Danay Suarez Brings Hip-Hop to Classical Concert at Miami's Historic Bandshell Amphitheater
1/30/2018 by Marjua Estevez
Danay Suarez and Stephen Marley performs during the Nu Deco Ensemble on jan. 25, 2018 at the North Beach Bandshell in Miami.
Danay Suarez, alongside Stephen Marley and rapper El B, performed her soul-shaking fusion of hip-hop and reggae at North Beach Bandshell, one of Miami's most historic concert venues. Backed by a 20-plus-piece ensemble, Nu Deco assisted the Cuban Latin Grammy-nominated artist in delivering what is being described as a sonically spellbinding experience.
"She played tracks from her critically acclaimed Palabras Manuales, which led to her bringing out some very special guests," writes Prism's Pola Bunster. "Now, Nu Deco Ensemble has proven that any genre can work in the arena of classical music. But hip-hop? Even the most faithful found it hard to believe. But then El B took the stage and brought out the 808 we all never knew we needed. It was incredible to see him turn everyone in attendance into a born-again fan of hip-hop. A fraction of us could understand his quick-fire flow, but that didn’t matter. Everyone was equally spellbound."
In November of last year, just before the 2017 Latin Grammys, we sat down with Suarez after she was done rehearsing for her show at Hialeah Park in Miami, which later garnered the same hype and sea of fans, as her music transcended language and culture barriers.
"My music is not tropical, it’s not like reggaeton, because of my cadence, my flow and production," she told Billboard. "What I sing in Spanish, because of my style and flow, can almost always also be sung in English, and it will resonate the same."
Her unprecedented collaboration with reggae luminary Stephen Marley earned a Latin Grammy nomination in the category of best new song. Watch the video here.