Tribute to Brazilian composers with Magos Herrera (Mar 17, 2006)

Considered to have one of the most beautiful voices in the contemporary music scene in Mexico, Magos Herrera began her musical career while in Italy in 1988, where she performed her own music in festivals and theaters. After that trip, she moved to Los Angeles, where she studied at the Musicians Institute of Technology (MIT).

She continued her studies with the opera maestro Konstantin Jadan and went on to study jazz composition and harmony at the New England Conservatory in Boston and voice improvization at the Mannes Conservatory in New York. 

Magos has performed in venues all over Mexico, as well as in important festivals such as the Festival of the Historic Center in Mexico City and in New York at the Lincoln Center, Makor and the Queens Festival. In Boston she has performed at the Ryles Jazz Club and Berklee College. She has also performed in Los Angeles, New Orleans, Denver, Spain and Japan.

Magos presents a tribute to Brazilian composers, accompanied by the trio "San Miguel Jazz Cats" with Ken Basman on guitar, Antonio Lozoya on bass and Victor Monterrubio on drums.

Magos Herrera concert
Wednesday, March 22, 7pm
Teatro Angela Peralta
150/100/80 pesos

Seashells of flame weave spells again

Visualizations of spirit power have been produced as engravings of striated marks, radiating strokes, arcs and crosshatching for thousands of years. Materials such as animal vertebrae, incised seed pods and quartzite constitute native sign systems suggestive of tactile affiliations with spirituality.

Profiles of skulls, carnivores and supernatural patrons of the hunt have appeared in Mexico before important rituals connected with cycles of the planets and seasons since Paleolithic times. Caracol de Fuego (Conch of Fire), one of Mexico's premier pre-Hispanic and ethnofusion orchestras, decorates their instruments with motifs capable of expressing the transition between worlds, supernatural beings, synergies of birth and afterlife as the basis for shamanic healing and ritual. These beliefs are still fundamental precepts for animism and totemism among native clans in Latin America today.

For more than a decade, Caracol de Fuego has been bringing its unique ethnic and pre-Hispanic music to festivals, concert halls and ceremonies throughout the state of Guanajuato and Mexico. The musicians, who manufacture their own instruments, are involved as teachers in government-funded programs that reach out to the Mexican community through music, dance and traditions of their elders. The revitalization of pre-Hispanic culture and its reintegration into the fabric of modern Mexico is very much a part of a changing perspective, and new importance is being placed on the preservation of native customs everywhere. Caracol de Fuego uses instruments from pre-Columbian cultures, not to simulate the music of the past, of which we have no written record, but to combine these sounds in an artistic expression that is appropriate to our time. 

Their concerts present an integration of more than 30 different textures, some dating back over 8,000 years, in the manner of a classical suite. Through the use of dynamics, intense energy and spirituality, these musicians lift and transport audiences into a world of freshness, sounds of natural forces, rhythm and scents of copal. They perform in the traditional dress of Aztec artists. This special performance, timed for the advent of spring, is for everyone, adults and children alike, and will add to the color and pageantry of this special time.

Caracol de Fuego, Concert of pre-Hispanic and ethnofusion music
Saturday, March 18, 8pm
Angela Peralta Theater
Cnr Mesones & Hernández Macías
60/30/20 pesos, tickets now on sale at box office

Piano recital with the voice of Birgit Peña and Enrique Prado on piano Friday, March 17, 7:30pm Miguel Malo auditórium BellasArtes Hernández Macías 75 50 pesos

Singing for CEREKA

The choral group Madrigals and More gives a free concert at St. Paul's Church and welcomes donations to CEREKA (the Center of Rehabilitation and Applied Kinesiology).

The concert includes a wide selection of songs from Spain, the British Isles, Germany and the United States. The chorus sings in German, Latin, Spanish, Hebrew and English. 

Madrigals and More is an outgrowth of Las Madrigalistas de San Miguel, who will sing madrigals in several languages from the Renaissance to the 20th century.

The chorus meets weekly at the home of Liz Stone, its director. (To join the chorus, call 154-8239.) Musical growth and singing are the goals of the group. This is their first formal concert. One of the group, Jorge Delgado, is president of CEREKA. We hope that this concert will benefit this organization, which helps San Miguel residents suffering from problems that can be aided by physical therapy.

Dorothy González Rojas is the founder and heart of CEREKA. Over 15 years ago she began teaching students how to "touch for health." The students were so encouraged by the possibilities of the method that they began bringing children with them to be helped. Word of mouth spread quickly, and soon a clinic came into existence. 

The clinic trains mothers in the methods and exercises so that a consistent therapy program can be followed. A second clinic has recently opened in Dolores Hidalgo, receiving referrals from an orthopedist at the general hospital. 

CEREKA needs a steady source of funds to maintain its programs. Madrigals and More hopes that donations from the concert will help.

Madrigals and More, benefit Concert
Sunday, March 19, 5pm
St. Paul's Church, Cardo 6
Free; donations welcome