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Latino Festival in full swing
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Flushing Times, Latino Festival in full swing >>
As globalization slowly transforms modern cities, and the old barriers separating neighborhoods along ethnic lines continue to crumble, panethnic culture as a phenomenon continues to flourish and spread. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the astounding diversity of our own borough of Queens, the modern day Ellis Island, where entire books have been written to record, analyze and celebrate Pan-Latino culture and its effects on society and individuals.
Perhaps no single event does more to recognize and enact the astounding global array of Spanish-speaking cultural offerings than the annual JP Morgan Chase Laiino Cultural Festival. Artists from all over the globe, as well as Latino artists living in New York City, have converged at the Queens Theater in the Park to stage musical concerts, film series, dance performances, comedy shows, open-mic poetry, art shows and performance art.
Festival coordinators have indicated that in planning the programming this year, they were committed to exploring cultural fusion, specifically regarding the African roots of the Americas. Peru Negro, a 22-man Afro-Peruvian dance band, perfectly embodies this idea, and they were the featured band at the festival's opening on July 27, where they staged an electrifying show, said Festival Coordinator Geraldine Cardiel.
"Peru Negro is a fantastic company to open a sold-out show," Cardiel said. "They had a ton of energy, they danced and played traditional African instruments, and people were really excited."
Other highlights of the opening included the premiere of Mexico Hooray!, an art show curated by Monica Rarairez-Mon-tagut featuring animation artist Felipe Galindo, sculptress Natalia Porter, and photographer Remy Amezcua in which Mexican-born artists explore their original national heritage in context of present cultural changes.
"There was a lot of relationship and interaction with the audience at the gallery opening," Cardiel said, as the artists spoke and answered questions about their work. Audience members asked questions about concepts and the origins of those concepts. Porter said she wanted people to relate to the materials she selected, and the fact that she chose human hair to use in sculptures was to incorporate feminine ideals and ideas into the work.
A post-show reception that featured Sonido Costeno, a salsa band, started up at 9:30 p.m. and the party went strong until around 11 p.m., when it started to rain a little. But all in all, the series of strong storms passing through the region did not put a damper on the opening party.
This is the ninth annual festival of its kind, an event that keeps getting bigger and bigger, and looks like it will continue to grow, especially in light of the renovations planned for the Queens Theater in the Park.
"This is the first festival willing to bring people from Latin America," Cardiel said. She explained that part of the planning process involved going through the proper channels in order to bring companies in from abroad to participate. "A lot of the companies that have participated in the festival opening in the U.S., in New York, and now they're pretty famous around the world, such as Eva Ayon, for example," Cardiel added.
The festival will continue through Sunday, Aug. 7. Thursday will showcase musical performances by Ray Castron and Conjunto Clasico, with special guest Tito Allen, and a program called "The 1940s," both at 8 p.m. On Friday, the programming focuses on comedy, with two showings of Frivolidad's "La Comedia Divina," one at 7:30 p.m. and one at 10 p.m. Music by Illapu will be featured on Saturday at 7 p.m. and again at 10 p.m., and Sofrito, a musical performance band that incorporates the art of storytelling into their performances, will conclude the festival on Sunday, Aug. 7 with a family-oriented showing at 2 p.m. and a general show at 7 p.m.
Ticket information and a full festival schedule can be found online at Queens Theatre's bi-lingual festival Web site, www.latinofestival.org. For more information, call the box office at 718-760-0064 from noon to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.
-Danielle Winterton 08/04/05
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