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Post by the Scribe on Apr 6, 2020 23:36:26 GMT
The Cultural Influence of Linda RonstadtBIOGRAPHY
Linda Ronstadt [1946- ]
Linda Ronstadt, once hailed as the “First Lady of Rock,” is a versatile singer who traversed multiple genres en route to massive national success in pop music in the 1970s and ‘80s. Ronstadt was nurtured by her Mexican American family whose musical roots run deep in the Mexican border region of Tucson, Arizona. Ronstadt holds dear the memory of childhood serenades by “The Father of Chicano Rock,” Lalo Guerrero, a close family friend. Ronstadt’s great-aunt Luisa Espinel gained international popularity interpreting Spanish and Mexican song and dance in the 1930’s.
Among the most popular female pop singers, Ronstadt is one of the most influential Chicana musicians ever, as evident in her extensive discography and four-decades long career. Ronstadt moved to L.A. in the late ‘60s with the folk trio The Stone Poneys, earning a Top 20 hit with the song, “Different Drum.” Turning to country-rock, Ronstadt began an illustrious solo career, recording three albums from 1969 to 1971. In 1974, Heart Like a Wheel propelled Ronstadt to national stardom. With signature versions of country-rock and folk-rock songs, the album went double-platinum, reaching number one on the charts. Prisoner in Disguise (1975) and Hasten Down the Wind (1976) both went platinum. In 1977 she released, Simple Dreams, which held the number one spot for five weeks. Soon after came another number one album, the more experimental Living in the U.S.A. The cover story of People Magazine’s October 24, 1977 issue hailed Ronstadt as “interpreter and voice of womanhood amid the din of the male indulgence that is rock 'n' roll. No other songstress in history has had five straight platinum LPs..." During this run Linda Ronstadt became known as the Queen of Rock.
As the Queen of Rock, Ronstadt’s influenced the vocal texture of rock music in the U.S. Her musical repertoire shared an eclectic sensibility that is the driving force of the Chicano rock approach. Ronstadt incorporated rhythm and blues, country and western, gospel singing and opera and infused it with her unique and powerful Mexican-influenced vocal style, blending the broad range of music she heard on the radio as a child growing up on a dusty dessert ranch. Ronstadt herself asserted that the sound of her rock singing was shaped by the legendary Mexican canción ranchera singer and estilo bravío interpreter Lola Bertrán, thus revealing the ways that Mexican musical tradition permeates American music.
In 1987, Ronstadt teamed up with country artists Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris for Trio and released her own traditional Mexican album, Canciones de Mi Padre, championing her Mexican heritage and further proving her cross-genre versatility. While previous generations of Mexican American artists felt compelled to disguise their ethnic roots, Linda Ronstadt had the commercial clout to feature her Latino roots. Canciones de Mi Padre became a smash hit, backed by Mariachi Vargas, one of Mexico’s finest mariachi ensembles. Ronstadt’s Spanish-language records, Más Canciones in 1991 and Frenesí in 1992 broadened the audience for Mexican-inspired music.
The great success of Canciones de Mi Padre was built upon a slim volume by the same title containing Ronstadt's Mexican grandfather’s favorite songs, brought with him to the United States from Sonora, Mexico. Published in 1946 by the University of Arizona and transcribed by Ronstadt's great aunt Luisa, the songs preserve Sonora’s 19th century musical history.
Linda Ronstadt continued to record and perform throughout the ‘90s and into the new millennium and served as the artistic director of the San Jose Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival. Ronstadt is occasionally touring with her one woman speaking show and supporting struggles for human rights in Arizona. As one of the most popular female singers in U.S. pop music history, she is an incredible inspiration to Mexican Americans and living proof of the shaping influence Latinos have had in popular American music.
some basic RONSTADT history:
Federico José María Ronstadt, better known in his later years as Fred Ronstadt, was born in 1868 on the Hacienda Las Delicias near Cananea, Sonora. He spent his childhood in Sonora, moving to Tucson at the age of fourteen to learn the wagon-making trade. In addition to an intelligent, curious, retentive mind and a capacity for hard work, he brought with him a love of all sorts of music. Music seems to have been a feature of the Ronstadt household from the beginning. His daughter Luisa (of whom more later) remembered her father sitting under the grape arbor in the yard on summer evenings, playing his guitar and singing old songs from Sonora. Those songs are part of the family heritage to this day.
Fred Ronstadt's musicianship was not limited to a family context. Around 1899 he and a group of his friends formed the Club Filarmónico de Tucson [photo], one of the city's earliest orchestral groups. Many of the original musical arrangements for the group were written by Fred Ronstadt. Even when the press of business forced him to resign from the orchestra, he found time to play with different groups of friends, and he remained an active and enthusiastic musician to the end of his life.
It is not surprising that this talent and enthusiasm continued as a family tradition. Fred Ronstadt's daughter, Luisa, became an internationally known interpreter of Spanish song and dance in the 1930s, under the name of Luisa Espinel [photo]. His sons William, Alfred, Gilbert and Edward made singing a part of their family activities, and in their turn raised another generation of singing Ronstadts [photo]. The most famous of these is Linda, Gilbert's daughter, but her siblings and cousins in Tucson have performed in private and public for years, putting polished harmonies to a wonderful mixture of folk and popular songs, Mexican and American, old and new. Their children - Fred's great-grandchildren - are now continuing the tradition. In 1994 the Ronstadt family was awarded a Copper Letter from the City of Tucson for keeping the air of our town beautiful with song for well over a hundred years. It isn't often that a city government gets its values that straight.
Canciones de mi Padre In January, 1946, the University of Arizona published its General Bulletin No. 10, a slim volume by Luisa Espinel entitled Canciones de mi Padre - "My Father's Songs." Ms. Espinel's father was Fred Ronstadt, and the songs she had learned, transcribed and published were some of the ones he had brought with him from Sonora. This little book, long out of print, is our baseline for information concerning what people were singing in Sonora in the mid-19th Century. It is our window into a long-vanished world, a way in which we can reach out and touch a past that is relatively close, yet gone forever. Many of the songs still live in the repertoire of Fred Ronstadt's descendants, and I count it a rare privilege and joy to have joined with his son Edward in singing La Ciriaca. It is no wonder that when Fred's grand-daughter Linda Ronstadt put out a record [album cover] of some of the favorites she had learned from her father Gilbert, she called her collection by the same name as this booklet.
Here, then, is a unique family and regional heritage of songs that were sung in the Sonoran desert well over a hundred years ago. Thanks to the Ronstadts for preserving them and for sharing them with us all.
More information and access to a facsimile of the original Canciones de mi Padre book
The author, Jim Griffith, is director of the Southwest Folklore Center at The University of Arizona Library and a practicing musician active on Tucson's Southwest side.
