ori-gen.org

For the past year, the Ori-Gen Collective, a diverse, New York-based group of Latino music makers including multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy winners, has been developing platforms to explore and present new combinations of Latin American roots music, jazz, and technology in contemporary pan-Latin music.

But just as plans were taking form, the COVID-19 pandemic imposed its own priorities and set its own schedule. The Collective then pivoted, and launched a series of free, weekly online concerts and a weekly Ori-Gen Podcast

“This is our response to this crisis. Each one of us tries to do our part, to contribute something positive, and music is what we know and what we do,” said singer and songwriter Sofia Rei, a founding member of the Collective and part of the curatorial committee. “As a collective, we came together to play a greater role in how our music is presented. We were thinking of changing the future. But now we feel we need to work on the present. That’s what the urgency of the moment requires. We all have this need for community, to feel a sense of belonging, and music helps create that — and we need it now.”