In the same way that a wistful accordion melody can sweep you away to dusk along a Parisian quay, there’s something about shakers, drums, and a driving beat that can instantly transport you to hour three of an under-the-stars Caribbean dance party. “Music is the original virtual reality for travel,” says Mita Carriman, founder of #Globewanders, an annual world beats dance party taking place this Friday, January 27. The party, now in its third year, aims to recreate that tropical dance party in the depths of a New York winter. “In the travel industry,” says Carriman, “when people think of sensory experiences, they usually focus on sight and taste. I love that this event highlights travel through sound.”
As a matter of fact, take a minute to open a new tab and pull up the #Globewanders website for a little background music to groove to while you finish this article. Don’t worry; we’ll wait.
All set? Good.
Timed to coincide with the first day of the New York Times Travel Show, #Globewanders is an unofficial after-party that brings together lovers of world music and travel to a soundtrack of Tropical Bass, Afrobeat, Global House, Bhangra, Dub, Soca, and Latin music. Carriman, a former music lawyer with world music pedigree (she’s worked with electronic and world music clients like Grammy-nominated Afropean-soul group Les Nubians and cool-cred reggae band The Frightnrs) recently transitioned into the travel industry with her friend-finding app, Adventurely. After attending a few industry events, she started looking around for the after-parties—a norm for music industry events that turned out to be curiously absent in the travel industry. “I thought it would be fun to make one myself and to get my communities in music and travel involved in a relevant and unique way,” she says. “At the time I didn’t think it was necessarily going to evolve into an annual thing, but both communities were equally enthusiastic, and here were are doing it again for the third year in a row!”
Over the past few years, #Globewanders has collaborated with 35 brands in travel and music. This year’s lineup promises to be one of the best yet, headed up by Nickodemus, the world-traveling DJ responsible for the globally inspired Turntables on the Hudson dance parties and the Wonderwheel Recording record label—and whose song you’re bouncing around to right now (well, if you opened that tab). The DJs performing alongside Nickodemus include DJ OP, a former radio host in South Africa and one of the driving forces behind the Brooklyn-based, multi-genre Afrokinetic dance parties, and Nina Azucar, representing Women in Music, whose hip-hop and house music pulls from her Puerto Rican and Haitian roots as well as a broader set of Caribbean sounds.
The party starts at 8 p.m. at the W Hotel Times Square and is open to anyone over 21 who RSVPs through the website. And as an added bonus, the party’s main sponsor, Curacao, is offering all RSVPs a chance at a trip for two to the beautiful island, so you may just get the chance to physically escape to a tropical paradise.
And even if you can’t make it to New York next week, by checking out the DJs on tap, you can get your own living room dance party started and make an escape to warmer climates.
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