Return to the Ronstadt Family home page www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/ronstadt/ronstadt.html
Published on Jan 18, 2017
Linda Ronstadt - Canciones de mi Padre DVD
Paying tribute to the traditional Mexican music her father taught her as a child, gifted singer Linda Ronstadt teams up with the band Mariachi Vargas to perform memorable ranchera tunes such as "La Rielera," "Por Un Amor" and "El Gusto." Accompanied by talented dancers in sparkling costumes, Ronstadt also treats the audience to renditions of "La Cigarra," "La Barca de Guaymas," "Amorcito Corazon" and "El Caballito."
Act I
1. Opening 2. Los Laureles 3. Por Un Amor 4. La Cigarra 5. La Bamba 6. Hay Unos Ojos 7. Dos Arbolitos 8. La Barca De Guaymas 9. Amorcito Corazon
Act II
10. El Cascabel 11. La Rielera 12. El Adios Del Soldado 13. Yo Soy El Corrido 14. El Gusto 15. El Caballito 16. El Sol Que Tu Eres
Act III
17. El Jarabe Tapatio 18. Y Andale 19. El Crucifijo De Piedra 20. La Charreada 21. Cancion Mixteca 22. Volver, Volver Music "El Crucifijo De Piedra (2016 Remastered)" by Linda Ronstadt Listen ad-free with YouTube Red
LINDA RONSTADT -- LATIN MUSIC USA Linda Ronstadt on the Tucson Mariachi Conference and her mariachi records Published on Mar 16, 2015
The Tucson International Mariachi Conference becomes the site where singer Linda Ronstadt fulfills a childhood dream, and in turn inspires a generation of young mariachi students. Linda Ronstadt shares her story, along with commentary from Becky Montano and Richard Carranza.Just a guess but most likely around the time of Linda's appearance at the Tucson Mariachi Festival...mid 80s give or take a few years either way. Their first congress was in 1982 but I seem to recall a friend telling me he went to her first appearance singing rancheras (4 songs I believe) to less than welcome applause from some. I could have sworn he said mid 80's. There was a sentiment by many in the community that Linda was just cashing in and exploiting the hispanic community by doing this. I ran into several people here in Arizona like that and set them straight pretty quickly. Even the queen of the ranchera, Lola Beltran publicly thanked Linda Ronstadt for saving Mariachi music. At the time the ONLY place one heard that music was at the local flea markets blaring through the loudspeakers. Linda threw it a life preserver and made it a monument to Latino pride and something to be honored if not for its sheer musical beauty. It was also the perfect showcase for a voice like Linda's that allowed it to soar to its limits. I told the naysayers that I had an article from a 1970 Hit Parader where Linda stated she wanted to become the greatest Mexican singer. That always took them aback and changed attitudes very quickly for the positive. One does NOT want to get a complete Ronstadt fan like me irritated lol. That was one of many articles in my first Ronstadt scrapbook that I shared with Linda's parents in 1977. Her mom was especially appreciative and said there were so many articles they hadn't seen before.
tucson.com/news/retrotucson/photos-linda-ronstadt-in-tucson/collection_8a5b4558-6bcd-5f02-8cf1-6c4dd1dc18a1.html#1 Linda Ronstadt singing at Mariachi Espectacular at Tucson Community Center in on May 9, 1986.
A.E. Araiza / Arizona Daily StarA photo from early on with family:
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 6, 2020 23:38:22 GMT
Linda Ronstadt at Los Cenzontles
2011 GIA CONFERENCE: Los Cenzontles
Los Lobos and Linda Ronstadt, Benefit For Los Cenzontles
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 6, 2020 23:40:05 GMT
A Conversation With Dolores Huerta And Linda Ronstadt
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 6, 2020 23:41:48 GMT
Linda Ronstadt - Canciones
Published on Jan 29, 2017
Linda Ronstadt became a cultural icon when she recorded a Spanish album called “Canciones de Mi Padre”, Songs of My Father. She followed that album with another called Mas Canciones. Until then, most of us had not been aware that she was Mexican-American. Listen as Mexican roots reclaim the soul of a rock n’ roll diva.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 6, 2020 23:43:49 GMT
Linda Ronstadt habla de Lola Beltran y Ruben Fuentes
Published on Mar 4, 2010 Linda habla sobre sus idolos Lola Beltrán y Ruben Fuentes durante la sesión fotográfica para su disco Canciones de Mi Padre- El disco más vendido en EEUU de todos los tiempos no cantado en ingles!! Linda talks about her idols Lola Beltrán and Ruben Fuentes into the photographic session of her album Canciones de mi Padre. The best selling non english album in EEUU to date!
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 6, 2020 23:47:14 GMT
Linda Ronstadt - ALMA Trailblazer Award 2008 honoree
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 0:07:04 GMT
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 0:08:55 GMT
INTERVIEW: The Eagles on Linda Ronstadt at The Connaught ...
The Eagles' Glenn Frey inducts Linda Ronstadt into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: His Complete Speech
Linda Ronstadt Narrates 2016 Eagles Tribute
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 0:11:13 GMT
Why Linda Ronstadt Still Matters to TucsonA Tucson music historian reflects on the lasting influence of our city’s most famous musical export
By Daniel Buckley
Linda Ronstadt’s singing days are over but her hometown’s love affair with the storied singer is anything but.
And that love affair goes both ways. She still owns a home in Tucson, keeps in touch with her childhood friends and remains inquisitive about goings-on in her hometown.
Part of Tucson’s attachment to Ronstadt is that she is so much a Tucson girl.
Ronstadt grew up just off Prince Road in a small house next to a massive cottonwood tree, now torn down. It was in her childhood house that, on her second birthday, the father of Chicano music—Lalo Guerrero—awoke her with a birthday serenade. Guerrero was a close friend of her father, Gilbert Ronstadt, who ran the family hardware business downtown.
The Ronstadt family was a musical bunch that shared songs in sibling harmony every night as the dishes were washed and put away. Her dad was an eclectic and tasteful music lover whose well-worn record collection ran the gamut from Nelson Riddle American standards to mariachis and ranchera singers.
As a child, Linda grew up in the musical shadow of her older brother, Peter, who would later become Tucson’s chief of police. Pete was a gifted boy soprano soloist in the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus until one summer when his voice suddenly plunged into the bass-baritone register. But in his Boys Chorus days, Linda was his understudy, learning all of the repertoire he would sing, including the Pirates of Penzance, which she would later record.
She followed Pete into the coffeehouses of Tucson, singing harmony at first and growing stronger in finding her own voice. She attended the University of Arizona, as she says, “for about a minute,” before heading to California to work on being discovered.
Her musical career is one of integrity from beginning to end. She was disciplined and hard-working, with a gift for finding material that fit both her voice and spirit. She surrounded herself with the best talent she could find throughout her career—from the Stone Poneys days, through the times when the Eagles backed her up, and on to American standards with Nelson Riddle, country with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton, and ranchera recordings with Mariachi Vargas, Los Camperos de Nati Cano and the best of that world. She made her voice a vehicle for many of the best songwriters of the day, from Warren Zevon to Jackson Browne, Lowell George, Jimmy Webb, Karla Bonoff and many more.
