Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center Announces
the 2001 Cuatro Maestros Touring Festival—July 23 - August 5, 2001 throughout California -
Sponsored by the California Arts Council
"Cuatro Maestros" is a music and dance festival which will tour California in July and August. Four elder folk artists representing their respective Mexican and Mexican-American regional traditions, accompanied by members of their groups as well as the youth group Los Cenzontles (The Mockingbirds), will present two hours of music and dance.
The Cuatro Maestro Touring Festival presents the diversity, strength and quality of traditional Mexican and Mexican-American music and dance. It recognizes the historical ties that bind California with Mexico and celebrates the cultural contributions by Californians of Mexican descent. These artists will offer California audiences more than just a homogenous look at Mexican culture. This tour promises to provide a deeper look into the richness of Mexican and Mexican-American tradition from these Masters who are the foremost, and some cases the only remaining, proponents of these traditions in their truest forms. Further, this tour is a unique combination of elder master artists with talented and dedicated young artists.
This Touring Festival is a unique opportunity to learn personally about these rural traditions and the cultures from which they arose as well as celebrate their passing to new generations of artists. Each of the four regional elder masters learned his tradition in a family setting.
The traditions represented are:
Mariachi: Julián Gonzalez- Traditional rural Mariachi of Jalisco. Two violins, guitarron, vihuela and dancers.
Pirecuas: Atilano López - Traditional Pirekuas and sones abajeños of the Purepecha people, Michoacan. Two violins, guitarron, vihuela and dancers. Sung in Spanish and Purepecha.
Jarocho: Andrés Vega Delfin - Traditional sones jarochos of Southern Coastal Veracruz. Accompanied by world renown group Mono Blanco. Guitarra de son, harp, jarana and zapateado dance.
Tejano: Santiago Jiménez Jr. - Traditional Tex-Mex music. Accordion, bajo sesto, vocals and dancers.
The Cuatro Maestros Touring Festival coincides with the release of the Cuatro Maestros CD on LCMAC Records.
Tour Venues:
CSU Sacramento-July 26
Arte Americas, Fresno- July 27
Grand Performances, Los Angeles- July 29
CSU Monterey-Aug 2-3
Mexican Heritage Corporation, San Jose-Aug 5
Other dates TBA
Artist Biographies:
Atilano Lopez- Pirecuas, Indigenous Michoacan
Atilano Lopez is a folk artist in the tradition of the Pirecuas and Abajeños of Indigenous Michoacan. He was born in the pueblo of Jaracuaro in the region of La Custre Lago de Pascuaro, municipality of Erongaricuaro, in the state of Michoacan. He began to dance at the age of 10 in the Danza de los Viejitos in which his father was the director. He began to play the vihuela (a five course strummed guitar) at the age of 17 and the violin at 22. He learned from his father. He is also a composer of Pirekuas and abajeños, the traditional musical forms of Indigenous Michoacan. Sr. Lopez and his conjunto were featured on the recording 'Pure Purepecha' released on Corason records.
Julián Gonzalez - Traditional rural Mariachi
Julián Gonzalez, born Jan 16, 1935, in Camichines, Municipality of Juchitlan, Jalisco, raised in a rural hacienda. He plays violin, sings and dances. He learned the music from his father and the music elders of the ranch in an environment of the parties which followed long harvests in the cane fields. In his youth he belonged to Mariachi Santillán and later with Real Tocolotlan. In Mexico, he worked as a jinete, or cowboy. In 1997 he, along with other rural musicians formed Mariachi Los Centenarios in order to compete in the 5th Encuentro Mundial de Mariachi, Guadalajara, Mex. There they took 2nd place in the category of the traditional mariachi, which plays without trumpets, a modern addition to the mariachi. With Los Centenarios he recorded a cassette entitled Amapolita Morada. He was recently awarded a grant with the California Folk & Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program by ACTA to work with members of Los Cenzontles.
Andrés Vega Delfin - Son Jarocho of Southern Coastal Veracruz
Don Andrés Vega is a 70 year old rural musician from Boca de San Miguel, Veracruz. He learned from his father Mario Vega and has 10 children, all of whom are musicians or dancers. He has been an integral member of the internationally acclaimed group Mono Blanco, the leading proponent of the son jarocho, the traditional music and dance of rural southern Veracruz, Mexico, since 1980. With Mono Blanco, Sr. Vega has performed worldwide including tours to Asia, Europe, Central America and throughout North America. Many folklorist regard him as the leading requintero of the rural tradition. He also plays jarana, sings and dances.
Santiago Jimenez Jr. - Conjunto Tejano
Santiago Jimenez Jr. plays accordion and sings very much in the tradition of his late father Santiago Jimenez who was a pioneer Tex-Mex musician in San Antonio from the 1930's into the 1950's. This music, popular in the Texas-Mexican community since the late 1940's, is South Texas dance music which replaced various regional orchestras and string ensembles at street dances, in bars, ballrooms, and at community functions of all kinds. Santiago Jr. grew up not only in the shadow of his popular and well liked father, but also of his older and now internationally famous brother, Leonardo "Flaco" Jimenez. Santiago Jimenez Jr. has traveled to Europe, Canada and appeared at folk festivals and clubs all over the USA. He has recorded numerous cassettes, LPs and CDs for Arhoolie Records.
Los Cenzontles
Los Cenzontles (The Mockingbirds) are young musicians and dancers from Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center, San Pablo, CA. The group, under the director of Eugene Rodriguez and a host of Master folk artists, have assimilated the artistic aesthetic of rural folk music in a manner that is unique. The group, born of a 1989 CAC Artist in Residency, has recorded nine CDs. Artists with whom they have studied, performed or recorded include Lalo Guerrero, Grupo Mono Blanco, Atilano Lopez, Julian Gonzales, Flaco Jimenez, Santiago Jimenez Jr., Yolanda del Rio, Manuel Barrueco and Los Lobos The group performs regularly at festivals, schools and concerts. They have toured to Chicago IL, San Antonio TX, Ogden, Utah, and have been invited to perform this year in Columbus, Ohio, and Kansas City, Missouri. . Los Cenzontles performed for
audiences that exceeded 48,000 in attendance this past year not including their many television and radio appearances.
Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center is a non-profit organization with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Threshold Foundation, the Fund for Folk Culture, the Kaiser Permanente Foundation, the Mechanics Bank, the City of Richmond and the City of San Pablo.
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