Durham Academy Fiesta Latina FRIDAY (10/28)

UNC Charanga Carolina and Colombian harpist Pavelid Castañeda will headline once again this year at Durham Academy's Fiesta Latina. The PUBLIC IS INVITED to attend this free festival in honor of Hispanic Heritage month. Live music and dance program runs from 7:30-10:00 pm, and food trucks will be selling food out front from 6:30 pm on. Location: Brumley Performing Arts Building at Durham Academy Lower School, 3501 Ridge Rd (corner of Pickett), Durham. Admission: FREE.

Charanga Carolina has exciting news; its studio album La Familia has hit the streets. The CD represents a milestone for the collaborative student/community ensemble, founded c. 2003 by Dr. David F. García. The 11 tracks, which include homages to Los Van Van, Arsenio Rodriguez, La Sonora Ponceña, Eddie Palmieri, Ray Barretto and Tito Puente, can be sampled at the Charanga's revernation page. To purchase the CD, for a $12 donation to UNC's Department of Music, send your check and return address to: David Garcia, UNC Department of Music, Hill Hall CB#3320, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-3320.


Charanga Carolina at this time last year--October 2010

This year, Charanga alum Andy Kleindienst has taken over direction of the group. The ensemble's first public performance was a few weeks ago, so this semester's new recruits should be pretty warmed up for the DA concert.


Andy Kleindienst playing trombone with Orquesta GarDel in August

I last saw Pavelid Castañeda a few weeks ago at a private concert at UNC for the university's Board of Visitors. He was part of a very exciting program, put together by Lisa Beavers at the Center for the Study of the American South, which brought together 3 local masters of ancient stringed instruments from three distinct global traditions: Pavelid on Latin American folk harp, Naji Hilal on oud, and Diali Cissokho on kora. For the artists, presenters and myself, it was an intense exchange of music and information; future collaborations are already being planned, so keep on the lookout for that!


Pavelid Castañeda @ The ArtsCenter in June 2010

Pavelid always wows audiences with his percussive, rhythmic style and unusual arrangements for harp, ranging from traditional folk music to salsa and rock, and his own fiery compositions. He is about to release an original solo album, currently in co-production with his son, the prominent jazz harpist Edmar Castaneda.

The Durham Academy Fiesta Latina is coordinated annually by Bela Kussin, and realized with the help of many volunteers at the school. It's not only meant for the cultural enrichment of students and staff, but also as a gift for the community at large. Brumley is a beautiful new arts facility, with great auditorium seating as well as room for dancing, which will be encouraged during Charanga's sets. Come out and celebrate Latino culture and the arts in our community!

Salsa & Charanga @ UNC THIS WEEKEND

POST UPDATED 3/26: check out this excellent short documentary about Charanga Carolina by Samantha Lapinsky. The documentary starts at minute 1:16:




_________________


Charanga Carolina, harpist Pavelid Castañeda and Orquesta GarDel are all making appearances at UNC this weekend, at two different concerts happening Friday (3/25) and Saturday (3/26). Both events take place at 7 pm in the Kenan Music Building Rehearsal Hall.



Friday's concert features two sets of dance music by the Charanga, and a solo set by Colombian harpist Pavelid. This benefit for the Scholars' Latino Initiative program has a $7 door.

Saturday's show is a double-bill salsa dance party with Charanga and Orquesta GarDel. Co-sponsor Mambo Dinamico celebrates its 9th anniversary with live dance performances. Door price is $10.

MORE INFO On Facebook, "Charanga Carolina"

As a warmup, here's video of Charanga Carolina's last concert in February. The group combined with the UNC jazz band here, and features special guest Conrad Herwig on trombone:

Back to School

A high school was the last place I thought I'd be dancing to a live charanga band on Friday night. But that was precisely the scene at Durham Academy's Fiesta Latina last week: Young friends and old going back to Salsa Carolina days, moving and grooving to the sounds of Orquesta Broadway and Los Van Van...I had to pinch myself.

This is what happens when you get one Puerto Rican from El Barrio on your board.

That thought makes Bela Kusin smile. Member and former head of the DA Board of Trustees' Diversity Committee, Kusin started out as just another parent whose son attended Durham Academy. But when the Trustees asked her to join, she was eager add her energy and commitment to the school's diversity initiatives.

"It was because the school was so committed to doing something about diversity that I said yes," Bela recalls.


Charanga Carolina plays a tune dedicated to Puerto Rican youth, as bomba dancers approach the drums.

That "something" turned out to be the Fiesta Latina, a community celebration during Hispanic Heritage Month, now in its fourth year.

"It's our gift to the community," Bela says.

Local talent at the free, public event included Colombian trova singer Juan Carlos Echeverri, folkloric dance groups representing Colombia and Puerto Rico, the UNC Charanga Carolina and members of Mambo Dinamico dance company.