She brought recording business back to Tucson whenever she could, often laying down vocal tracks and doing mastering in local studios. Ronstadt even recorded one whole album here —The Western Wall, with Emmylou Harris, recorded at the Arizona Inn.
People still talk about seeing her in local coffeehouses as a young girl, or singing “Tumbling Dice” with Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones at the Tucson Convention Center. Her performances of classics from the golden era of mariachi helped the genre gain a second wind, and forced the Tucson International Mariachi Conference to add an extra night to its performances. And at one of those mariachi appearances she showed her love for Lalo Guerrero by acting as the backup singer for the man who serenaded her when she turned 2.
She took a personal interest in fledgling mariachi and ranchera singers from Tucson, including Monica Treviño, and introduced the members of Tucson’s Mariachi Cobre to her vocal coach, after which Cobre set the standard for vocal work for years. And along with giants Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán and Los Camperos de Nati Cano, she turned to Cobre and Tucsonan Gilbert Velez’s group to record with her on her Canciones de Mi Padre and Mas Canciones CDs.
When she began touring with symphony orchestras, singing American standards, Ronstadt turned to Tucson jazz icon Jeff Haskell to write arrangements and often to serve as conductor on the tours. And on a personal note, Linda generously agreed to be on the advisory board on this writer’s film on mariachis in Tucson.
Tucson loves her as much for the person she is as for her musicianship. Courageous, opinionated, outspoken and proud of her roots, she is well read, well informed and ready to get involved in whatever flips her switch.
When SB 1070 was signed, she was among the first rallying to protest at the state Capitol in Phoenix. And on several occasions she went door to door endorsing local candidates for office that she believed in.
When victims of domestic violence in Tucson had nowhere to go to escape, either by themselves or with their children, Ronstadt ponied up the money to build the Casa De Los Niños battered women shelter. Her caring for our city and for those most vulnerable has never ceased.
But no doubt Linda Ronstadt’s greatest connection to her hometown has been the inspiration for every aspiring young singer this city has produced. Every local young belter has a Linda Ronstadt tune in the hip pocket. And every mariachi has a tune or two learned first from Linda Ronstadt.
Daniel Buckley is currently working on his 8th documentary film, The Mariachi Miracle (AKAMariachis Transform Tucson). For more go to www.danielbuckleyarts.com.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 0:13:04 GMT
I was hoping there would be some video released of this tribute concert but nothing yet.Update: The show is sold out.¡Viva La Tradición! 30 Años de "Canciones de Mi Padre" - SOLD OUT
Artists Partnership Series Sat, September 30, 8:00 PM
Presented by Colibrí Entertainment
Some of LA's favorite artists will come together to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Linda Ronstadt’s hit album “Canciones de Mi Padre,” a milestone for Mexican traditional Mariachi music in the United States. The night includes performances by Linda’s niece, solo artist Marisa Ronstadt; Los Angeles’ favorite all-female stringed mariachi, Las Colibrí; the first all-female youth mariachi academy, Las Jovencitas; and Ballet Folklorico Ollín, who will recreate scenes from the original “Canciones de Mi Padre” tour. Host José Armando Ronstadt will add personal insight into the Ronstadt family and legacy, his cousin Linda’s success and how cultural identity took on a new meaning for Mexican-Americans all because of one multiplatinum-selling album.
Concert Celebrating Linda Ronstadt's Landmark Album Canciones De Mi Padre
In 1987, Linda Ronstadt created a global mariachi sensation with her album Canciones De Mi Padre, which was based on the traditional mariachi music of her childhood. The album went on to be the most successful non-English language album in American recording history, selling two and a half million copies in the U.S. alone, picking up a double platinum certification and winning Ronstadt a Grammy Award. In Viva La Tradicion! 30 Anos de Canciones De Mi Padre at the Ford Theatres, José Armando Ronstadt hosts some of L.A.'s favorite artists to celebrate the landmark album's 30th anniversary, including Ronstadt's niece Marisa Ronstadt, all-female mariachi groups Las Colibrí and Las Jovencitas, and Ballet Folklorico Ollín, who will re-create scenes from the original Canciones De Mi Padre tour.
Event Website
www.fordtheatres.org/calendar/viva-la-tradicion-30-anos-de-canciones-de-mi-padre
Celebrando 30 años de "Canciones de mi Padre" de Linda Ronstadt
Escrito por Luis Arritola on August 9, 2017
VIVA LA TRADICIÓN SHOW!
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Linda Ronstadt's hit album "Canciones de Mi Padre" on saturday September 30, 2017 at Ford Theatres in Los Angeles
Latinos and Lovers of traditional mexican music alike are invited to the fifth edition of "Viva La Tradicion Show". Some of LA's favorite artists will gather to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the unforgettable album titled "Canciones de Mi Padre" by Linda Ronstadt, who with this production became an icon for traditional Mexican Mariachi music in the United States, with performances by:
Marisa Ronstadt (Niece of Linda Ronstadt)
Las Colibrí: the spoiled ones of L.A.
Las Jovencitas: Alumnas of the first female youth academy of mariachi
Ballet Folklórico Ollín: recreating scenes of the original tour of the album "Canciones de Mi Padre".
And the special presentation of the renowned Pepe Martinez Jr. and his mariachi José Armando Ronstadt: Host Will add personal insight into the Ronstadt family and legacy, his cousin Linda's success and how cultural identity took on a new meaning for Mexican-Americans all because of one multiplatinum-selling album.
The show is schedule for Saturday September 30, 2017, at FORD THEATRE Located at 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. Hollywood, CA.90068. Tel: 323-461-3673.
2015 ¡Viva La Tradición! La Mujer Y El Mariachi ronstadt.proboards.com/thread/4615/concert-celebrating-canciones-de-padre 2017 Viva La Tradition! 30 Años de Canciones de Mi Padre !Dania Ocegueda Published on Jul 30, 2018 Some of LA's favorite artists will come together to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Linda Ronstadt’s hit album “Canciones de Mi Padre,” a milestone for Mexican traditional Mariachi music in the United States. The night includes performances by Linda’s niece, solo artist Marisa Ronstadt; Los Angeles’ favorite all-female stringed mariachi, Las Colibrí; the first all-female youth mariachi academy, Las Jovencitas; and Ballet Folklorico Ollín, who will recreate scenes from the original “Canciones de Mi Padre” tour. Host José Armando Ronstadt will add personal insight into the Ronstadt family and legacy, his cousin Linda’s success and how cultural identity took on a new meaning for Mexican-Americans all because of one multiplatinum-selling album.Marisa Ronstadt at The Ford Theatre (Los Angeles, 2017)Bob Ramirez Published on Oct 13, 2017 A celebration of the 30th anniversary of Linda Ronstadt’s hit album “Canciones de Mi Padre" at the Ford Theatres in Los Angeles. September 30, 2017
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 0:15:10 GMT
BWW Review: Linda Ronstadt Celebrates Her Life in a Conversation With Dan Guerrero at CSUN by Shari Barrett Oct. 1, 2015
It's not often you get to share a rare moment in time with a music legend, listening in on a conversation as if it were taking place in her living room with a good friend as she shares memories of her incredible career in the music industry. Such was the case on Tuesday evening, September 29 at the Valley Performing Arts Center at Cal State Northridge where music legend Linda Ronstadt sat down with longtime friend and award-winning producer Dan Guerrero to share excerpts from her 2013 book Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir as well as photos and stories from her childhood in Tucson, AZ, through her life as one of the most influential vocalists of the modern era.
