To the sound of recorders, bagpipe, hurdy gurdies, Spanish guitar, accordion and more, ¡Viva la Pepa! will spellbind History Museum visitors as part of the Threads of Memory Lecture Series. The group’s free performance in the auditorium – 6-7:30 pm, Friday, Oct. 22 – accompanies the exhibit, The Threads of Memory: Spain and the United States.
Tomás Lozano, Sharon Berman and Juan Wijngaard will perform fiery, playful and even mournful melodies, putting a modern kick on a bygone past. Through the centuries, Spain has delivered an extraordinary repertoire, fusing native Spanish Iberian music with other European styles and, later, American influences. Viva la Pepa samples this musical legacy of romances, jácaras, jotas, muiñeiras, pasacalles, and other regional melodies.
A high-res photo of the group can be downloaded by clicking on "Go to related images" at the bottom of this screen. The musicians:
Tomás Lozano, born in Barcelona, Spain, from Andalusian parents, is a self-taught musician who began performing Catalan folk music in Barcelona as a teenager and later toured European festivals, playing folk, traditional and medieval music. In 1993, through a sponsorship by the Spanish Ministry of Exterior Affairs, he toured Canada and the United States and has since made the U.S. his home base. He established and directed Crisol Bufons in New Mexico, performing across the U.S. to underprivileged communities. He also directed and helped create Hey, Mozart! New Mexico. With his wife, Rima Montoya, Lozano started the group Crisol Luz, that later fused with Juan Wijngaard and Sharon Berman to form Viva la Pepa. Lozano lectures at colleges and universities across the country and makes musical instruments.
Sharon Berman has performed with ensembles specializing in early, traditional and new music. She has studied the musical traditions of Québec, medieval music performance and the American shape-note tradition, Sacred Harp. She holds master's degrees in ethnomusicology and visual anthropology, and plays recorder, accordion, and hurdy gurdy.
Juan Wijngaard was born and raised in Buenos Aires and has lived in the Netherlands, Switzerland and England, where he first heard and fell in love with medieval and later French folk music. He made his first hurdy gurdy in 1976 and taught himself to play it by ear (he still does not read music). Shortly after moving to New Mexico, he and Berman, his wife, met Lozano and his wife and joined their group, Crisol Luz, which was reincarnated as Viva la Pepa. Wijngaard also plays border and Flemish bagpipes.
For more on Viva la Pepa, go to http://www.vivalapepa.us/.
All events in the Threads of Memory Lecture Series are free. Upcoming:
Sunday, Oct. 24, 2 pm: “Following the Paper Trail: The Daily Life of a Spanish Colonial Document,” lecture by Dr. Alfred E. Lemmon, director of the Williams Research Center at the Historic New Orleans Collection.
Sunday, Oct. 31, 2 pm: “Finding New Mexico in El Hilo de la Memoria,” lecture by Jerry L. Gurule, retired historian-linguist for the National Park Service, and Enrique Lamadrid, a literary folklorist and cultural historian.
Saturday, Nov. 6, 2 pm: “Por el Amor de Papel: For the Love of Paper,” a demonstration by Tom Leech, curator and director of the Palace Press.
Sunday, Nov. 7, 2 pm: “An Afternoon with Pedro Menéndez,” Chautauqua performance by Chaz Mena, a New York-based actor and scholar, on Pedro Menéndez de Aviles, first governor of Florida.
Friday, Nov. 12, 6 pm: “Scientists in New Spain: 18th-Century Expeditions,” lecture by California historian Iris Engstrand.
Sunday, Nov. 21, 2 pm: “Murder, Martyrdom, and the Struggle for La Florida: Rethinking Spanish Florida’s Mission History, 1565-1606,” lecture by Florida historian J. Michael Francis.
Sunday, Dec. 19, 2 pm: “Navio Quebrado: The Wreck of La Belle and the Failed French Colony in the Southwest,” lecture by maritime archaeologist Eric Ray.
Sunday, Jan. 2, 2 pm: “Kissin' Cousins: The Spanish Vihuela and the Modern Classical Guitar," performance by composer, guitarist and educator Greg Schneider.
Sunday, Jan. 9, 2 pm: “Tejiendo el Hilo: Weaving the Threads of History,” lecture by State Historian Rick Hendricks.
The Threads of Memory: Spain and the United States (El Hilo de la Memoria: España y los Estados Unidos) is the U.S. debut of nearly 140 rare documents, maps, illustrations and paintings – many of which have never been displayed outside of Spain. Each week throughout the exhibit, which closes on Jan. 9, 2011, the museum will feature lectures, musical performances, panel discussions and more to further explore the role Spain has played in shaping America as it is. After its debut in Santa Fe, the exhibit travels to the El Paso Museum of History and the Historic New Orleans Collection.
The exhibition is sponsored by the Fundación Rafael del Pino and, along with the Archivo General de Indias (General Archive of the Indies), is co-organized with the State Corporation for the Spanish Cultural Action Abroad (Sociedad Estatal para la Acción Cultural Exterior, or SEACEX), in collaboration with Spain’s Ministries for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and Culture.
In New Mexico, the exhibition and lecture series are presented with special support from BBVA Compass Bank, the city of Santa Fe, Wells Fargo Bank, Heritage Hotels, Santa Fe University of Art & Design and the Palace Guard.
