Tag Archives: Mexico

The 25th Anniversary of the Tambuco Percussion Ensemble in México City

12 Wednesday Dec 2018

Posted by in Carlos Chavez, Colombia, Composers, Contemporary Music, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Japan, LA International New Music Festival, Latin Grammy Awards, Mexico, Tambuco Percussion Ensemble, Uncategorized, William Kraft

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Tambuco celebrates 25 years, with guest pianist Ana Gabriela Fernández.

“The spirit of percussion opens everything, even what was, so to speak, completely closed.” – John Cage

Ricardo Gallardo and I have been partners in new music projects for a long time. We got started because of an introduction by American icon William Kraft, have received four Grammy nominations for our collaborative CD recordings, Southwest Chamber Music toured México multiple times, at UNAM and in Guadalajara, Tambuco has come to Los Angeles multiple times, to both Herbert Zipper Hall at the Colburn School and REDCAT in Walt Disney Concert Hall.

We’ve even tracked each other down in Japan!

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The Markets of Mérida and Valladolid with a Glass of Xtabentún

11 Tuesday Apr 2017

Posted by in Chichen Itza, Cobá, Food, Merida, Mexico, Music, Paseo de Montejo, Travel, Tulum, Uncategorized, Uxmal, Valladolid, Yucatan

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Happy to meet the owner of Pescaderia La Tempesta in Mérida.

“…poor México, poor United States, so far from God, so near to each other.” Carlos Fuentes The Crystal Frontier

“Hola, amigo gringo!” The friendly fishmonger of Pescaderia La Tempesta looked at me kindly as I was admiring his catch of the day at the Mercado Lucas de Gálvez in downtown Mérida, the capitol city of the Mayan Yucatan.

“I’ll hire gringo immigrants when La Naranja finally drives you loco! Come here, put on an apron and visit my shop.” Little did my new friend know that I’d grown up in a white apron, working for my parents in our family restaurant. I was not a fish out of water.

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Mérida and the Paseo de Montejo, the Champs Élysées of México

16 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by in Chichen Itza, Cobá, Merida, Mexico, Paseo de Montejo, Uncategorized, Uxmal, Valladolid, Yucatan

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The vivid color pallette of Mérida is easy to see.

There is something about walking quietly on the streets of México that captures and holds my heart. The distressed walls or new vivid colors take me away from the pervasive black and white world of North American function. The smell of corn masa tortillas and frying pork lard seem to permeate the country. I hear music everywhere.

“Once you have the dust of México on your clothes, it will never come off,” was a proverb my uncle gave to me as a young child. And so my walks in México help me contact his angelic presence.

But maybe it is the sleeping sense of history that made me fall in love with México.

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In the Land of the Jaguar: My Mayan Diary of the Yucatán

22 Wednesday Feb 2017

Posted by in Chichen Itza, Contemporary Music, Gabriela Ortiz, LA International New Music Festival, Mexico, Music, Sian Ka'an, Tambuco Percussion Ensemble, Tulum, Uncategorized, Uxmal, Yucatan

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The Pyramid of Kulkulkan at Chichén Itzá.

“Trust me, you will find your life divided,” predicted my best friend Ricardo Gallardo, director of the Tambuco Percussion Ensemble in México City. “There will be your life before the Yucatán, and then your life after the Yucatán.”

And Ricardo was right. After experiencing the vanished myths blending with the contemporary reality of the Maya Empire for the first time, a world that still spreads itself from Chiapas and the Yucatán Peninsula in México south to Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador in Central America, I am forever changed.

A visit to the birthplace of the sky? You can find it in the Yucatán.

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The Blue & Red Houses of Frida Kahlo & Leon Trotsky

17 Thursday Sep 2015

Posted by in Carlos Chavez, Carlos Fuentes, Contemporary Music, Coyoacan, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Gabriela Ortiz, Hanoi, Leon Trotsky, Vu Nhat Tan

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La Casa Azul in Coyoacan of Kahlo and Rivera.

La Casa Azul in Coyoacan of Kahlo and Rivera.

