontario Arts Council’s Artist in Education Program.

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