Juan Carlos Echeverri dedicated this song celebrating the vital role of singers in every culture to Argentinean folk icon Mercedes Sosa.

But the sensation of the evening had to be Pavelíd Castañeda, just back from France where he performed a dual harp concert together with his son, Edmar Castaneda.

"I've never heard so much music from a harp," opined one listener from Hillsborough.

Pavelíd's harp became an orchestra for dance standards such as "Moliendo Cafe," earning him a standing ovation. One teacher sitting near me closed her eyes and drifted in the rhythm of "Oye Como Va," a faraway smile on her face.

With the Fiesta Latina growing in participation and success each year, Bela is already thinking ahead to make next year's bigger and better.

"I'm not satisfied. I want to pack the house," she says.

Brava. If education takes a village, count me in.

---
Ed. Note: Bela Kusin was misquoted in an earlier version of this story. Onda Carolina regrets the error.

La Unica: CHARANGA CAROLINA

After a 9-month hiatus, Charanga Carolina is BACK, baby. I am pretty sure this is the first time Los Van Van charts have been performed live, by any band, in The Triangle:


[VIDEO] UNC Charanga Carolina directed by David Garcia. Street dancers: Adriana Dwyer and Betto Herrera.

They also performed a lovely, lilting bomba, "Juventud Boricua," and a medley of "Boranda" and "Isla del Encanto." This orchestra has been together for just a matter of weeks, since the beginning of the school year, and the verdict of the old gang from El Barrio was unaminous: tiene swing. This young ensemble laid a solid foundation at Sunday's Festifall in Chapel Hill, with nowhere to go but up.

This year's Charanga has a whole different configuration than it has had before, heavier on the trombones making it just about right for a foray into timba territory. I'm just getting to know the new students, but there are two pianists, Alex Baumgardner and Alex Williams, both with Latin chops. Williams, a UNC freshman (loving it! 4 more years) comes from Atlanta where he played Latin jazz in high school. The violins, about 4 or 5, are turning into a rhythm section; there's also flute and cello.

Best news of all: Next opportunity to hear LA UNICA Charanga Carolina comes already THIS FRIDAY (10/9) at the Fiesta Latina at Durham Academy Upper School (corner/Pickett Rd), 7-9 pm. This diversity outreach/cultural evening is free and open to the public; some Latin American food will be for sale starting at 5:30.

Also on the Fiesta Latina music program: Colombian harpist Pavelid Castañeda who will have just returned from France, where he is currently helping son Edmar select and customize a harp model that will bear his name. Bomba dancers representing the Asociacion de Puertorriqueños Unidos de NC are also expected to perform.

HARP THURSDAYS

7-9 pm: Pavelid @ Dos Taquitos Centro

never enough harp

I just discovered that the musical Castañeda family, masters of the Colombian folk harp, have set down roots right here in the Triangle. Patriarch Pavelid Castañeda Sr. (pictured), the harpist I raved about at La Fiesta this year, makes his home Chapel Hill. (He and his wife moved here from New York in 2006 when one of their sons received a soccer scholarship to Duke.) A full-time musician and music educator, Pavelid wowed Fiesta audiences with his solo take on "Oye Como Va," as well as traditional llanera music of Colombia's eastern plains.

It turns out, I've been listening to the music of Pavelid's children for years, and didn't know it. Johanna Castañeda has sung backup on Jimmy Bosch's great salsa dura albums, and takes center stage on one tune on Jimmy's latest, A Millon!. Johanna, also a folk dancer and a harpist, gigs regularly in the New York area as a cuatro guitarist and vocalist.

Her older sister, Angela Pilar Castañeda, also sings and plays the Venezuelan cuatro professionally. She and her father performed as a duo for over a decade. Now Angela is an active church musician who resides in Florida.

Youngest son Pavelid Jr. played "soccer for Duke and harp for my family," according to his myspace. The Duke '09 grad plays both these days in the New York area, coaching soccer at Nassau Community College and playing harp at a Colombian restaurant.

Meanwhile, eldest son Edmar Castaneda is breaking paradigms with his introduction of the Colombian folk harp to jazz's highest echelons.
Edmar's jaw-dropping live renditions of Latin jazz tunes are the stuff of legend, and Edmar is frequently invited to play with top guns in the Latin and Jazz worlds such as Arturo O'Farrill, Wynton Marsalis, Lila Downs, Candido Camero and Paquito D'Rivera.



Married to Colombian vocalist Andrea Tierra, Edmar will perform with her at 7 pm this Sunday (9/13) in Asheville at the Diana Wortham Theatre. The concert is sponsored by the WNC Jazz Society.

Want to hear the Castañeda magic a little closer to home? Pavelid Sr. plays the Colombian harp weekly for dinner guests at Dos Taquitos Centro in downtown Raleigh, Thursdays from 7-9 pm. He also plays at The Umstead for brunch and afternoon tea several times a month. Catch him while you can; father and son will be travelling to France and Israel together in October and November.