This Sunday the MAC will host Sones de Mexico, a wonderful Grammy nominated traditional Mexican folk ensemble from Chicago. The 3PM concert will be authentic and musically engaging; however, the truly exciting music has been happening out in West Chicago.
Last winter Sones member and ethnomusicologist Juan Diez provided an artist residency at West Chicago schools teaching students about Corridos - a traditional Mexican folk song which celebrates a tragic event or hero. The students embraced Juan and the tradition; by the spring each participant had composed their own corrido. Next, the students worked with Javier Chavira creating a print to illustrate each story. Juan concluded the residency with a performance at an after school assembly and presenting each student with a recording and print of their work.
The project which was generously funded by the DuPage Community Foundation was enormously fun and culminated this week with Juan teaching a group of West Chicago teachers how they could replicate song writing project in their own classrooms. I thank Juan, Javier, and Janey Sarther the MAC's Education and Community Engagement Coordinator for engaging the kids of DuPage County.
The kids work will be displayed in the MAC lobby during the Sones de Mexico concert and Juan will perform a couple of the Corridos at the beginning of the performance - Sunday, Oct 4 - 3PM.
be well
Stephen
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