Music

RAICES, RUTAS Y RITMOS: The influence of Latin American Music in North Carolina presented a series of concerts featuring individuals documented in the work of Roderico Yool Diaz who created a photo exhibit focusing on the important role Latino/a/x communities have played in the shaping of North Carolina's cultural footprint.

For the opening of the exhibit on April 19, 2022, Larry Bellorín, Sophia Enríquez, and Joe Troop provided live music, with dancing by. Pedro Reyes, a member of the Aztec dancing group Danza Guerreros Quetzalcoatl, also performed.

Sponsored by the TDE Arts Fund and in partnership with Artist Studio Project.

Larry Bellorín and Joe Troop

Aztec dancer Pedro Reyes

Raices Rutas y Ritmos en concierto poster

Collage of photos of students, dancers, and concert

On Nov. 12, 2022, the first Raíces, Rutas y Ritmos concert was held in the Richard White Lecture Hall on Duke's East Campus. Taking part were musicians Alto Calibre, Gaby Marcano, Laura Gonzqui, María González, Mario Yaxon (Kamikal), Wesley Nóog, Renzo Ortega, and Lionel Sanders, with dancing by the Aztec dance group. Each musician was introduced by students in the Service-Learning course Spanish 313 “Bridging Cultures, Latino Lives and Experiences in NC.” This course, taught by Senior Lecturer Bethzaida Fernández, received a grant from the Duke Office of Durham & Community Affairs in collaboration with Professor Miguel Rojas Sotelo and Rafael A. Osuba. Fernández’s students in Spanish 313 interviewed the different artists, all immigrants from Latin America.

This event was made possible by: Duke Office of Durham & Community Affairs, Romance Studies and the Spanish Language Program, Spanish 313, The Duke Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and the Artist Studio Project.

poster for Raices Rutas y Ritmos Concert 2

A second concert was held on April 8, 2023, on the Golden Belt Campus featuring Alexandra Maria Landeros (East L.A./Mexico), Caribe Vibe (Puerto Rico), Cindy & Heber Tixe ( Peru ), Trio Huasteco (México), Trio Juvenil Huasteco (México).

The third concert moved to Durham's Central Park on June 2, 2023 and was simulcast on WNCU, 90.7FM, as part of the Playlist Concert Series. In addition to the music, there was a mix of local food trucks, craft beer and other artisan vendors, as well as non-profit partners to round out the whole PLAYlist experience.

With these concerts Raíces, Rutas y Ritmos intends to share how music is at the center of the way migrant communities adapt to new life conditions, maintain relationships with their places of origin, navigate shifting social circumstances, and cultivate and share new ideas of home and belonging. The concert is designed using roots, routes, and rhythms as driving concepts. A time/space travel via sound, music, and dance (all embodied practices). A mix of genres, languages, bodies, and stories celebrating the roots, routes, and rhythms of Latin American migrants in North Carolina.

Miguel Rojas-Sotelo, Curator