New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Sones de México Ensemble, an organization dedicated to promoting a greater appreciation and dissemination of the folk music of Mexico, will launch an extensive schedule of performances and workshops that span topics and artistic collaborations in different U.S. states.
They begin on
September 10th with a multimedia performance of Chilean composer Luis Advis' Cantata
Santa Maria de Iquique, recorded by the group Quilapayún in 1969 and end on December 5th with a live score performance to Segei Eisenstein's 1930s film ¡Que Viva México! In between, they will visit the Library of Congress and Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and other venues throughout the country.
"This is a very exciting time for the organization," says Juan Díes, Executive
Director of Sones de México. "We'll be celebrating a pair of Mexican holidays, embarking on an ambitious collaboration for the 10th Annual
Latino Music Festival and bringing our workshops and classes to several parts of the country. It is gratifying to see both our performance opportunities and educational initiatives flourish."
On Thursday,
September 10, 7pm Sones de México Ensemble, the organization's performing unit, starts things off with a joint project for the International
Latino Cultural Center's 10th
Latino Music Festival, featuring Chicago's famed Redmoon Theatre, guitarist/composer Gustavo Leone, several Chicago-based Andean musicians and celebrated Chilean actor and writer Alejandro Goic, performing the Cantata
Santa Maria de Iquique, written by Luis Advis for the celebrated Chilean group Quilapayún. The piece, which commemorates the massacre of striking Chilean salt mine workers in 1907, will be staged at Redmoon's dramatic performance space at 2120 S Jefferson St, Chicago. It will be a multi-media presentation with video projections and 16 artists on stage. Tickets for this performance are available in advance at www.cantata.eventbrite.com
On Sunday,
September 13, 2pm the group performs at the Des Plaines, IL Public Library, 1501 Ellinwood St, for the library's Culture of Mexico presentation in observance of Mexican Independence Day. They will be joined there by Chicago's own Mexican Dance Ensemble. Admission is free.
On Tuesday,
September 15, 1pm Sones de México Ensemble travels to the nation's capital on for a series of workshops and performances beginning with a Corrido: Mexican Tragic Ballad Songwriting Workshop at the Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave SE, Washington, D.C. Workshop attendees in this series, which is sponsored in part by a grant from the
National Endowment for the Arts, will learn about the history of corridos and participate in the writing of an original corrido. U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera will join Sones de Mexico members at this special edition of their ongoing educational initiative and offered to read part of the ballad the group will write during his inauguration speech that evening. Herrera explains, "I grew up with my mother's border Corridos - without them my poetry would have suffered or not existed at all."
On Wednesday,
September 16, which coincides with Mexican Independence Day, the group will perform at the Library of Congress at noon, participate in an Oral History Session at 2:15, and then end the day at 6pm with a concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Millennium Stage, 2700 F Street NW. The concert will be streamed live on the
Internet and archived for later viewing. All events in Washington DC are free and open to the public.
On Friday,
September 18, 4pm, Sones de México Ensemble returns to
Chicago for a free concert celebrating the World Triathlon
Chicago Grand Final in Grant Park featuring a special collaboration with the Mexican Folkloric Dance Company of Chicago.
Sones de México heads for Holland, Michigan for a series of workshops and special concert presentations for the Tulipanes
Latino Art and Film Festival.
On Sunday,
September 20, 2pm, they begin with a free presentation of the Corrido: Mexican Tragic Ballad Songwriting Workshop will at Holland Area Arts Council, 150 E 8th St, Holland.
They continue on Monday
September 21 at 11am & 1:30pm, with two presentations of Fiesta Mexicana, an interactive young audience concert based on the award-winning Sones de México Ensemble album of the same name at the DeWitt Theatre at Hope College, 141 E 12th St, Holland, Michigan. Schools interested in bringing their students to these performances need to contact Nery Garcia at (616) 405-7267.
The group completes their visit to Holland at 7:30pm
September 21 performing a newly conceived live film score to the lost Sergei Eisenstein silent film classic ¡Qué Viva México!, also at the DeWitt Theatre at Hope College, 141 E 12th St, Holland, Michigan and presented by the Tulipanes
Latino Art and Film Festival. Sones de México premiered this project earlier this year for the
Chicago International Movies and
Music Festival and LakeFX
Chicago 2015 with two, sold-out performances at Chicago's
National Museum of Mexican Art.
