News Release
October 2003
(Bethlehem, Pennsylvania)— Sones De México,
a Mexican Folk music ensemble, will perform at Moravian College on
Wednesday, November 19 at 7:30 p.m. in Foy Concert Hall. Sones De México
has established itself as Chicago’s premier Mexican folk music
group. Using over 25 folk string, percussion, and wind instruments,
four-part vocal arrangements, and acrobatic dance demonstrations to
captivate audiences, this ensemble aims to recreate the atmosphere
of a traditional fandango or dance fiesta, where the most vibrant,
lively, and happy sones are played and danced until sunrise.
Sones De México will treat the audience to son, a rich and
invigorating Mexican music tradition, as well as its regional styles:
huapango, gustos, chilenas, son jarocho, and the roots of mariachi
music. The music connects son to the diverse ethnic roots of Mexico’s
mestizo culture: Native American, Spanish, and the often-overlooked
influence of Black music in Mexico.
This group travels throughout 12 states giving
concerts, doing studio work and film scoring, leading educational
programs, collaborating
with various Mexican folkloric ballets and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
and touring Chicago’s Mexican neighborhoods. Sones De México
also performs a special program for children that includes audience
participation, a masked dance, lessons about Aztec cosmology, the ecosystem,
musical concepts such as tempo and polyrhythms, and the most famous
Mexican son, “La Bamba.”
Sones De México is made up of five members, including director
Victor Pichardo, former leader of Mexico’s progressive son ensemble
Zazhil and the late folk singer Amparo Ochoa; René Cardoza,
dancer and musician; Juan Díes, ethnomusicologist and Director
of Community Outreach at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music;
Renato Cerón, multi-instrumentalist; and Hermo Contreras, former
member of Chicago’s Cuerdas Clásicas.
Its 2002 CD release, Fandango on 18th Street,
features an all-acoustic parade of music and dance styles from around
the country. Its 1996
CD Release, ¡Que Florezca! (Let It Bloom), features Mexican music
explored through the Aztec legend about the origin of the world and
the finding of self, the passing through of four musical worlds: Concheros,
Huapango, Mariachi, and Negritud, and the looking into of Native, Spanish,
and African ethnic roots of Mexican music.
Foy Concert Hall is located on the Priscilla Payne Hurd Campus, Main
and Church Streets, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Admission is just $12
for adults and $6 for students, senior citizens, and children (12 and
under). For more information, contact the Music Department at 610-861-1650
or visit www.moravian.edu.
