Women’s Day Commemoration Concert
On March 1st, Orquesta Northwest held a special concert honoring the strength, resilience, and legacy of women through music and art.
The Women’s Day Commemoration concert featured the Mariachi Estrellas del Norte, Ballard Civic Orchestra, and Documentary Voces del Alma: Poetry, migration, and identity. The event was held at the National Nordic Museum in Seattle, Washington. Admission was free for all thanks to the generous support of 4Culture.
Traditional tamales were offered to attendees to enjoy while they shared in a meaningful celebration of culture, community, and artistic expression.
The night began with Mariachi Estrellas del Norte performing five different songs, directed by Izchel Chacon and Noah Zeichner. The songs performed were:
El Caballito
Ya lo se
Hermoso Carino
Los Laureles
El Rey
This group is a project of Orquesta Northwest, created in partnership with Ingraham High School and Seattle Public Schools, the group provides a welcoming space for students of all musical backgrounds including many who are picking up an instrument for the very first time.
The program was followed by Orquesta’s own Paula Madrigal, conducting the Ballard Civic Orchestra through a series of concerts:
Fanny Mendelssohn – Overture in C
Max Bruch – Concierto para violín, Movimientos I y II
Solista: Brienne Quiroz Schug
Dmitri Shostakovich – Concierto para violonchelo n.º 1, Movimiento I
Solista: Julia Shpigelman
The program continued with Shanti Seidel Molina who performed a latin poem and a symphonic poem titled, Buscando Campo. Molina highlights her work on youtube and provides some background in the following excerpt:
“Buscando Campo is a symphonic poem based on traditional elements found in folk music from the east region of Mexico. Although the composer was born in the opposite side of Mexico, the rich musical tradition of the state of Veracruz and the region of "El Sotavento" left a powerful imprint in Seidel's musical interests. Inspired by the rich traditional elements from the music of Veracruz, a state on the Gulf of Mexico, Shanti found the musical flavors to express the missing elements from her otherwise very European-centered musical upbringing. This symphonic poem merges standard elements of the song, a style of music that evolved in the center and south of Mexico and is known for mixing indigenous themes and instruments, African rhythms, with Spanish-brought string instruments like the vihuela. The "son jarocho", the specific son of the state of Veracruz, mixes dance, poetry and music using instruments like the jaranas, requinto, quijada de burro (donkey jaw), cajon, arpa jarocha (jarocha harp), the violin, a well as the rhythmic and percussive sounds from the dancers, and the voice of the singers. The singers usually follow metric rules to speak about the common happenings of their surroundings; known or improvised, the poems speak of love, nature, and local folktales. Much of this music is used in celebration during the "Fandangos", parties that usually include the whole town which serve as the beginning of a musical education of the region.
-Shanti Seidel Molina, Youtube
Tamales were also given out at the event and served as an intermission for the audience.
Finally the show concluded with a documentary: Voces del Alma: Poesia, Migracion, e Identidad. The documentary follows a diverse group of migrants and Spanish speakers in Washington who began writing and reading poetry for the first time. Amid isolation and homesickness, poetry became a refuge, a mirror, and a bridge to others. A radio host narrates this transformative experience.
Before the showing, the director Julieta Altamirano-Crosby and Consulate Victor Hugo shared a few words with the audience.
You can watch the live performances and documentary on the Orquest Northwest Facebook page. You can also read more about the event through this article at the Latino Herald written by Marines Scaramazza.