While sharing her memories, I learned that over the course of her notable career, Ronstadt broadened the latitudes of the traditional '60's pop singer, expanding her canvas to include country, rock and roll, big band, jazz, opera, Broadway standards, Mexican and Afro-Cuban influences, leaving no stone unturned in the pursuit of the ultimate song. With worldwide album sales of over 50 million, at least 31 gold and platinum records, 10 Grammy Awards, membership in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a National Medal of Arts to her credit, Linda certainly has cemented her place as the consummate American artist. And thanks to her many recordings, we will always be able to experience her incredible vocal stylings even though she no longer records or performs in concert.
As a young child, Linda developed her multi-range soprano voice while singing with her family in the adobe house built by her parents in Tucson. Her music career officially began when she was a "not very dedicated student" at the University of Arizona when she met guitarist Bob Kimmel. The duo soon moved to Los Angeles where they were joined by guitarist/songwriter Kenny Edwards. Calling themselves the Stone Poneys, the group became a leading attraction on California's folk circuit, starting at a small club in the South Bay before recording their self-titled first album The Stone Poneys in 1967. The band's second album, Evergreen, Vol. 2, featured the Top 20 hit "Different Drum" which was written by Michael Nesmith. After recording one more album with the group, Linda left to become a solo artist at the end of 1968.
Linda Ronstadt - Lifetime Achievement, Leadership in the Arts Award
For the next forty years, Linda built a career without precedent in American musical history. Along with the Eagles (her former back-up band), Jackson Browne, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and others, she helped create California country-rock, the dominant American music of the 1970s. At the height of her fame, with her picture on the cover of TIME magazine, she broadened her musical outlook, embracing musical theatre, the Great American Songbook, and her Mexican heritage, sharing stories, recordings and videos of her many hits and singing partnerships.
Ronstadt has always had a deep connection to her Mexican roots. Close family friend, Lalo Guerrero, who is widely-acclaimed as "Father of Chicano Music" was a big influence on her. The evening's host Dan Guerrero, Lalo Guerrero's son, met Linda for the first time when she was on her "Canciones de Mi Padre" tour, and they have been close friends ever since, often sharing inside stories only the two of them could possibly know about her life on the road.
Linda Ronstadt Grammy Awards 1989 YouTube
Her album of traditional mariachi music "Canciones de mi Padre" is the biggest-selling foreign language album in American record history. Lovingly honoring that tradition, the evening included a musical interlude by the Conjunto Hueyapan, a string instrument music group dedicated to the Son Jarocho music tradition that originated in Veracruz, Mexico and is one of Ronstadt's favorite styles of Mexican music. The Conjunto Hueyapan was founded in 1973 by Fermín Herrera, professor of Nahuatl at California State University Northridge, who appeared onstage with his daughter, also an incredible singer who credits Ronstadt with being her first singing coach. Ronstadt thoroughly enjoyed the performance, claiming she has not seen the singer since she was about 8 years old.
LINDA RONSTADT - CONCERT 10/25/09 Possibly Linda's Last Concert
Linda Ronstadt sang her last concert in 2009, and shortly thereafter announced her retirement from singing due to her Parkinson's diagnosis. Unlike most retirements, however, Linda's has been quite busy since then receiving a Latin Grammy for Lifetime Achievement from NARAS President Neil Portnow, writing her previously mentioned memoir which included an extensive national book tour, and being elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in December of 2013. The ceremony was held on April 10, 2014 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and featured an induction speech by Eagles founding member (and ex-Ronstadt band mate) Glenn Frey, as well as a musical tribute to Linda featuring Emmylou Harris (one of her "favorite singing partners"), Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crow, and Carrie Underwood. Just recently, Linda was honored by President Barack Obama, who awarded her the National Medal of Arts at a White House ceremony on July 28, 2014.
I feel truly blessed to have attended this one-night only event and for the sake of her many fans and friends across the country, I hope Ronstadt will continue to share her lifetime of spectacular memories with audiences across the country for many years to come.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 0:17:26 GMT
The Hispanic 100: www.adherents.com/people/100_Hispanic.html A Ranking of the Latino Men and Women Who Have Most Influenced American Thought and Culture The list below is from the book The Hispanic 100: A Ranking of the Latino Men and Women Who Have Most Influenced American Thought and Culture (Carol Publishing Group/Citadel Press: New York City, 1995), written by Himilce Novas.
1 Cesar Chávez (Cesar Chavez) 1927-1993 2 Henry Barbosa González (Henry Barbosa Gonzalez) 1916- 3 Luis Alvarez 1911-1988 4 Junípero Serra (Junipero Serra) 1713-1784 5 George Santayana 1863-1952 6 Pablo Casals 1876-1973 7 Desi Arnaz 1917-1986 8 Joan Baez 1941- Quaker (lapsed) 9 Antonio Novello 1944- 10 Plácido Domingo (Placido Domingo) 1941- 11 Henry Cisneros 1974- 12 Rita Hayworth 1918-1987 13 Oscar de la Renta 1932- 14 José Vicente Ferrer (Jose Vicente Ferrer) 1912-1992 15 Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert 1898-? 16 Roberto Goizueta 1931- 17 Edward R. Roybal 1916- 18 Herman Badillo 1929- 19 Rita Moreno 1931- 20 Geraldo Rivera 1943- 21 Linda Chávez (Linda Chavez) 1947- 22 Anthony Quinn 1915- 23 Chita Rivera 1933- 24 Adolfo 1933- 25 Roberto Clemente 1934-1972 26 Lee Travino 1939- 27 Gloria Estefan 1958- 28 Nancy López (Nancy Lopez) 1957- 29 Carlos Castañeda (Carlos Castaneda) 1925- 30 Linda Ronstadt 1946-
100 Hispanic-Americans Who Shaped American History www.adherents.com/people/100_Hispanic.html#Laezman
The list below is from the book 100 Hispanic-Americans Who Shaped American History, Bluewood Books (2002), written by Rick Laezman.
The individuals in this book are not ranked relative to each other. They are listed chronologically by birth.
