2015 Concert of Colors: Corktown Popes, Infatuations, Plena Libre and more!

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2015 Concert of Colors: Corktown Popes, Infatuations, Plena Libre and more!

Here are a few more images from some of the shows we enjoyed during the 2015 Concert of Colors.

We checked out a lively show featuring the Puerto Rican bomba music of Plena Libre. The group plays the two-beat percussive music that caught the imaginations of music lovers on the island around the turn of the twentieth century. Described as the "sung newspaper of the day", it allowed listeners to learn of romance, politics and other current events in a call-and-response pattern. The musical form fell out of favor during the 1940s, but the genre's revival among a new generation of fans and enthusiasm for other Afro Caribbean music owes much to the work of the Grammy-Award-winning Plena Libre.

Plena Libre, 2015 Concert of Colors, Detroit

We first saw the Infatuations at last year's Concert of Colors when the Don Was All-Star Revue staged a tribute to Bob Seger's "Live Bullet" album, and the group performed a rocking version of Seger's "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man".

This year, the Infatuations put on a high-powered show debuting the talent of their new lead singer, Kendrick Hardaway, fronting the six-member group with a unique brand of gritty rock and soul that included hints of rap, surf and other musical genres.

Infatuations, 2015 Concert of Colors, Detroit

Check more of the music out for yourself with a free download of Monster, the Infatuations' recent three-song EP.

We also enjoyed hearing the Corktown Popes, a rock band with a decided Celtic edge that we first heard last year during Concert of Colors' tribute to Seger's "Live Bullet" when they performed "Travelin' Man".

This year, the Corktown Popes seasoned their brand of straight-ahead rock with Celtic instrumentation like the use of mandolins, accordions and pipes.