New Festival Comes To Indio March 12

Palm Desert CA

04 March, 2022

4:55 PM

Description

Press release from Luce Group: March 4, 2022 The First Annual Indio Latin Rhythm Festival partners with The Afro Latin Jazz Alliance to present a screening and panel discussion on the HBO feature documentary film FANDANGO AT THE WALL. From executive producers Quincy Jones, Andrew Young, Carlos Santana, producers Kabir Sehgal and Doug Davis, and director Varda Bar-Kar, FANDANGO AT THE WALL follows Multi-Grammy and Latin Grammy Award winner Arturo O'Farrill, Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra founder; and Kabir Sehgal, New York Times bestselling author and Multi-Grammy and Latin Grammy award winning producer; as they prepared to record a live album at the U.S.-Mexico border wall. FANDANGO AT THE WALL stars son jarocho legends Patricio Hidalgo, Ramón Gutiérrez, Wendy Cao Romero, Tacho Utrera, Fernando Guadarrama, Andrés Vega, Martha Vega. It includes special appearances by Regina Carter, Multi-Grammy nominee and MacArthur Foundation Fellow; Douglas Brinkley, CNN Historian; Mandy Gonzalez, who performs in Broadway's Hamilton; The Villalobos Brothers; Rahim AlHaj, Grammy nominee; and Sahba Motallebi. FANDANGO ON THE WALL is inspired by the annual music festival called "Fandango Fronterizo," which unites people in son jarocho's song and dance on both sides of the Tijuana San Diego border. "The Veracruz, Mexico-based music known as son jarocho is a 300-hundred year-old Mexican folk music combining indigenous, Spanish, and African traditions. Fandango Fronterizo organizer, Jorge Francisco Castillo, took O'Farrill and Sehgal on an inspiring journey to Veracruz, Mexico. As they travel to the remotest regions of the Veracruz coast, they meet legendary son jarocho musicians and artisans and recruit them for the upcoming festival. Their travels culminate at the annual border celebration, promoting peace, and celebrating unity. The film introduces the beautiful music of the region through intimate storytelling and captivating concert footage that serves as a powerful reminder of music's ability to bridge cultural barriers. From February 25th to March 10th the film will be available for free viewing at https:// www.eventbrite.com/e/fandango-... tickets-276933745287 An online panel discussion with the filmmakers led by Jim Luce, Executive Producer of The Indio Latin Rhythm Festival and Gabriela Pineault, Director of the Leyenda Ballet Folklorico de Mexico Dance Company will take place on zoom on Thursday March 10, 2022 at 5pm Pacific Time. "We are very excited to bring the rich music, dance, art and food cultures of Mexico and the region home to Indio," said Jim Luce, Executive Producer of The First Annual Indio Latin Rhythm Festival. "To get the word out, and to commemorate the launch of our new festival in November, (Nov 11-13, 2022), we wanted to introduce this important film, a film that has been shown and talked about at museums and educational institutions in major cities around the world, educating and informing while also taking a powerful stand on human relations and border politics, could reach the residents of Coachella Valley and everywhere online." The 2 week project concludes on Saturday night March 12th, 2022 with a live screening of FANDANGO ON THE WALL in downtown Indio at the intersection of Smurr Street and Miles Avenue. "The film is both timely and timeless, as it looks at the issue of immigration between the United States and Mexico. We're thrilled to partner with the Indio Latin Rhythm Festival, which is bringing important music, dance and culture to the Coachella Valley. ," said Kabir Sehgal, a producer of the film. "Jorge Francisco Castillo and the musicians of the Fandango Fronterizo turned a symbol of division -- the border wall -- into a medium for expressing love and community. The elegance and gentleness of this activism here at the San Diego/Tijuana border resonates at borders everywhere. Along the way we discover the things that define us, the values that we all share. We are truly a global family and our film, and the launch of our new latin cultural festival in Indio, delivers that message loud and clear," said Arturo O'Farrill, Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity & Inclusion; Professor; Global Jazz Studies at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, and founder of the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and Artist Director of the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance. FANDANGO AT THE WALL was produced in partnership with the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance (ALJA) and funded in part by the Ford Foundation/Just Films. ALJA is an arts organization that promotes Afro Latin jazz through a comprehensive array of performance and education programs. In addition to producing live music events throughout New York City as well as Arturo O'Farrill's longstanding residency at the famed jazz club Birdland, ALJA maintains a world-class collection of Latin jazz musical scores and recordings. ALJA also produces three renowned education programs, which can be viewed at afrolatinjazz.org. This press release was produced by Luce Group. The views expressed here are the author's own.