Common Fence Music will present William Cepeda, cultural icon of Puerto Rico, four time Grammy Nominee, and composer, in a Facebook Live concert on Sunday, March 14 at 7 p.m. Cepeda is a member of the world renowned Cepeda family, and one of Puerto Rico’s most distinguished Afro-Puerto Rican folkloric.
The event is free, and all tips go to the artists. A link to the online concert will be provided at
prior to show time.
Four-time Grammy nominee, William Cepeda, the greatest living ambassador of Puerto Rican music, was born and raised in Loiza, the heart of Puerto Rico’s “Little Africa.” His artistic excellence, authenticity, and advocacy for research and comprehensive documentation of Puerto Rican music, dance and culture have earned him multiple awards, grants, and recognition.
In 1992, he revolutionized Latin music with the introduction of Afro-Rican Jazz, an innovative blend of traditional Puerto Rican roots, folk, dance, progressive jazz, and world music. He is widely credited with innovating and creating the jazz sub-genre: Afro-Rican Jazz.
Cepeda’s musical influences include Dizzy Gillespie, Miriam Makeba, Miles Davis, Fela Kuti, and Lester Bowie among others. His ensemble has toured the world and performed at such prestigious jazz festivals as Montreux, North Sea, and Tabarka. A protégé of Dizzy Gillespie, Cepeda was a member of the United Nations Orchestra. Also, he has traveled the world and performed with many jazz artists, such as Lester Bowie and his Brass Fantasy, David Murray, James Moody, Steve Turre, Bobby Watson, Miriam Makeba, and Slide Hampton & the Jazz Masters. Also, he is equally known in the Latin music scene and has performed with such legendary figures as Tito Puente, Paquito D’Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, Eddie Palmieri, Celia Cruz, Marc Anthony, Ruben Blades, and Oscar de Leon.
In addition to his jazz and world music repertoire, Cepeda’s oeuvre includes Bomba Sinfonica, a full-length orchestral work for a symphony, opera, choir, and soloists. In 2013, Cepeda was bestowed an Honorary Doctorate from the Berklee College of Music. The same year the Puerto Rico Heineken Jazz Festival was dedicated in his honor. Cepeda continues to compose, develop new projects and seek new opportunities.
This is the first concert in our Spring series of Facebook live concerts that include 5 more artists of national and international stature. Reverend Robert Jones (Detroit) is next on March 28.
The concert series is sponsored in part by a generous grant from the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts. Common Fence Music is a Rhode Island-based 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization whose mission it is to celebrate and preserve diverse folk music traditions by creating community-based opportunities for cultural exchange.
Common Fence Music is a Rhode Island-based 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization whose mission it is to celebrate and preserve diverse folk music traditions by creating community-based opportunities for cultural exchange.
PO Box 4176, Middletown, RI 02842 • (401) 400-2774
The mission of Common Fence Music is to celebrate and preserve diverse folk music traditions
by creating community-based opportunities for cultural exchange .