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Five Highlights of Sones de México Ensemble’s April/May Season

This spring season, Sones de México Ensemble offers something for every taste and every audience: something orchestral, something folk, something theatrical, something with dance, something to party to and something for kids.


Friday, April 25, 7:30pm [ORCHESTRAL]

w/a String Quartet and Piano
Presented by the Chicago Sinfonietta Chamber Music concerts
at the National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St., Chicago, IL

“A highly anticipated night for us artistically speaking,” says Juan Díes.  “We’re doing a lot of new material that is composed for orchestra, but is being performed by Sones de México Ensemble and a guest string quartet and piano from the Chicago Sinfonietta. It is a technical challenge for us, just like the Brandenburg Concerto on our album was a challenge. Whoever liked our Brandenburg rendition will like this.”

What’s in store:

·          Mexico’s most famous symphonic piece: Huapango by J. Pablo Moncayo. Moncayo died in the late ’50s, but he left this wonderful piece that orchestras play around the world. The piece is based on son rhythms from Mexico.

·          J.S. Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major—Third Movement,” Veracruz style.

·          “Albricias” (“Good Wishes,” in English), an original composition by Sones de México Ensemble’s music director Víctor Pichardo.

·          “La Lloroncita” (the “Weeping Woman”) “This traditional melody from Veracruz is another interpretation of the legend of La Llorona, one of the women archetypes of Mexican folklore,” explains Díes. “She is a weeping woman; maybe she was left by a man or perhaps she lost her children. Though you may hear her beautiful singing voice at night, you don’t follow her; you should let her be because she is actually a wandering soul in penance. You may be tempted to go and console her but you should beware, because you may never be seen again. The song doesn’t exactly narrate this story, but that’s what it means. The verses may change from one folk version to another, but the key is to stay in the character of a lament. You shouldn’t really sing a funny lyric, or something happy. That would be out of place, but you can write your own lyrics on the subject. We sing traditional verses.”

 

Saturday, April 26, 7:30pm [ROOTS-FOLK]
Unity Temple Concert Series
at the Unity Temple, 875 Lake Street, Oak Park, IL

This is Sones de México Ensemble doing what they are best known for: playing traditional folk music from Mexico. A lot of the songs on the new album will be featured. The venue is a National Historic Landmark, a remarkable cubist concrete church built by visionary architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1906, ahead of its time even by modern standards. This Unitarian Universalist church was built, in Frank Lloyd Wright’s words, to "not merely create a religious structure, but one that fitly embodies the principles of liberal religion for which this church stands... unity, truth, beauty, simplicity, freedom and reason.”

“Inside it’s a beautiful, little cozy wooden music box, with stained glass windows,” says Díes. “All the pews are wood and they surround you. You have people above and below you. You hardly need amplification there. It’s like playing inside a guitar! They can probably fit 300-400 people, but they all feel very close to you. It will be a very intimate show.”

 

Friday, May 2, 9:30pm [PARTY MUSIC]
Club Show/Dance Party Music
Fitzgerald’s Nightclub
6615 Roosevelt Rd, Berwyn, IL

This is a club show that will get people dancing. Sones de México Ensemble will play high-energy music. “They will definitely get to hear our Aztec Warrior version of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Four Sticks,’” laughs Díes. “Here we will have a chance to rock out some more. We’ll talk less about the music and tradition and where it came from and just get down to business and knock out longer solos and extended versions of some songs. This will be a 21-and-over show with an open dance floor and plenty of seating too...”

 

Friday, May 16, 7:30pm [THEATRICAL]
“de coraSON” with the CALJE horn section and special guests.
Presented by the Steppenwolf Theatre Traffic Series
at the Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago, IL

Chicago’s prestigious Steppenwolf Theatre, world renowned for taking theater to exciting new levels created the Traffic Series to “provide an intimate and unique intersection of language, lyrics, poetry and music, [to bring] a fresh perspective on expressing the American story.” Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ, 91.5 FM) re-broadcasts the Traffic events as part of their partnership with Steppenwolf. Bands usually perform inside the theater set of whatever play they are producing at the moment. “The show playing there is inside a jazz club,” Díes explains. “There will be a bar, chairs, and a stage. We will place ourselves in it, and to give people a visual show with some storytelling. We will also invite some guests, including a horn section from the Chicago Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble. It’s still a work in progress and it’s a first for us, and the audience will get to be a part of this experiment.”

