Live at the Archway: Kaleta and Super Yamba Band |

Music + Art in the Dumbo Archway!

5pm: Doors | 6pm: Music

Free, all ages, & rain or shine.

Food & Drink for sale from the Archway Bar.

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JULY 17

ON STAGE: Kaleta and Super Yamba Band

ON THE ART WALL: To Be Announced

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GETTING TO THE ARCHWAY

The Dumbo Archway is a public plaza underneath the Manhattan Bridge in DUMBO, Brooklyn. It’s on Water St between Anchorage Place and Adams St. You can use "28 Adams Street" for the purposes of maps. Parking in Dumbo is tricky! We strongly encourage you to take public transit.

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THE MUSIC!

Brooklyn’s Kaleta & Super Yamba Band are fronted by Afrobeat and Juju veteran Leon Ligan-Majek a.k.a. Kaleta. The singer/guitarist from the West African country of Benin Republic lived his adolescent life in Lagos, Nigeria where Afrobeat was born. Kaleta's guitar chops earned him decades of touring and recording with Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Lauryn Hill and more.

Kaleta got his start in the late 70s performing in church and was soon after picked up by iconic Juju master and world music pioneer King Sunny Ade. A few years later Fela Kuti came calling. Kaleta would go on to tour the world playing guitar for the King of Afrobeat in his storied band Egypt 80 through the 1980s and into the 1990s.

Now based in New York City, Kaleta has been leading Super Yamba Band since 2017. Their debut album "Mèdaho," which was released by California indie label Ubiquity Records, draws on the group’s shared reverence for the raw, psychedelic sounds that captivated Kaleta as a music loving kid in 1970s Benin. Mèdaho means "big brother," "elder" or "teacher" and is dedicated to Kaleta's late brother Ligan-Ozavino Pascal who introduced him to funk and soul music at a very early age. The album was included on Bandcamp’s “Best Albums of Summer 2019” list and two of the songs were chosen for the ABC/Hulu series High Fidelity staring Zoe Kravitz.

Kaleta and his band have also erupted onto the stages and video screens of major music festivals and music publications across the US. They performed at the historic Apollo Theatre in 2019. They even prompted Action Bronson to stop his own show on VICELAND TV just so he could hear more Yamba. They also performed on Adult Swim’s Fishcenter Live show in 2019. In 2017 they rocked Paste Magazine’s Emerging Music Festival in NYC and after that performance Afropop Worldwide fell in love with Kaleta, saying “his James Brown grunts have got to be some of the best in the business!”

The members of Super Yamba Band have honed their craft performing with a diverse range of artists such as David Byrne, Rubblebucket, Yeasayer and Between The Buried And Me to name a few. Collaborating over several years with Senegalese griot and talking drum master Modou Mbenge, known best for his work with African pop star Abdou Guite Seck, was a defining moment in the development of Super Yamba's sound and the musician's understanding of the African music tradition. Super Yamba has also collaborated with Ghanaian singer Osei Korankye and Guinean singer Ismael Kouyate.

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JOIN THE ARTIST ON THE INTERACTIVE ART WALL!

To be announced

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SPECIAL THANKS

Live at the Archway is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with City Council.

Live at the Archway is curated by Clara Inés Schuhmacher, of the Dumbo Improvement District, and Jan Bell, of the Brooklyn Americana Music Festival.

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WANT TO SEE MORE SHOWS?

This season of Live at the Archway runs every Thursday from June 12 - July 31, 2025.

Follow us for more: @dumbo_brooklyn

Also check out other Music events in Brooklyn, Entertainment events in Brooklyn, Arts events in Brooklyn.