Fiesta del Pueblo, Day 2

Too much Fiesta for just one blog post. Here is some coverage from Sunday.



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The Piedmont-based Occoneechee Council of Boy Scouts of America has made it a priority to recruit more Latinos into scouting. To that end, "Scoutreach" coordinators Steve Wilson (pictured, above right), Ricardo Perez and Frank Castillo were on hand at La Fiesta to answer questions from parents and potential scouts. If you would like to volunteer, or would like to have a presentation on scouting at your next group/organization event, contact Ricardo Perez at perezr9@gmail.com or 919-990-2991, Steve Wilson at stevevickiwilson@mindspring.com or 919-606-0871, or Frank Castillo at tfcastillo@gmail.com or 919-621-3434.





As usual, La Fiesta was full of good things to eat and drink (empanadas, pupusas, tacos, and catering by places like Mami Nora's and Carmen's), and the Jim Graham Building took on a bazaar-like atmosphere full of vendors, cultural and outreach booths, artist galleries, youth activities and the Cafe Teatro stage. This is the second year for this new inside/outside space configuration, and I think it works well, offering shelter from the elements and less sprawl. There was a decent crowd watching soccer in the Dorton Arena, which is an interesting architectural space (for some reason, I'd never been inside it before beyond the lobby).

At the outside Main Stage, Sarengue got good reviews although few people were dancing in the early afternoon heat. Sarengue is from Fayetteville; some of their members are retired military. As the name suggests, their sound balances Puerto Rican and Dominican influences. Here's a video of them doing a Roberto Roena classic, "Mi Desengaño":



I spoke with guiro player Abel (handily, they all had their names embroidered on their band shirts) and he said he's rehearsing his own Dominican bachata band. Soon they are getting ready to play out under the name Bachata 01.

Sarengue & friends, please stay in touch!

Honduran headliners Kazzabe had a tropical mix of soca, reggae, punta, salsa...stage show enhanced by dancer "La Gata." Even some El Pueblo volunteers got on stage to demonstrate their punta moves, an example of the Caribbean's rich dance culture.

Here's Kazzabe performing, as "La Gata" demonstrates the value of a properly chosen white accessory:



For me, the best part of La Fiesta is seeing familiar folks and meeting new ones who are working toward common goals of cultural understanding here in the Triangle. I see many of the same volunteers working hard behind the scenes year after year. I couldn't document all the bands, dancers, artists and participants, but it was a rich field full of old friends and new discoveries.

For more information on El Pueblo's year round advocacy programs, visit their website, www.elpueblo.org.

FIESTA Preview & Updates...

It's here, La Fiesta del Pueblo, the largest 2-day Latino festival in the Carolinas. It will take place this Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 29-30, at the NC State Fairgrounds in Raleigh in the same indoor/outdoor exhibition spaces used last year, in and around the Jim Graham Building. Admission is $5, and admission to the soccer tournament in the Dorton Arena will be an additional $2.



Full Stage Schedule for La Fiesta del Pueblo HERE

Headliners include "hurricane" salseros Orquesta GarDel, Peruvian rocker Santino and punta/soca band Kazzabe. I'm working on my preview of the musical highlights, so check back later today!


UPDATE added Friday night:

Buzz: I just got word from an alert tipster that Santino will be backed by Raleigh rockers Wrecking Season. (Thanks, Melinda!) I just checked out their myspace, and that's some sweet rockin' goodness! I can totally hear Santino with this, returning to his hard rocking roots with Peruvian hair band Fragil.



SANTINO performs Saturday 7pm and Sunday 4:30 pm


UPDATE added Sunday am:

Saturday headliners Orquesta GarDel really upped the ante, adding twists to their old arrangements and throwing a bolero into their set for vocalist Nelson Delgado. Pianist/keyboardist Eric Hirsh played around with new synth tones, adding celeste for example to "Boranda" (evoking memories of Charlie Palmieri's Alegre sessions). Some new, killer horn lines with bari sax jumped out at me on charts I've heard repeatedly. That was a real delight. Always giving us something new to listen to. The funk of "Eric's Timba" (still untitled) resounded with the old school dancers; it was great to see el pueblo dancing, mingling and having a good time.





La Tropa de Tierra Caliente--of Durham--have steadily improved their game as well since I saw them at last year's La Ley fest. This techno banda from the "hot regions" of Guerrero and Michoacan runs on valve trombones, synth tuba and aftershave. A male vocal trio harmonizes and bounces in a massive front line with the live brass, sandwiched by sythmeisters and backed by a lonely drumset on the back bandstand. Witness the energy:



With a quieter kind of attention, rapt crowds at the Cafe Teatro devoured the Colombian harp mastery of Pávelid Castañeda Sr., a real find at La Fiesta this year. (Brava to Fiesta programmer Margarita Correa-McAvoy who always manages to add new talent to the roster.)

