NEW YORK—Walking down Broadway towards Wall Street on Wednesday, the South American rhythms of the band Agua Clara echoed past lunch crowds and tourists. In the courtyard of the historic Trinity Church, the band’s performance was the second concert of the Wednesday Groundtracks concert series running through August.
Unlike the well-established Concerts at One that Trinity has been hosting for 40 years inside the church, Wednesday Groundtracks is out in the sun, it’s free and people can eat their lunches without being ushered out of the aisle.
“This is a case of enriching the downtown community with a little something to help everyone get through the day. It’s a Wednesday series, midweek, something for the tourist that they don’t expect, and something for the people who work in the area,” said Earl Lawrence Tucker, Director of Trinity Concerts, Inc. “If they want to come they can sit in the yard outside, if they want to, they can have some spiritual renewal from music.”
This is the first August summer concert series for Trinity, with The Booglerizers playing Blues and Ragtime lined up for Wednesday, August 20 at 1:30 p.m., and Mecca Bodega, one of New York’s most accomplished drum ensembles, on Wednesday 27 at 1:30 p.m. Last week was jazz from Henry P. Warner.
“Actually, it’s sort of a resurrection of a series that used to take place in the 80’s called Music Café, where there was jazz and rock out here on the plaza. There has been a re-interest in music and the spirituality of music and so here we are,” continued Tucker, a music enthusiast who helped spearhead a new summer music festival attended by 14,000 people this year on Governor’s Island.
Locals and tourists alike enjoyed free iced lemonade while taking in the sounds.
“I was just passing by and I heard some music so I stopped by. They’re playing music from the South America area and it’s nice, I like it,” said Avnie Azka, a Polish tourist.
Dominique, a New Yorker who works on Pine Street, was pleasantly surprised. “I pass here all the time, I work on Pine Street, and I heard them across the street, I was actually going to go into Borders. I like this music; it’s similar to what they play in the train stations. Yeah I like it, I like the sound. “
Train stations indeed. The eclectic music selection was booked by Evan Bleier, who searched the MTA website’s substantial list of New York musicians performing in the subway.
But what is the connection between Trinity Church and contemporary music for the masses?
“Trinity has a long history with music, Handel ‘s Messiah premiered here in 1770. So we’ve been doing this for a few hundred years. The church itself has a long relationship with music, and it’s an integral part of the worship service, you know, the music, so this is an extension of that,” said Tucker.
This Wednesday’s band, Agua Clara or “Clear Water,” said they have their own mission.
“What we do is a fusion of traditional rhythms of South America, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. We add jazz rhythms, a fusion of different rhythms into it to make a more contemporary music for the people of New York and the world,” said one band member of Agua Clara. “It’s nice to see that through our music, at least for a brief moment we can unite people of all cultures in these hard times that we are living. The way we promote peace is through our music.”
