Has it already been a year since the last holiday edition of the North Beach Social? Last year Suénalo headlined the December monthly musical meet-up presented by South Florida’s Rhythm Foundation. The Miami Beach Bandshell was filled up with partygoers ready to dance the early part of the night away in the balmy outdoor venue. This year another local favorite, the electro duo Afrobeta, will be the main attraction.
Smurphio by Daniel Sannwald
Formed in 2006 by singer Cuci Amador and multi-instrumentalist Smurphio, Afrobeta have played and packed just about every South Florida venue from botanical gardens to open air markets in their nearly two decades of existence. For this show they will play in an installation they’ve dubbed The Cosmic Craft Constellation, a magical snow globe meant to harken to the galaxies above and beyond. Local artist Karelle Levy will have a pom-pom sculpture on display, inspired by sacred geometry, and created by all kinds of pom-pom makers in community gatherings across the city. Mariana Mendoza will project video art during the performance, so all the audiences’ senses will have something to feast on. Miami based composer and multi-instrumentalist Vania Junco will serve as the musical opener.
Cuci by Daniel Sannwald
The main attraction is the danceable beats of Afrobeta. The band knows the Bandshell stage intimately, having played a previous North Beach Social back in April 2023, an album release party, and even a audience-free livestream during the dark days of Covid social distancing. Doing a show without a crowd to feed off of felt antithetical to a duo that prides itself on audience interaction, Amador told this writer back in 2020. “Not being able to interact with the audience will be different: You won’t see anybody dancing, but you also won’t see anyone leaving to go to the bathroom. I’ve been thinking about what I can do differently for this. Maybe I’ll leave the stage for a while so [Smurphio] can go solo.”
Thankfully, we can now get within six feet of each other, to dance and sing the night away as we count down the days until Santa Claus fills up our stockings.
Afrobeta presents The Cosmic Craft Constellation, 7pm Thursday, December 19 at Miami Beach Bandshell. afrobeta.com ~ David Rolland