Juan Ponce de Leon 1460-1521 Pedro Menendez de Aviles 1519-1574 Juan de Onate 1550-1630 Junipero Serra 1713-1784 Juan Bautista de Anza 1735-1788 Bernardo de Galvez 1746-1786 Manuel Lisa 1772-1820 Antonio Jose Martinez 1793-1867 Maria Gertrudes Barcelo 1800-1852 David Farragut 1801-1870 Pio De Jesus Pico 1801-1894 Juan N. Seguin 1806-1890 Mariano Vallejo 1808-1890 Romualdo Pacheco 1831-1899 Joaquin Murieta 1832-1853 Carlos Juan Finlay and Juan Guiteras 1852-1925 1833-1915 Rafael Guastavino 1842-1908 Lola Rodriquez de Tio 1843-1924 George Santayana 1863-1952 Sara Estela Ramirez 1881-1910 Ignacio E. Lozano 1886-1953 Lucrezia Bori 1887-1960 Dennis Chavez 1888-1962 Maria Latigo Hernandez 1893-1986 Carlos Castaneda 1896-1958 Xavier Cugat 1900-1990 Severo Ochoa 1905-1993 Jose Arcadia Limon 1908-1972 Carmen Miranda 1909-1955 Luis Alvarez 1911-1988 Hector Perez Garcia 1914-1996 Anthony Quinn 1915-2001 Henry B. Gonzales 1916-1998 Emma Tenayuca 1916-1999 Edward Roybal 1916- Desi Arnaz 1917-1986 Bert Corona 1918-2001 Jose Yglesias 1919-1995 Jose P. Martinez 1920-1943 Ricardo Montalban 1920- Alicia Alonso 1921- Antonia Pantoja 1922- Tito Puente 1923-2000 Celia Cruz 1924- Romana Acosta Banuelos 1925- Reies Lopez Tijerina 1926- Cesar Chavez 1927-1993 Lauro F. Cavazos 1927- Carmen Zapata 1927- Reuben Salazar 1928-1970 Richard "Pancho" Gonzales 1928-1995 Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales 1928- Jaime Escalante 1930- Maria Irene Fornes 1930- Dolores Huerta 1930- Marisol 1930- Lupe Serrano 1930- Roberto C. Goizueta 1931-1997 Rita Moreno 1931- Oscar De La Renta 1932- Roberto Clemente 1934-1972 Nicholasa Mohr 1935- Martha P. Cotera 1938- Carolina Herrera 1939- Lee Trevino 1939- Vicki Carr 1940- Luis Valdez 1940- Victor Villasenor 1940- Joan Baez 1941- Quaker (lapsed) Lucille Roybal-Allard 1941- Clarissa Pinkola Estes 1943- Vilma Martinez 1943- Geraldo Rivera 1943 William C. Velasquez 1944-1988 Jose Angel Gutierrez 1944- Antonia Novello 1944- Richard Rodriguez 1944- Judith Baca 1946- Linda Ronstadt 1946-
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 0:19:44 GMT
GOD IN POPULAR CULTURE Ronstadt and Mellencamp: The Search for RootsThe air in Centennial Hall was tense with expectation; a current of restlessness swept back and forth among the well-dressed Mexican Americans who were at least half the audience. But it was not an anxious electricity nor an angry one. On the contrary, the anticipation of Los Tucsonenses was joyous. One of their own was coming back to perform in the University's hall- not only a third-generation Tucsonan who had made good in the big world but now someone to sing their own songs, the songs her father taught her. And she was to sing their songs in the heart of a University that, for all its recent good will and honest effort, has never been able to relate to the Mexican-American middle class that has been in Tucson much longer than the century-old University.
Then the show began, "a romantic evening in Old Mexico" with the Mariachi Vargas; the Ballet Folklorico de la Fonda; and their darling, Linda Ronstadt, a shy, almost frail woman with an enormous voice. Los Tucsonenses cheered wildly after each number. When her father, Gilbert Ronstadt, walking with the help of a cane, joined her on the stage, they all rose in respect to one of their heroes. So did the rest of us.
We Anglos (an appellation bitterly resented by the Celt in me, but, for the moment, let it pass) cheered with them, profoundly moved by the music and by the enthusiam of the Mexican Americans. It was a special night for Tucson and perhaps for the whole country. Linda Ronstadt's search for her roots had offered to the rest of the country a slice of the wonders of Mexican-American culture. The success of her tour and her record "Canciones de mi Padre" indicated that the rest of the country was interested. Mexican Americans were no longer perceived merely as a social problem; they were now seen as what every ethnic group in fact is: a cultural resource.
Frederico Ronstadt, son of a German engineer who had migrated to Mexico, came to Tucson in the eighteen eighties. A successful businessman, he was involved in both politics and music. He and his brother founded the Club Filharmonico- which Tucsonenses will tell you was the first symphony orchestra in the city. His daughter Luisa was a popular singer in the Mexican-American community. The family has kept the traditions alive. His grandson Pete is the chief of police, and his granddaughter is probably the most successful and certainly the most durable and most gifted woman Rock singer of her era.
To reach that success, however, she had to leave behind Tucson and her Mexican-American heritage (though, be it noted, never in opposition to her family, who always supported her). Moreover, as one pieces together from interviews and profiles the story of her life during the two decades after she left Tucson, one is appalled at the physical and emotional toll the Rock music circuit takes from the lives of its celebrities, especially if they are women. Must a person go through such alienation and privation to be a success in American popular music? Is it necessary to leave home?
For Linda Ronstadt it surely was. There was no room for her in the Tucson of twenty years ago. Even though she attended SS. Peter and Paul grade school and her family was close to Bishop Francis Green (to whom Fred Ronstadt left his flute), sixteen-year-old Linda was expelled by the pastor of her parish from a parish high club dance for playing Rock music. It was pagan, evil music, he told her. Once again the Church missed a chance to embrace one of its gifted children.
Is it possible to "go home again"? John Cougar Mellencamp (about whom more shortly) argues that it is. When asked why he lives in Indiana near his home town of Seymour, he replies that he doesn't want to live anywhere else.
For Linda Ronstadt, a permanent return to the Tucson of her youth may be impossible, in part because that Tucson has been overwhelmed by waves of Anglo immigrants and doesn't exist anymore. But in Canciones, she does return to her musical roots and shares them with the rest of the country. At the level of symbol and story, if not of literal history, she has already gone home again.
Theologically, Canciones imposes on us two subjects for reflection- the celebratory nature of the Mexican-American world view and the inescapable importance of roots in our life. I shall atten to the first here and postpone the second until after a consideration of the Hoosier music of John Mellencamp.
Ask a literate Tucsonensis about Mexican-American religion and s/he will tell you about festivals- birthdays, baptisms, name days, rites of passage. The calendar, you will learn, is very important because you need to have available a list of which saints are being honored every week so that you can send presents to those who bear the names of the saints. Press a Mexican American about what all this means and you are likely to hear about yet more festivals and parties. Indeed, you will probably have to ask three or four times before it dawns on your respondent that you are interested in content and not form.
One of my graduate students gave the perfect answer: "Well, I suppose it means that we believed that God is part of our family and that he comes and joins us in all our festivals and celebrates with us like a member of the family."
