FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 17, 2017
Contact: Maria de Jesus Gomez, chuyag@legacy.radiobilingue.org, 559-455-5782
Celebrate the Sounds of California in East San José on Saturday, Nov. 25
San José, Calif. – The Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) invites you to join South Bay, San José, and Mayfair artists and residents to celebrate the Sounds of California.
The program is co-hosted by Chelis López, producer and hostof Pájaro Latinoamericano and Andanzas on KPOO 89.5 FM in San Francisco, and contributing host for Radio Bilingüe’s talk show Línea Abierta, and Russell Rodríguez, a cultural worker and scholar, accomplished musician and program manager for ACTA with deep roots in the San José community.
San José cultural artists and performers include:
- Calpulli Tonalehqueh, a Mexica (Aztec) dance and cultural diffusion group based in San José that provides a healthy and safe space for community members, especially youth, to gather, learn and practice indigenous cultural heritage.
- Artemio Posadas, originally from San Luís Potosí, is an East San José resident and 2016 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) National Heritage Fellow, who has been teaching Mexican folk music and dance in the larger Bay Area since 1974. He will be accompanied by his students Dolores “Lolis” García and Pablo Quiroz to present son huasteco.
- Hālau Nāpuaokamokihanaoha,since 2007, is committed to carrying the legacy of hula in San José offering classes at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, under the direction of kumu hula, Luana Nāpuaokamokihanaoha Rivera Palacio.
- Demone Carter, a hip-hop artist dedicated to arts and political advocacy in San José, and together with his son Ellis Carter, a young upcoming composer and singer, present an exciting look at contemporary music from San José.
For the past 10 months, through the support of the California Arts Council’s Creative Cultural Community program, ACTA facilitated a Sounds of California project to collect and archive our California cultural soundscape in San José’s historic East Side, with a focus in the Mayfair community. The project engaged residents who contributed their songs, stories, and impressions of their local soundscape. Please join in celebrating this community and the artists and residents who bring meaning to this work. The program is free and open to the public.
ACTA project lead, Russell Rodriguez, Ph.D, says, “San José’s Eastside in general has historically been a hub for political activism, which went hand in hand with artistic creativity that gave birth to outstanding artists and art groups such as Rudy Madrid, Flor del Pueblo, and the world renowned Los Tigres del Norte. Today, the energy and enthusiastic art work and programming that occurs at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, under the guise of the School of Arts and Culture, continues this legacy of political, social and cultural advocacy and creativity. The Sounds of California project in East San José is to document some of the evident talent, but also assure that it is maintained in our collective memory.”
Radio Bilingüe will be recording and editing the program for broadcast, webcast and podcast at a later date. A Latino-owned network of non-commercial stations with more than 70 affiliates nationwide, the Fresno-based Radio Bilingüe is also the leading producer of news and information for Latinos in US public broadcasting.
The Alliance for California Traditional Arts leads the Sounds of California—East San José project in partnership with the School of Arts and Culture at MHP and in collaboration with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and Radio Bilingüe.
Saturday, November 25, 2017 (2-4 pm)
Theater at the Mexican Heritage Plaza
1700 Alum Rock Ave, San José, CA. | FREE!
For more info: http://actaonline.org/soc
The statewide Sounds of California initiative is an on-going partnership between the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA), Radio Bilingüe, the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, and the American Folklife Center and the Library of Congress to explore how experiences of immigration are embedded and archived within music, sound, and social practice throughout our state.
Contact:
Jennifer Joy Jameson
Program and Media Director
Alliance for California Traditional Arts
jjameson@actaonline.org
Ph: 760-805-8002