A transplant to this area from Long Island with his own folk group Los Llaneros, Pávelid currently plays three days a week for afternoon tea at the Umstead in Cary. Pávelid is a long-time music educator and, if I'm not mistaken, the father of another amazing harpist who is making waves in the Latin jazz world: Edmar Castañeda. I heard Edmar play an unforgettable rendition of "Obsesion" with Cándido Camero and a Cuban ensemble led by Sonny Bravo at the NYC Blue Note in 2007. The manzana doesn't fall far from the tree! Pávelid did a one-man arrangement of Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va" (yes, the one made famous by Santana) that filled the senses. Colombian harp is a rare specialty in these parts, here's hoping we will hear him playing out in the Triangle more often.



Until I can get the full name of this 16-year-old musician in the Andean folk group Amerikantu, I'm going to dub him The Charango Kid. [His name is Jacob Cortez.] Big talent. His father Cesar Cortez plays guitar (far left) and the group is led by artist and musician David Sovero (center):



Sunday picks: 12:45 Mariachi Los Galleros, 1:30 Grupo Sarengue, 3:15 Bravo Norteño, 4:15 Kazzabe, 4:30 Santino.

Full Stage Schedule for La Fiesta del Pueblo HERE

Triangle, we got sabor!

Hondurans Play Exhibition Soccer in Cary FRIDAY

WHAT: Carolina Railhawks vs. Club Deportivo Olimpia de Honduras
WHEN: Friday, March 27, 8 pm
WHERE: WakeMed Soccer Park, Cary
COST: $20-$35

First 1000 kids receive free soccer balls, courtesy of Blue Cross/Blue Shield, according to an email from Railhawks President Brian Wellman.

Tickets range from $20 Spectator, $27.50 Premium, and $35 Club seating. Children 3+ years of age require ticketing; under age 3 they can be admitted free with a parent and must share parent's seat.

Box Office: (919) 859-5425

Visit the team website for tickets, directions and full schedule.

La Fiesta: Day Two Highlights

A lot of positive changes to the festival this year: among them, the return of visual artists and real craftspeople, including the epic, mythologizing canvases of painter Cornelio Campos, black-and-white photos by Pulitzer prize-winning documentarian José Galvez, and indigenous beading and thread art. I heard one exhibitor saying, he hopes to set up a working atelier next year, which would be a great expansion of the La Fiesta del Pueblo's educational dimension.

Also in the wholesome improvements category, the best merch this year was at the Compare Foods booth, where people stood in long lines to receive free recycled shopping bags and fresh produce. Besides promoting healthy nutrition, it was an education to non-Caribbeans in unfamiliar tree fruits and root vegetables, from dusky, sweet-smelling tamarindo pods to the hairy, coconut-sized malanga.

Attendance had really picked up on Sunday; looking forward to hearing the figures from El Pueblo once they have them tallied, but it appears to have been a good year.

I talked to one married couple on Saturday, a Puerto Rican in the spiffiest red hat and white sneakers, and his wife who proudly displayed her Panamanian colors on a T-shirt, both glowing with dance sweat.

"We love it. We've been coming here for 15 years!"

I didn't get a chance to ask their names, because the music called them back to the dancefloor. That's our fiesta, I thought, the essence of our Carolina Latin thing.

I had a chance to hear more of Santino on Sunday, when he packed the Cafe Teatro. Notwithstanding his successes in L.A.'s entertainment industry (high-profile placements in film and TV soundtracks), he obviously has his sights set on connecting with more diverse live audiences. No one's got better fundamental skills to do it, but the very uniqueness of his voice makes it hard to imagine a market niche that could hold him.





Like the Peruvian second coming of Freddie Mercury, Santino's voice is too soaring for the processed pablum that dominates commercial Latin pop. His solo sound, a blend of his classic rock roots (Fragil) and Peru's multicultural, indigenous influences, is full of personal conviction, aided by his onstage presence, which was even more unleashed and intense than I've seen it before.



The headliners at the outdoor stage, Los Silver Stars from Honduras, were obviously a hit. They're a young band, with a vivacious dancer who showed off a lot of her punta and dancehall moves. I didn't spend lots of time outside, to fully review this band, but the music was fun, people were dancing, and it was something different for the Fiesta's tropical lineup.

On the other hand, there wasn't much music for salseros on Sunday, and it seemed like fewer folks from the salsa/mambo scene turned out that day as a result. Trio Saludos Compay played a short set (half an hour) inside. Slower son montunos like "El Manisero" were more of a listening affair, while others like (Las Chicas del Can cover) "Juana la Cubana" resulted in a little dancing. The Cubans also gathered for a procession for La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, handing out lyric sheets for her Veneración and carrying a figurine that came from Cuba as someone's family heirloom in the 60s. I also met a couple of Cubans who had just arrived via raft 5 months ago. A doctor and a nurse in Cuba, they are just getting settled in our area, learning English and getting entry-level service jobs at places like Walmart, before they can work on recertification in the medical field.

Food? I tried an arepa and some platano; delicious of course. It was a good Fiesta, congrats to Margarita McAvoy and El Pueblo for keeping it real, diverse and on message.