Then she added, "Of course we don't know all the rules like you Irish do. That's why my children are in Peter and Paul school, so they can learn the rules and grow up to be good American Catholics just like the Irish children."
SS. Peter and Paul, you will remember, is the parish that ejected Linda Ronstadt for playing Rock music. At the time my student spoke those words, the same man was pastor.
I did not plead that there was a time when the Irish knew how to celebrate too. I merely said that the exchange ought to be in both directions and that the Irish could learn from the Tucsonenses the festivity of the Catholic tradition.
I did not even add, for which I expect points from the recording angel, that the pastor of SS. Peter and Paul might especially benefit from a little joy and celebration in his rigid, punitive, shanty-Irish life.
Linda Ronstadt's Canciones are almost all love songs, many of them, Tucsonenses will tell you, sad and melancholy songs. But the Mexican-American culture resolutely refuses to permit melancholy to triumph. With the Mariachi Vargas playing enthusiastically in the background, joy exorcises the melancholy themes every time. Joy- and faith- are victorious even in the beautiful and poignant Dos Arbolitos in which the singer observes sadly that the two trees are inseperable companions but that s/he has no companion. Sitting under the tree at the end of a tiring day, the singer is going to ask God, who makes companions even for the trees, to send a human companion.
It is the resolute joy of her songs, rather than explicit reference to God, which makes them theologically important. In a fascinating interview reported in American Airlines in-flight magazine, however, she shows that she is quite self conscious about the religious function of her music:
"But joy," said Linda Ronstadt, is a combination of despair, fatalism, anger, triumph- it's all those things. You know Joseph Campbell, author of Hero With a Thousand Faces? He was a very good friend of mine, the neatest man I've ever known. He said to me once, 'Life is basically intolerable.' He said music is the only way we have of dealing with and music is myth. Music is oral dream. It's a way of triumphing over despair. The Catholics [she is one] say, 'life is a vale of tears. Help me here in this vale of tears.' It's a myth. The metaphor of life is the vale of tears. So. . ."
She broke into a glorious grin. ". . . if you can triumph over it, that's cause for joy. This music has got that in it. It's mythology. It's a triumph over a situation that is basically intolerable."
Even at their most melancholy, they are joyous. For the Celts, the opposite might be true: even at our most joyous we sound melancholy.
Linda Ronstadt - FATHER GOD -
Those priest and religious who are engaged in "Hispanic work" are often immune to this rich dimension of Mexican-American culture. Indeed the "Hispanic Caucus" of clergy and religious that has appeared in many large dioceses (made up almost entirely, be it noted, of people with Celtic and not Hispanic names) often are the most joyless collection of celebrants that one could possibly imagine. They have "identified" with the Mexican Americans often to impose on them their own political agenda and are outside redeemers who have come to save and not to listen and learn.
They should be made to listen to Linda Ronstadt's Canciones every day and thus perhaps to come to understand that festival and celebration are essential to the Catholic tradition. The Mexican Americans have it and we don't. We must learn joy from them, much more than they must learn political strategy (not to say "liberation") from us.
I'm not saying that the cause of political and social justice is invalid. On the contrary, Mexican Americans have been cheated and continue to be cheated. I am saying, rather, that those who align themselves with La Raza will only be exploiters and manipulators themselves (no better in their own way than the pastor of SS. Peter and Paul) until they are ready to learn as well as teach.
You won't find much joy in John (Cougar) Mellencamp and his return to his small-town, Hoosier roots. You encounter, rather, in his most recent music, especially the two albums Scarecrow and The Lonesome Jubilee, resignation and acceptance. If Linda Ronstadt represents the Catholic imagination (that which David Tracy calls "analogical," the awareness of God everywhere), John Mellencamp represents the Protestant imagination (the dialectical imagination in Tracy's terms which emphasizes the emptiness of creation). While he may not yet attend the Church of the Nazarene regularly as his family did, Mellencamp's search for roots- or more precisely his acceptance of the roots he never really left- requires the absorption of the the stern Protestant theology of his own tradition.
His return also involves the rediscovery of such traditional Hoosier instruments as the penny whistle, the mandolin, the banjo, and the dulcimer- to his work what the mariachi are to Linda Ronstadt. Ronstadt laments publicly that when she was growing up, bilingual education was unthinkable, so she never really learned the language of her father's songs.
The elite society thinks that such critical but sympathetic reexamination of one's origins is both unnecessary and wrong (unless perchance you are a member of one of the fashionable social groups- which middle-class Mexican Americans, German Hoosiers, Italians from Jersey, and West Side Irish Catholics are certainly not). Elite society is wrong. The music of Ronstadt, Springsteen, and Mellencamp tells us how wrong.
Popular culture both shapes society and is shaped by it. The roots-seeking Rock musicians are reflecting a broad cultural discontent as well as articulating and shaping it. If one reads the literature and listens to the music of the two singers discussed in this chapter (and Springsteen), one is almost overwhelmed by their passion for roots. They express one of the most desperate yearnings of modern humankind, a religious and human need which cannot long be denied.
One puts aside the tapes and the compact disks, the articles and the interviews, and wonders how long elite society can continue to pretend that such needs do not exist or are "conservative" and hence can be safely ignored or dismissed as "nostalgia."
And one also wonders how long the Catholic Church and its official theologians (of the right or the left) can continue to be indifferent to the hungers of humankind for responses that it is uniquely equipped to offer.
Probably for a long, long time.
read full article here: www.ronstadt-linda.com/artgod88-1.htm
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 0:21:50 GMT
Linda Ronstadt, James Gutierrez Hispanic-Net Honorees for 2009Hispanic-Net is pleased to announce Linda Ronstadt as Social Entrepreneur and James Gutierrez, Founder, Progress Financial, Entrepreneur of the Year. We will be celebrating their success on Saturday April 11th, from 6 to 9 pm at the Stanford Faculty Club, Stanford University. More details and tickets can be purchased at Hispanic-net Banquet RSVP
Linda Ronstadt Hispanic-Net 2009 Social Entrepreneur of the Year
Linda-Ronstadt
Ms. Ronstadt has expanded beyond her world famous entertainment career to raising awareness of issues relevant to the Latino community. These include immigration and childrens' rights, empowerment through entrepreneurship, health issues and cultural awareness. A native of Tuscon, AZ, her family is deeply rooted in Mexican culture with family heritage on both sides of the border.. Awareness of her Latina background was first widely promoted with her 1987 album Canciones De Mi Padre. It stands as the biggest selling non-English language album in American record history with nearly 10 million records sold worldwide.
James Gutierrez Hispanic-Net 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year
Jamesgutierrez
James Gutierrez, CEO, Co-Founder, is a serial entrepreneur who believes in changing the world through entrepreneurship and early stage investing. After graduating from college, James started Magic Beanstalk, a 3rd party recruiting company that organized campus recruiting events at 40 universities in the US and Brazil, and later built a web application for online recruiting. As CEO of Magic Beanstalk, James raised $5MM in venture capital, recruited the senior management team, and grew the business from 2 co-founders to 50+ employees with offices in NY and CA.
