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If an award were given for Multitasker of the Month, South Florida musician- turned-arts entrepreneur Jose Elias likely would win hands down. Besides regularly fronting either of his two groups, Nag Champayons and Cortadito, Elias occasionally lends guitar and tres support to Conjunto Progreso and the Spam Allstars, among others. As well, when not performing, the versatile dynamo somehow finds time to preside over producing activities at his Afro Roots Recordings studio and put in work as executive and artistic director of Community Arts & Culture, the non-profit entity through which he produces the long-running Afro Roots World Music Festival. But it is the latter that is the primary focus of Elias' efforts. Since its inception 20-plus years ago, Afro Roots has emerged as a world-class extravaganza that has featured artists from Africa and the Americas, among them Malian superstar Salif Keita; Boukman Experyans, from Haiti, and Moroccan Gnawa musician Hassan Hakmoun. Equally significant, the event attracts attendees from across the U.S. and abroad to its anchor venue, the North Beach Bandshell, and to scaled-down versions of the event at a number of satellite locations in Miami-Dade, Monroe, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. Enter the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of social distancing and masking requirements intended to lessen exposure to the virus, Elias has been forced to reconfigure Afro Roots, if not permanently then at least for the short term. For example, the 2020 Afro Roots Festival was co-produced with the Rhythm Foundation and took place as scheduled. Unlike in the past, however, it was all-virtual, with performances being live-streamed from the North Beach Bandshell. What follows is a conversation Elias and I had, pre- pandemic, in which he traced Afro Roots' evolution from its modest beginning in the parking lot of Tobacco Road, a now-defunct night club/bar in downtown Miami. The Afro Roots Festival has moved around quite a bit since its inception at Tobacco Road, hasn't it? Jose Elias: Yeah. We spent three years at Tobacco Road; then we moved it to St. John's on the Lake Church, on Miami Beach, where we did another three years. After that, I believe, we went to IO – a downtown Miami venue that no longer exists and that used to be called the Vagabond. From there, I think we went to the North Beach Bandshell. And then, the Bandshell underwent renovation, so we moved it from there to the Moksha/7th Circuit space in Little Haiti, where we stayed for a couple of years. And then, from Moksha we went to the Little Haiti Cultural Center, across the street from Moksha, for a while. From there we brought it back to the Bandshell.