When Tempo Performing Arts Center opened inside a restored 19th-century church overlooking Kingston’s Rondout this winter, founder Tom Krueger described the project as “an interactive sculpture—something that responds to the people who come through it.” On Saturday, July 25, that sculpture leaves the building behind.
For one day, the church and the park across the street become a single cultural campus as Tempo in the Park transforms Cornell Park into a free festival of music, dance, and traditions from around the world. Running from noon to 8pm on a single stage, the inaugural event gathers a dozen performances that stretch from West Africa to Yemen, the Balkans to Mexico, Ireland to Louisiana—all in the heart of Kingston’s historic Rondout neighborhood.
It’s the first large-scale expression of the mission Krueger laid out when Tempo opened earlier this year: to create a place where artistic traditions don’t simply coexist, but cross-pollinate. Rather than presenting “world music” as a catchall genre, Tempo in the Park offers a series of living musical lineages, each rooted in a particular culture while remaining open to collaboration and reinvention.
Few performers embody that philosophy better than percussionist Juma Sultan, whose appearance is among the festival’s biggest draws. Best known for performing with Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock in 1969, Sultan has spent more than five decades exploring the intersections of African rhythmic traditions, free jazz, and improvisation through collaborations with artists including Pharaoh Sanders, Archie Shepp, and Sonny Sharrock. His performance connects one of the Hudson Valley’s defining musical legacies with a lifelong commitment to artistic exploration.
West African music arrives through the Mandingo Ambassadors, led by Gambian guitarist and singer Yahaya Kammeh. Drawing on the griot traditions of the Mandinka people while incorporating reggae and contemporary African influences, the group has become one of the Northeast’s leading ambassadors of Gambian music and dance.
Among the festival’s most adventurous acts is El Khat, the acclaimed Yemeni ensemble led by Eyal El Wahab. Blending centuries-old Yemeni folk traditions with electrified arrangements and homemade instruments fashioned from discarded materials, the group has earned an international following for music that feels both deeply rooted and strikingly contemporary.
Closing the festival is Banda la Tumbadora, the explosive New York-based Mexican brass ensemble whose high-energy banda sound turns every performance into a celebration. MacNCheez Balkan Power Trio channels the exuberant dance music of southeastern Europe, while O’Sullivan’s March opens the afternoon with Irish traditional music.
The day’s programming also highlights the Hudson Valley musicians who reflect Tempo’s collaborative spirit. Richard Marquez launches the festival with an Afro-Cuban drumming workshop, followed by performances from the Driftwood Chorus, the Vinay Desai Duo, Pueblos Tristes, the Tempo Old Time All-Stars, and Lapin Coquin Cajun, tracing musical traditions from Appalachia and Louisiana to Latin America and South Asia.
When Chronogram visited Tempo just before it opened, Krueger pointed toward Cornell Park as part of the center’s future. “We’re still figuring out what it wants to be,” he said. “The community will tell us. The city will tell us. The artists will tell us.”
Tempo in the Park feels like the first answer to that question. Rather than asking audiences to enter a performance hall, it invites the performance hall into the city. For eight hours, one stage becomes common ground where Gambian songs, Yemeni folk music, Mexican brass, Balkan dance tunes, Irish reels, Cajun two-steps, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and Hudson Valley musicians all share the same patch of grass. It’s less a music festival than a public demonstration of Tempo’s founding idea: that culture grows strongest when it belongs to everyone.
Tempo in the Park World Music Festival takes place on Saturday, July 25 from noon to 8pm at Cornell Park, 29 Wurts Avenue in Kingston. The event is free, though the organizers ask that you RSVP.