In addition to Progress Financial, James is a General Partner of Great Oaks Ventures, a $4M early stage angel fund that has invested in 12 ccompanies, including Jumpcut (acquired by Yahoo!), Trulia (funded by Accel Partners), Zimbio, OKCupid, and Farmacia Remedios. James received his MBA from Stanford where he was co-President of the Entrepreneur Club and a BA in Economics from Yale.
hispanicnet.typepad.com/hispanicnet/2009/03/linda-ronstadt-james-gutierrez-hispanicnet-honorees-for-2009.html
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2020 0:24:01 GMT
Linda Ronstadt is a Solderada For a Time Such As ThisSays the singer/Artistic Director: Participation in music and the arts can help people reclaim and achieve the American Dream
By Al Carlos Hernandez - Contributing Editor Published on LatinoLA: June 18, 2010
On January 16, 2010, Ronstadt converged with thousands of other activists in a "National Day of Action." As a native Arizonan and coming from a law enforcement family, Ronstadt stated that her "dog in the fight" was the treatment of illegal aliens. She has serious concerns with Arizona's enforcement of the rule of law and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's immigration efforts.
On April 29, 2010 Ronstadt began a campaign (including joining a lawsuit) against Arizona's new illegal immigration law, SB1070, calling it, "A devastating blow to law enforcement. The police don't protect us in a democracy with brute force." This is something she said she learned from her brother Peter, who was the chief of police in Tucson.
In May 2009 Ronstadt received an honorary doctorate of music degree from the prestigious Berklee College of Music for her achievements and influence in music as well as her contributions to American and international culture.
Recently Linda Ronstadt has emerged as a major arts advocate in the United States. In 2008 Ronstadt was appointed Artistic Director of the San Jos?® Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival held in San Jose, California. She continues to present the festival this year, a festival that is touted to be the biggest and best ever. Now in its 19th year, the San Jos?® Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival presents a week long schedule of music and educational events.
To celebrate Mexico's bicentennial in 2010, the festival has expanded to include terrific cultural programming throughout the year. The Mexican Heritage Festival has recently won an $800,000 grant to run three summer music and dance camps for children of low-income families in San Jose.
This year's theme of the Festival is Solderadas (a solderada is a female soldier). They commemorate the centennial celebration of the Mexican Revolution from 9/15 until 9/26 with a week's worth of cultural activities consummating in a stellar concert. sanjosemariachifestival.com
Ronstadt, as well as festival guest special honoree United Farm Workers Union founder Dolores Huerta, believe that Mexican woman have fought side by side with men against social injustices, as they do to this very day. Strong women of political action and awareness should be celebrated and appreciated for all of their important work and lifetimes of sacrifices.
www.LatinoLA.com Contributing Editor Dr. Al Carlos Hernandez was invited to Linda Ronstadt's San Francisco home by dear friend and festival creative director, Dan Guerrero to talk about her latest endeavor.
She is quite the gracious host.
AC: We live in a post-ethnic society. Why the Mexican festival? Who is it for - us or another culture?
LR: In our culture you can't say that there is Mexico and there is USA. There are Mexicans in the USA but there is also this third culture. It is the conversation that is back and forth between the Americans and the Mexicans. It was hard for the guys in Los Lobos, for example, because they are in between two worlds, They are not fully Mexican, yet, they are fully American with Mexican culture and ancestry, Where do they fit in?
I remember going to Mexico as a young woman. My accent is very good but I cannot speak much Spanish. While talking to the cab driver he asked me where I was from, I said I was from Arizona and he said, "So you are an American." I said, "No. I'm Mexican. My Dad is Mexican." he asked where my dad was born and I said that he was born in Arizona. I viewed myself as Mexican. We had tamales and we would serenade people on their birthdays. We would wake up my grandma at 4 o'clock in the morning singing Las Ma??anitas. We followed these little forms and traditions; sometimes it is hard to discern your place. Where you are is your place and that is fine as long as you are doing something good with it.
Culture, heritage, and tradition are great to sort out for many of us. There is this amazing root. There are all of these different regions in Mexico which, for many who live here, are a significant part of them. This is what this festival is all about. For some we celebrate the cooking or maybe the music of Vera Cruz or Jalisco. There are mariachis from Jalisco who have absorbed different currents of all kinds of music so we are trying to sort all of these influences, these flavors. There is a tremendous diversity of culture that comes from Mexico - it came up here and got entangled with what was going on the in the USA and became a hybrid culture. There is a lot of good music, good food and good will that can be created from all of that stuff. We intend to showcase this in the best possible light.
AC: With this festival, then, is it your intention to integrate the Mexican culture into the American mainstream? If you look at the Italians, Irish and other immigrants who came here, they have assimilated on whatever level. Their culture becomes a part of the American fabric. So is it the goal of the festival? Do you want to say: this is Mexican culture but also American culture at the same time? Do you want to educate other Americans?
LR: I think it does two things. First of all it brings awareness of Mexican culture to the greater Anglo, Asian, African American whatever-is-out-there population. Really, the most important thing that it does is it creates a sphere for people who are of this culture and tradition. It is an experience of who we are and what we represent.
Kids today are in a vacuum. They don't know who they are and there is no cultural resonance or village around them that says, "You are the person that makes this or builds that." They don't know who they are, and so this gives them a chance to find out that their background is Mexican. This resonates, saying what you are. It is something to be proud of and it connects them back to their grandparents. It and connects generations together.
A good example is the Cuban musical group Buena Vista Social Club. Oh my gosh! The culture with the grandparents, mother, and father - it's all there. Families become one larger and extended family unit. They all enjoy the same traditional music; the music means different things to various family members at the same time. We don't have that so much here. Everybody is living in their own pod. Teenage pod, toddler pod, a grandparents' pod - and they are not connected. I think Mexican culture automatically connects generations.
AC: Is that why you did Canciones De Mi Padre back in the day?
LR: There were some great discoveries I made when I took my Mexican Canciones De Mi Padres show on the road a while back. I didn't know if anybody was going to show up. I had played this circuit around the country at all the outdoor pavilions. We did this every summer with rock and roll and we had forty thousand people at each show. Then I came back around this time with mariachis! I didn't know who was going to come. I was accustomed to people yelling, "Hey! Do Heat Wave!!!" It wasn't like that for Canciones. It was people giving gritos and they brought everybody. They brought children and grandparents - they brought the whole family. I said, "Wow! Look at them!" In all of my rock and roll touring years I'd never seen any kids or grannies - ever. I was thrilled.
The other cool thing was they knew exactly where to yell. Not like the rock people. It is one of the favorite audiences I have ever had. That what this festival is for. It's that resonance that's letting people have a sense as to who they are. Who you are has to be reflected back to you. When I hear mariachis I never tire of it. I get that feeling in my heart and it just straightens my spine.