 

Saturday, May 17, 7pm & Sunday May 18, 3pm [DANCE]
with The Mexican Folkloric Dance Company of Chicago
Presented by the Victory Gardens Theater
at The Biograph, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL

“José Ovalle, the director of The Mexican Folkloric Dance Company of Chicago loved our new album,” says Díes. “He told me, ‘You’ve really taken this someplace else!’ He wanted to try something fresh as well, so he choreographed a piece to our Led Zeppelin cover using dancers in Aztec costumes, drawing on that warrior tradition. He’s using our version of ‘This Land is Your Land’ choreographed with a Norteño/Tex-Mex feel, cowboy hats and plaid shirts. He’s choreographed many songs on the album. It’s so flattering when something you’ve done moves another artist to create a new artistic piece himself.”

 

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KIDS CORNER: Cinco de Mayo Weekend Shows
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Saturday, May 3, 1pm and Monday May 5, 10:30am, 1pm
Presented by the Chicago Children’s Humanities Festival
at the National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St., Chicago, IL

 

Sunday, May 4, 1pm
@ Schuba’s Tavern, 3159 N. Southport Ave, Chicago, IL

The National Museum of Mexican Art is the biggest Mexican art museum in the United States.  Schuba’s Tavern is known for its rock shows. One is a place where you can wander about and really get deep into Mexican culture; the other is a hip place, which should be fun for hep parents. Families can choose which kind of experience suits them best.

Sones de México Ensemble has been doing children’s programs from its inception fourteen years ago. After testing their repertoire on tens of thousands of children, Sones is now recording a bilingual double-album. By the time these two concerts come up, the group will have gone through their children’s repertoire with a fine tooth comb. The album won’t be out for a while, but Chicago audiences can get a sneak peak.

“Each song is attached to a storytelling element,” explains Díes. “One of my favorite songs is called ‘Acamaya,’ which is about a crawdad or crayfish. It’s about the creatures that live in Mexico’s Pánuco River, which runs through the Huasteca region, the area where this music comes from. A lot of distinct folk music traditions are cut-off from other areas by natural barriers like mountains. At the bottom of this basin is the river. This acamaya lives in the river. When you pick it up, its piercing eyes scare you and you say, ‘Oo-you-yuoui and ay-ay-ay.’ So the kids help us by singing that every time these animals are sung about in the song.”

“We also do ‘La Bamba.’ We start with the Rock and Roll Ritchie Valens version, but stop midway and ask the kids where this song came from. We talk about Valens as a Mexican-American kid, and how he picked it up from a very old traditional Afro-Mexican song that dates back to the 17th century at least. We have no idea how they played it back then, because there are no recordings. We say, ‘Listen to this version’ and play a Mexican folk version. Then we bring it up a step with more force. The kids start dancing, there’s a drum solo and more singing. We have some fun with it.”

“We make the live kid’s shows great experiences for the kids and families, but we also want it to be a tool for our teaching. We teach teachers how to use the songs to teach their kids about geography, biology, chemistry and even algebra, and about the diversity of Mexican culture, about Black people in Mexico, traditions from Africa, traditions from Indigenous people, and all of our musical instruments, of course.”

 

Sones de México Ensemble is partially sponsored by a City Arts Program 2 grant from the
Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

Sones de México Ensemble, Inc. is a not for profit organization under section 501(c)3 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.

All donations are tax deductible to the extent provided under U.S. tax law



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This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land: Sones de ...
Five Highlights of Sones de México Ensemble’s April/May Season

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