I’m very much in two worlds simultaneously right now. I’ve recently returned from an amazing week in Coyoacan with Gabriela Ortiz, following up with her and other friends in Mexico City on the success of our Los Angeles International New Music Festival this past July and planning next steps for the future. At the same time I’m also wrapping my head around my new post as artistic advisor to the Hanoi Philharmonic Orchestra and planning the first concerts of the Hanoi New Music Ensemble (probably its working title for now).

Glad to be based in Los Angeles, where the question for dinner can easily boil down to pho noodle soup? Or tacos?

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A 2015 LA International New Music Festival Photo Album

31 Friday Jul 2015

Posted by in Composers, Contemporary Music, Elliott Carter, Gabriela Ortiz, Japan, LA International New Music Festival, Laura Mercado-Wright, Los Angeles, Mexico, Music, REDCAT, Southwest Chamber Music, Tambuco Percussion Ensemble, Toshio Hosokawa, Vietnam, Walt Disney Concert Hall

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A good reason for smiles with Tambuco at REDCAT.

A good reason for smiles from Jan Karlin and Tambuco at REDCAT.

My friend Ricardo Gallardo, director of the magnificent Tambuco Percussion Ensemble of Mexico City, said it best at the conclusion of our third Los Angeles International New Music Festival. “We are just getting started!” 17 composers from Mexico, Japan, Vietnam, Cuba, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Brazil and the United States in 23 works in 5 concerts performed by 45 musicians at REDCAT in Walt Disney Concert Hall played to over 1,000 appreciative audience members. Let’s not leave out 10 U.S. premieres and 5 here on the West Coast, as well as hosting composers Gabriela Ortiz from Mexico and Leopoldo Novoa of Colombia.

We have some exciting photos so let’s take a look at the concerts and the people who made this a not to be forgotten festival.

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“Gabriela! Gabriela! Gabriela!” A Latin Grammy Keepsake

08 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by in Composers, Contemporary Music, Food, LA International New Music Festival, Latin Grammy Awards, Mexico, Southwest Chamber Music, Travel, Uncategorized

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Latin Grammy 2013 in Las Vegas.

Latin Grammy 2013 in Las Vegas.

My recent posts have spent a lot of time with Asia and tea, but I want this new post from the Latin side of my LA life. I’ve got a strong readership in Mexico and Brazil. In fact all of South America except Uruguay and Paraguay follows my blog.

And a trip to Latin Grammy events will be a great reconnecting point for us all. There’s lots to tell and so I’ll get started with this hymn to two of my favorite people: my wife Jan Karlin and composer Gabriela Ortiz.

They made quite a combo at Latin Grammy!

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From Menudo to Copland: My Road to Carlos Chávez

18 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by in Carlos Chavez, Composers, Contemporary Music, Food, LA International New Music Festival, Latin Grammy Awards, Mexico, Music, Southwest Chamber Music, Travel, Uncategorized

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The magical city of Taxco.

The magical city of Taxco.

In 27 years directing Southwest Chamber Music the two questions I’ve received with the most frequency are “How to you decide on your concert programs?” and “How did you learn about the music of Carlos Chávez?” Some recent posts have offered clues to the answer of the first question and it needs the more complicated response of the two questions.

But to answer the question about Carlos Chávez is not so difficult. And I’m old enough now to enjoy the memories that make the answer delicious.

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This Never Gets Old: Latin Grammy Awards with Gabriela Ortiz Next Week!

13 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by in Composers, Contemporary Music, Food, LA International New Music Festival, Latin Grammy Awards, Mexico, Music, Southwest Chamber Music, Travel, Uncategorized

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At the 2010 Latin Grammy Awards.

At the 2010 Latin Grammy Awards.

“Some people wouldn’t know a good piece of music if it walked up and bit ’em in the ass” – Frank Zappa.

There are times in life when you need to shine your shoes. Find a tuxedo and stay up way past your bedtime. I’m getting stoked thinking about leaving next week for Las Vegas and our 9th trip to the Grammy Awards. Zappa’s motto quoted above applies to life events as well. You’ve got to show up.

If being nominated for a Grammy Award gets old, you’ve got problems…

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