Harp concert benefits In the Absence of Men

Concert Harpist Luis Ku Sat, Sept 8, 9pm El Viejo Topo Café-Teatro Stirling Dickinson 28 Plaza Pueblito 154-8704

For the past seven months, there has been a project brewing in San Miguel, a documentary film on the lives of family members in rural communities throughout Guanajuato, whose male counterparts have left to find work in El Norte. 

On September 8, renowned musician Luis Ku will offer his unique and beautiful sound in a concert in support of this film, In the Absence of Men, and its parent organization, Reel Futures International. The audience can enjoy the music and learn more about the film. 

Reel Futures International is a US-based nonprofit media organization recently founded by Robin Arutt, who lives in San Miguel, and Kiko Herrera, a filmmaker from Cape Town, South Africa. In the Absence of Men combines expert analyses and interviews about the current causes and climate of migration, with an intimate look at our area’s women and children coming of age in a time when, in some communities, up to 85% of the men have gone. 


Luis Ku, a guitarist and harpist with a background in sociology and anthropology, writes and sings canciones whose influences are the sensualities of life… the smells, tastes and rich human experiences that are commonly shared, but rarely spoken of outside of song or poetry. 


Hailing from Veracruz, Luis Ku not only shares his vision through his music, but is a writer on topics running deep into the roots of Mexico, her indigenous cultures and agricultural heart. 

For more information, visit www.reelfutures.org and http://www.trovamex.com/luisku. 

Guitar players debut

Concert Library guitar workshop Sat, Sept 8, 7pm Teatro Santa Ana Relox 50A Donation

On September 8, students of the Library’s Guitar Workshop, directed by teacher Leobardo Avoites, will have a recital at the Teatro Santa Ana. Some students have attended the workshop for two years. The students will play some Mexican and classical pieces and this will be their first time on the stage. 

Avoites has being teaching guitar for youngsters and adults for over three years for free. As the workshop has no charge for the students, we will ask for donations at the door to buy music stands and notebooks. Come, enjoy and support these young musicians on Saturday evening

Mexican music changed her life
By Jorge Rueda


Concert
Jazzpañol 
Sat, Sept 1, 9pm 
El Viejo Topo Café-Teatro
Stirling Dickinson 28
154-8701 150 pesos

“Her haunting vocals are captivating in any lingua, but her current CD interpreting American jazz classics in Spanish and English reveals a mastery of jazz techniques, with her voice one of the finer featured instruments” (Latino Perspectives Magazine, July 2007). 

Ruth Vichules adores jazz, but Mexican music changed her life. Her passion was sparked when as an undergraduate majoring in music, she visited a fellow student in Guadalajara and heard Mexican and Latin American folk music at a local peña. “I was bowled over by the music.”

She came back to Mexico as a student and has returned almost every year since then to learn more and to sing Mexican music.

Now Vichules is presenting her new CD, Jazzpañol, a sublime production of classic jazz sung in Spanish and English with an intense Mexican flavor. Her music is multicultural and multilingual, proof that beauty combines with beauty. She has a delicious voice, a clear swing, and moves freely between English and Spanish, often during the same song. 

Realizing her dream of presenting her new CD in Mexico, the land of the music that is her passion, the world premier of Jazzpañol will be at the El Viejo Topo Café-Teatro. 

Mexican love songs from “Los Logros”
By Beverly Russell

Concert Los Logros Sat, Sept 8, 5pm St. Paul’s Church Cardo 6

Photo shows Ken McCutcheon-Vaun, Liz Stone and Ron Beakley

Baritone Ken McCutcheon-Vaun and tenor Ron Beakley have only recently formed “Los Logros,” but already they have sung to audiences around San Miguel. For their next appearance, they are joining “Madrigals and More” in a free concert to aid the Santa Julia orphanage. The “Madrigals and More” chorus director, pianist Liz Stone, accompanies the two singers and has been working with them on their repertoire of popular Mexican love songs.

“It’s the sort of music that stays in your mind and you find yourself humming the melody afterward,” said Ken, adding they have learned about a dozen songs by such classic Latin composers as Roberto Cantoral and Augustine Lara and plan to extend their musical program over the next year.

Ken, who has lived in San Miguel 17 years and Ron, who has been here for three years, have a friendship that goes back for almost 50 years, when they first met in Texas. Both have always been interested in music. Ron’s mother was a pianist and he was singing in choirs from the age of six.

Fate has brought them together now and their professional name “Los Logros” (The Achievers) celebrates a sense of unpredictable accomplishment that has come to them at this time in their lives. They are yet another example of the rich musical experience available to residents of San Miguel, with its festivals of chamber music, jazz, tangos, salsas and other multicultural rhythms.

Seven piano pieces open Pro Musica season
By B. K. Lake

Pro Musica Concert

Yaron Kohlberg
Sun, Sept 2, 5pm
St. Pauls Church
Calle Cardo 6
50/150 pesos

Yaron Kohlberg will present a concert of his favorite pieces on September 2, less than a month after winning second prize in the Cleveland Piano Competition, considered one of the make-or-break points in a young musician’s career. A music critic quoted one of the 24 entrants as saying “…If you want concerts in Russia, you enter the Tchaikovsky competition,,,if you want to play in America, you go to Cleveland.”

Kohlberg, 24, the youngest of four finalists, received a $25,000, along with another $1,500 for the best performance of a contemporary work. “I’m happy that I’ve proved myself, but I really hope this competition will open doors,” Kohlberg said. A prize winner in seven other major competitions, Kohlberg has begun performing internationally, but his strong finish in Cleveland was clearly a boost..

The Israeli pianist opens the Pro Musica season at St. Paul’s Church with a program with a program which he thinks “is very balanced and contains some wonderful lyrical pieces and some virtuosic pieces. The program is friendly to all listeners and all pieces are enjoyable.” The program includes Mozart, Chopin, Paul Ben-Haim, Scriabin and Debussy. 

“I chose only pieces that I love myself. The Ben-Haim sonatina, written in 1946, is very light and has wonderful phrases and great rhythm. He is the leading Israeli composer. He doesn’t use terrible dissonance, but only combines Hebrew folk music with special harmonies and a very Israeli taste.”

Tickets at 150 and 50 pesos are available at La Tienda in the Biblioteca, Insurgentes 25; Casa de Papel, Mesones 57; La Conexion, Aldama 3; and St. Paul’s office weekdays from 11am to 2pm; and at the door one hour before concert time. For further details, see promusica.com.