Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship, in partnership with Vermont Public
BURLINGTON — Global music ensemble All the Rivers will take the stage at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts on March 11 for a benefit concert by and for Vermont’s immigrant community.
Event proceeds will go toward organizations working with immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers across the state, including the Association of Africans Living in Vermont and Migrant Justice.
Founded two years ago by Burlington musician Avi Salloway, All the Rivers brings together Vermont-based singers and musicians originally from 10 countries, including Costa Rica, Mexico, Senegal, Guinea, Colombia and Haiti.
The project began in summer 2024 when organizers of Burlington’s annual Festival of Fools asked Salloway to curate an ensemble of musicians who were new to Vermont for a performance at the festival. Since then, the group has expanded to 20 members.
Among them is Jules Wetchi. Wetchi moved to Vermont in 2013 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he worked as an ophthalmologist and sang in a French-Latin choir.
“When I moved here, it was very hard to find immigrant communities in the Catholic Church,” Wetchi said. So in 2016, he began organizing what became the Congolese Catholic Community of Burlington and the Congolese Catholic Choir.
That choir is now part of All the Rivers. And Wetchi said All the Rivers is an example of what’s possible when people from different backgrounds unite through music.
“We show all the people that with the song, it can help people to be united, to be together,” he said. “We have to be united. We have to build the world together. We have to change things together.”
Salloway agrees. He said the concert is as much about connection as it is about music.
“This is a co-created, collaborative project,” Salloway said. “The whole mission is amplifying immigrant voices, and building that human-to-human connection.”
At its core, Salloway said, All the Rivers is about shaping the public narrative by “creating platforms for immigrant leadership, building belonging, and connecting communities through culture.”
In addition to the concert, Salloway said members of All the Rivers have big plans for this year. They hope to fundraise, produce their debut album, release a documentary, and develop a touring educational workshop program.