"¡Qué Viva México! is a classic of silent cinema and an important reflection on Mexican history and struggle," says Juan Díes. "However, we found that the music did not always match the regional culture of the Mexican indigenous groups represented in the film. We re-scored the film with more accurate representations." The score includes traditional songs, improvised incidental music and sound effects created by the whole group, and original compositions by Sones de Mexico member Zacbé Pichardo, music director on the project.
On Tuesday,
September 22, 7pm Sones de México Ensemble returns to the
Chicago area for a Danza de Viejitos: Mask Making and Dance Workshop for families with Ensemble members Juan Díes & Juan Rivera at the McHenry Public Library, 809 Front St, McHenry, IL. Admission is free.
On Tuesdays, starting
September 22 through December 8, at 4pm & 5pm Sones de Mexico Education will offer a new, 12-week session of guitar classes for children ages 9-14 at Casa Juan Diego, in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, 2020 S. Blue Island Ave. The classes will be available in levels 1 & 2, respectively with Gonzalo Córdova, guitarist for Sones de México. Registration for 12 weeks is $120 and can be made at www.sonesdemexico.eventbrite.com
On Thursday,
September 24, Sones de México Ensemble will be in concert at Sauk Valley Community College's Jerry Mathis Theatre, 173 IL Rt. 2, Dixon, IL.
On Monday,
September 28 at 7pm, Juan Díes, the group's co-founder, will travel to the West Coast to present the Corrido: Mexican Tragic Ballad Songwriting Workshop at The Floricanto Center for the Performing Arts, 4232 Whiteside St, Los Angeles, CA. Admission is free and open to the public.
On Friday, October 16, 2pm, Sones de México will offer the free Corrido: Mexican Tragic Ballad Songwriting Workshop which is designed for all ages, will also be presented at Illinois Beach Resort & Conference Center, 1 Lakefront Drive, Zion, IL as part of The Children's
Music Network annual conference.
On Sunday, October 25, Sones de México travels to the Woodstock Invitational Luthiers' Showcase in upstate New York. The group, who between them own and play over 70 traditional Mexican string instruments, will present the Corrido: Mexican Tragic Ballad Songwriting Workshop at 11am and a concert showcasing regional Mexican folk stringed instruments at 2pm. Both take place at Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild's Kleinert-James Center, 34 Tinker St, Woodstock.
Sones de México Ensemble then return home to perform a Day of the Dead / Día de los Muertos concert on Sunday, November 1 at 4:15pm in Harrison Park, directly behind the
National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th Street in Chicago's historic Pilsen neighborhood, the artistic heart of the city's Mexican community, where the group was formed over 21 years ago. The concert will honor all the people who have died this year.
On Sunday, November 8 at 7pm, Sones de México Ensemble will perform at the closing ceremony for the 2015
Chicago Humanities Festival at
Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport, also in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood.
On Thursday, November 19, 6pm, Sones de México Ensemble will hold its Annual Gala Fundraising Dinner at the
National Museum of Mexican Arts, 1852 W. 19th St, Chicago. Admission is $100 for a wonderfully exclusive dinner and concert. Tickets will be available at www.sonesdemexico.eventbrite.com. All proceeds support Sones de Mexico's educational programs and are deductible to the extent provided by U.S. tax code.
On Saturday, December 5 at 7pm, Sones de México Ensemble will close out 2015 with an encore performance of their live film score to Sergei Eisenstien's ¡Que Viva México! at The
Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave, Chicago, presented by the
Chicago International Movies and
Music Festival (CIMMfest).
For further information and updates on all of these events, please visit facebook.com/sonesdemexico.
About Sones de México Ensemble: The group is Chicago's premier folk music organization specializing in Mexican 'son,' a genre encompassing the roots of mariachi music and other regional styles, including huapango, gustos, chilenas, son jarocho, and more. The ensemble was formed in 1994 and soon incorporated as a non-profit organization to keep the tradition of Mexican 'son' alive in its many regional forms. As a performer and recording artist, they have developed and popularized many original arrangements of Mexican traditional tunes. Its original work has experimented cross-culturally with symphonic, Irish, folk, blues, C&W, jazz and rock, though never abandoning its roots in Mexican son.
The group has released six CDs: íQue Florezca! (Let it Bloom); Fandango on 18th Street; the GRAMMY® nominated Esta Tierra Es Tuya (This Land is Your Land); Fiesta Mexicana (a children's album); íViva la Revolución!; and 13 B'ak'tun.
For more information, visit www.sonesdemexico.com
