|
|
 |
May a merry month for Sones de Mexico
|
| Click Here to go back. |
Chicago Sun-Times, May a merry month for Sones de Mexico >>
By Laura Emerick The last year has been a blur for Sones de Mexico, as fast-paced and exciting as a zapateado (a traditional tap-style dance).
The Chicago-based ensemble, created in 1994 to preserve Mexican folkloric traditions but reimagined in a contemporary context, released its third CD, "Esta Tierra Es Tuya," on its own label last year. The disc, which celebrates immigrant-related themes -- the title song reworks Woody Guthrie's anthemic "This Land Is Your Land" -- brought Sones de Mexico its first-ever Latin Grammy nomination and then its first Grammy nomination. Though the band didn't win either prize, the recognition raised its profile.
"It brought us national attention, and we are capitalizing on that," said Juan Dies, the group's manager-producer and guitarist-vocalist. "After toiling for years, trying to get some attention, the Grammy nominations were a seal of approval for us."
Thanks to the Grammy buzz, National Public Radio started playing the band's music. The pioneering label Rykodisc picked up "Esta Tierra Es Tuya" for national distribution, and so the disc now can be ordered through various online retail outlets. And the group found itself playing cities "we'd never been before," Dies said, "such as Little Rock and even Philadelphia."
"We have been drunk in our success, but we're financially trying to stay afloat," Dies said. (Band members hold day jobs to help pay the bills.) Along with Dies, Sones de Mexico Ensemble Chicago (the group's full name) consists of music director Victor Pichardo (strings and winds), Juan Rivera (strings-percussion), Javier Saume (percussion), Lorena Iniguez (winds-percussion) and Zacbe Pichardo (percussion-strings).
This month Sones de Mexico wraps up a strong spring series of local bookings. Tonight it performs a multimedia piece titled "deCoraSON: From the Heart: From Folk to Fusion" at Steppenwolf as part of the theater's annual Traffic Series. And Saturday and Sunday, the group accompanies the Mexican Folkloric Dance Company of Chicago in "The Essence of Mexico" at the Biograph.
For the Steppenwolf program, Sones de Mexico is collaborating with Laura Crotte, a member of the Pilsen-based Teatro Vista. "The Steppenwolf show is really different for us," Dies said. "We wanted to create a theatrical aspect to our music, so we asked Laura to help us to create a staged interpretation. The story is based on Aztec mythology of how the world evolved."
The Biograph program is more of a straight dance performance. "The Mexican Folkloric Dance Company got a new respect for our recordings after our Grammy nominations," Dies said. "Jose Ovalle, the group's director, is paying tribute to us by choreographing their dances to our music. At these concerts, we will play 80 percent of 'Esta Tierra Es Tuya.'
Meanwhile, Sones de Mexico continues to work on its next CD, which will be all children's music. That theme dovetails with the band's mission as a 501(c)3 non-profit group with an emphasis on education.
Sones de Mexico hopes to record a track with kids' music powerhouse Dan Zanes and have the disc out by fall. "That way, it will give us chance to be eligible for the Latin Grammys," Dies said. "Lightning might strike twice." 05/16/08 >> go there
|
| Click Here to go back. |
|
 |
|
|
|
