Schedule
Friday, August 8, 2025 from 6:10-7:20 pm (Main Stage)
Friday, August 8, 2025 at 10:00 pm (Sheridan Opera House)
Cimafunk is Afro-Cuban rockstar musician Erik Alejandro Iglesias Rodríguez, who was once headed down the family path to become a doctor. Instead, he found another way to be a healer, and that was through music. Packed with elements of hip-hop, funk, Afro-Caribbean and Cuban, going on a musical journey with Cimafunk will take you like a skipping stone across the islands to the Apollo Theatre where James Brown whipped the audience into a sweaty mess of raised arms and swaying bodies.
Cimafunk has, in fact, been compared to the Godfather of Soul, but that’s not the only path he takes. El Alimento, released in 2021, featured performances by Cee-Lo Greene, George Clinton and Lupe Fiasco, and nabbed a Grammy nomination for Best Latin or Alternative Album. His latest, Pa’ Tu Cuerpa, deepens his explorations into the music that defines the Afro-Caribbean experience, with a whole lot of American soul thrown in. Erik took on his professional name, Cimafunk, in homage to the communities of escaped slaves of African descent in Cuba - “cimarrons” - during the colonial era. With Cimafunk we’ll witness this celebration of Black heritage with music that echoes through time into the thoroughly modern grooves of today.