It’s springtime again, and with the changing seasons comes the annual event that everyone’s talking about: the annual Cultural Rhythms Festival. Throughout the week, student groups strutted the fashion runway, prepared their favorite foods from home, and showcased their heritages through dance and music—all to celebrate cultural identity and community at Harvard.
This year’s culminating show, hosted in Sanders Theatre on April 5, dazzled as a celebration of global traditions and diverse artistry. Organized by the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, the event named singer, songwriter, and activist Becky G (Rebbeca Gomez) as the 2025 Artist of the Year. Past recipients of the award include world-famous artists such as Salma Hayek, Will Smith, and Rihanna.
Before the main show, the Cultural Rhythms Food Festival on Friday had already drawn hundreds of students to sample a world of flavors. With tables lining the outside of Memorial Church, student organizations served up home-cooked cultural favorites. I tasted my way from Mexico to Morocco, and I could tell that each plate carried the soul of a community.
Eager to get my eat on, I grabbed a plate of grilled-fried chicken from the Generational African American Students Association, doused in sweet soy glaze and still crispy even after sitting in a pan. Then I went to the Fuerza Latina table, which offered smooth, rich flan that I scarfed down in seconds. Harvard Hillel handed out fluffy challah rolls, lightly sweet and comforting, like the best home-baked bread. At the Nigerian Students Association table, I helped myself to a heaping serving of jollof rice and warm, golden puff puff—score! I ended on a sweet note with fried dough from the Black Muslim Collective, sitting down in the Yard to yap away as I always do (shout out to Layla, the Independent’s Editor-in-Chief, for indulging me that Friday).
While the festival filled my belly, the Cultural Rhythms Show and Award Ceremony on Saturday night was a visual feast of dance and music. This year’s lineup featured 10 student groups, each offering a riveting performance that left me absolutely floored. My personal favorites, Candela and Bhangra, brought especially vivid fashion and style to their performances. When the Bhangra dancers came out on the stage, they were all smiles and brought the energy!
I wasn’t alone in being impressed by the performances. “I really like Candela,” said Gabe Timoteo ’28, an audience member. “I like the choreography, especially the music. I’m Brazilian myself, so it reminds me a lot of Brazilian music. So I just loved the whole act, loved it, loved it.”
It wasn’t just the performers who were having fun. The hosts, Isabela Gonzalez-Lawand ’26 and Tiffany Onyeiwu ’25, often got in on the dances too; I especially enjoyed their attempt to walk over the tinikling sticks brought by the Harvard Undergraduate Philippine Forum while not getting their feet caught between the massive bamboo poles. You just had to be there to believe it.
While we sometimes laughed and cheered as the night went on, the show also grappled with more serious topics. Recognizing the local Wampanoag tribes and people, LeMonie Hutt ’26 delivered a land acknowledgment to start the show, offering the audience time to reflect and feel gratitude for the recognition of minorities shown at events like Cultural Rhythms. Right after, Alta Mauro, the Associate Dean for Inclusion and Belonging, gave her thoughts on the importance of cultural diversity in our current political climate alongside Habiba Braimah, Senior Director of the Harvard Foundation.
To be frank, I didn’t know who Becky G was before Cultural Rhythms. But for every one of you who have heard “Shower” (think “I’m dancing in the mirror, and singing in the shower”) on the radio in 2014, you’ve encountered Gomez before. Since then, she has made herself anything but a one-hit wonder—her collabs span from Pitbull to Sean Paul, and she even has three songs with more than 500 million plays on Spotify.
With her work through the past decade, there’s no denying Becky G’s icon status, and Gomez accepted the plaque like the winner she is. “I want 100%—100% of my pride in both sides of who I am: Mexican and American,” she reflected, telling the story of how she came to terms with her own two identities. As a white-Asian American, I felt that message speak to me. No wonder Gomez has found success outside her “Shower” days, as she has ventured across Latin music, rap, and hip-hop.
That story resonated with Timoteo as well: “It’s a big inspiration for my own Latino brothers, especially for my Latina sisters, to see a Latina artist,” he said. “I think it’s empowering for women—for Latina women, something I’m a big supporter of.”
Overall, the 2025 Cultural Rhythms Festival struck a strong balance between celebration and substance. The sampling of student-made dishes felt personal and inviting to me, while the main show at Sanders Theatre showcased standout performances that I still thought back on days later. Thoughtful moments, from the land acknowledgment and reflections on identity, added depth without slowing the momentum. With events like Cultural Rhythms still running strong at Harvard, I’m heartened that our community continues to find entertaining yet engaging ways to lead purposeful, cultural conversations.
Ben Kaufman ’28 (benkaufman@college.harvard.edu) still struggles to spell the word “rhythm.”