PHIL PASSANTINO is an Interfaith minister, songwriter, musician and preschool music teacher. From 2005-2014, he enjoyed presenting guest sermons for First UU of Essex County. Usually the topics were indigenous cultures & music of the world. Much fun was had. Magical messes were made. He’s psyched to still be involved in the Orange community today, through UofO and planning the Music City festivals. Phil started playing accordion and formed the Viva Vallenato Cumbia Band in 2013, which performs classic folkloric music of Colombia. In 2014 he co-founded a second band called Zydeco Revelators, which plays traditional Louisiana Cajun and Zydeco music. In 2015, he was a founding member of Rosa Tatuata, which performs traditional music of Sicily and Southern Italy. All three bands kept him quite busy… until a surprise pandemic took hold. But Viva Vallenato still plays every weekend, and they love making Orange dance.