AC: So it's about Familia Cosmica then?
LR: Now we're getting back to the idea of families showing up for these concerts. In the meantime, since I did those Canciones shows, there are corporations that have come in and bought up all of these tickets. They have a monopoly on ticket sales so now a ticket for a concert is between 75 and 500 dollars - or God-only-knows-what they want to stick you with. People can't afford to go and take families anymore. In our festival we have an entire day on a Sunday that is free and this year we have the best groups.
Adelita! The Women of the Mexican Revolution
Published on Mar 16, 2015 This is the opening sequence of the 2010 Festival original production, "Adelita! The Women of the Mexican Revolution," conceived by Linda Ronstadt and staged and directed by Dan Guerrero. This compelling multi-media production told the story of the women warriors of Mexico's Revolution of 1910. In this opening sequence, the real women, men, and yes, children, who fought for social justice, are brought to life.
AC: Why Solderadas?
LR: This year's theme of the festival is Solderadas. This is the 100th anniversary of the Mexican revolution. I wondered what the women's experience was during that time. The hindsight is that it was the men who get the glory.
What were the effects on these women who stood with them and took care of them and their children? They were widowed. Their children were slaughtered or died of diseases and they followed along supporting the soldiers. There was no government to support the revolutionary armies. They had to go along with flour and lard and make tortillas. They had to go out with their rifles and shoot something like a rabbit to eat. They actually picked up rifles and started fighting as well.
If you were married to the colonel and he got killed, you would take his 30/30 and you commanded the troops. The guys were too busy fighting to realize that they were taking orders from a woman. They were happy to listen to someone who knew what they were doing.
I thought it was important to see what they war was like from a woman's point of view. The children were always the most horrific victims of war. In Mexico they would steal the boys as young as eight or ten and turn them into soldiers. They are doing this in Africa today and the boys are totally traumatized. One of the most famous mariachi trumpet players was a child soldier. Pancho Villa kidnapped him. In this beautiful artist soul . . . Lord knows what he had to do and what he experienced.
After the war the women were put right back into the kitchen and never got the credit they deserved.
I am a great believer In the domestic arts. My sister is a career homemaker and she was a homemakers for many years. My God! I had to hire six people to do what she did in half a day. I have great admiration for her. She is a wonderful cook, knew how make her house beautiful, took care of her kids, and ironed that shirt just right so that philandering husband of hers would look good. She was my example of why not to get married, I admire the fact that being a domestic is full time work but now there are a lot of things for women to choose from. My mom wanted to be a scientist. She told us to never to learn to type because then you would end up being a secretary.
AC: What is your highest expectation for the festival this year?
LR: What would be perfect is if some kid comes in with his violin, trumpet, or guitar and he gets to meet one of those really great players from one the major Mariachi groups - one of the great masters. He hears someone blowing his horn exactly the right way and he says, "Oh man! I really want to do that! I want to learn how to play just like that!" To me that is a tremendous success. It's the next generations wanting to play that incredible music. Maybe they want to be just like Los Lobos - like Caesar and David. I just love those guys.
AC: How important has music been in you life and why is it important for our kids?
LR: I grew up in the desert in Tucson, Arizona on what was then a rural route. My grandfather's cattle ranch had been whittled down considerably as a result of the financial storms of the last Depression, but we were pretty happily established there amid the cactus and the cottonwoods.
My family had built a little compound with my grandparents in one house, my father and mother and the four of us kids in the other. I don't remember when there wasn't music going on in some form - my father whistling while he was figuring out how to fix something, my older brother practicing the "Ave Maria" for his performance with the Tucson Boys Choir, my sister sobbing a Hank Williams song with her hands in the dishwater, my little brother struggling to play the huge double bass.
On Sundays my father would sit at the piano and play most anything in the key of C and sing in his beautiful baritone. He would sing love songs in Spanish for my mother. He'd sing a few Sinatra songs while he remembered the single life before children and responsibilities, and before the awful war that we won that time. My mother would play ragtime or something from Gilbert and Sullivan. Evenings, if the weather wasn't too hot or freezing, and the mosquitoes were not threatening to carry us away to the land of Oz, we would haul our guitars outside and sing songs until it was time to go in, which was when we had run out of songs. There was no TV. The radio couldn't wander around with you because it was tethered to the wall and we didn't get enough allowance to buy concert tickets.
In any case, there weren't many big acts playing in Tucson so if we wanted music we had to make our own. The music I heard there, in those two houses before I was ten years old, provided me with enough material to explore for my entire career. A career which has stretched from the late sixties until now. It gave me something else too, something even bigger than that. It gave me an enormous yardstick to measure my experiences against generations of other people. It placed me in a much larger cultural context and helped me to locate my humanity.
Arts Advocacy Day 2009 Congressional Hearing: Linda Ronstadt
In the United States we spend millions of dollars on sports because it promotes teamwork, discipline, and the experience of learning to make great progress in small increments. Learning to play music together does all this and more. Jos?® Abreu, the founder of El Sistema (the children's music curriculum currently considered to be the best in the world) says this: "An orchestra is a community that comes together with the fundamental objective of agreeing with itself. Therefore, the person who plays in an orchestra begins to express the experience of agreement. And what does the agreement of experience mean? Team practice and self expression. The practice of a group that recognizes itself as interdependent. A group where one is responsible for others and the others are responsible for oneself. Agree on what? To create beauty." Music exists to help us identify our feelings. Through music one can safely express strong emotions like anger, sorrow, or frustration that might otherwise find a release in violence. Just as bad, it can cause one to seek solace in the numbing relief of drugs.
I'm continually stunned and deeply concerned when I hear groups of school children trying to sing something as simple as "Happy Birthday" and they are unable to match pitch. Many recent school children's performances that I have observed have sounded like a gray wash of tone-deaf warbling. Not the children's fault.
The Velocity of Change - GIA Keynote by Ronstadt, Hidalgo and Los Cenzontles
For thousands of years human history was passed down the generations using music as a way to remember long sagas before they could be written down. In these modern times, we tend to think of music as an entertainment or something that helps a troop of soldiers to step out smartly in a parade. Music is not just entertainment. Music has a profound biological resonance and it is an essential component of nearly every human endeavor. Oliver Sacks, the noted neurologist, wrote a book called "Awakenings" in which he describes his patients whose brains were severely damaged by Parkinson's disease. These patients were unable to walk, but when music was played they were able to get up and dance across the floor. Music has an alternate set of neurological pathways through our bodies and our brains.
Currently, I am acting as the artistic director of the Mexican Heritage Foundation in San Jose, California. We have a mariachi program that has functioned successfully in the schools since 1992. We also have an exciting math and music program in development. For 'under served' families, indeed for all families, participation in music and the arts can help people reclaim and achieve the American Dream.
About Al Carlos Hernandez - Contributing Editor: Edited by Susan Aceves Email the author
full article: latinola.com/story.php?story=8703
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