GlobalFest and GospelFest

GlobalFest and GospelFest

If there is some connection between music from Cuba, music from Mexico, and music rooted in traditional black gospel, leave it to the South Miami Dade Cultural Arts Center to explore it. With so many events taking place at various venues all year long, it is easy to minimize the myriad cultural contributions made by a treasure like the SMDCAC, where bending genres occurs naturally and seemingly performed weekly.

For example, on Saturday February 24, Orkesta Mendoza and Las Cafeteras will get together and obliterate boundaries. This destruction needs clarification which the promo materials do best:
The infectious indie mambo band Orkesta Mendoza mix a multitude of Latin styles like cumbia, merengue and ranchera through a psychedelic mambo and post-punk prism, creating a truly one of-a-kind sound. Bandleader, keyboardist, guitarist and vocalist Sergio Mendoza (who has long collaborated with Calexico and Devotchka) leads a powerhouse band fronted by the rich baritone of vocalist and dancer Salvador Duran, and framed by guitar, keyboard, percussion, drums and brass. Alternative Chicano band Las Cafeteras recreate traditional Afro-Caribbean Son Jarocho music in a wildly vibrant style. Their rousing socially conscious messages, in English and Spanglish, tell stories of a community that is looking for love and fighting for justice in the concrete jungle of East LA. The band is accompanied by instruments including jarana and requinto guitars, a donkey jawbone and a tarima, a wooden platform for dancing.

In a world where discussions about borders routinely trigger insufferable disagreement, here we have two bands often stereotypically near the center of such simplifications taking their instruments and swinging at the walls like Peter Townsend meeting Babe Ruth. There need not be any drama about whether traditions must be maintained or some particular style must purely be adhered to. Pedants will argue that certain musical principles must be respected, and while there are always lines which we place arbitrarily and think we had better never cross them, then the opera Tommy comes along, or Hamilton, or hip hop, or Weird Al, or Hector Lavoe, or Jimi Hendrix, or David Bowie, or the Clash, or Johnnie Wilder Jr.

Not long ago, I rediscovered Mr. Wilder, former lead singer of Heatwave, who long since distanced from Always and Forever, had become a Christian gospel singer. Though overplayed wedding songs are a mile from heaven, Wilder’s Thank You, Jesus and One More Day propel acappella to a place just below it. Such African-American gospel music, simply put, reflects the church’s soul and funk. For those eager to slow drag with God, SMDCAC features GospelFest on Sunday February 25. The Jones Family Singers from tiny Markham Texas headline the event which also features local talent.

Some say Blues legend Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads of Mississippi highways 61 and 49. Today we look at intersections differently. Two chances to check this out occur on a February weekend near 211 and 112.


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