Quetzal – LIVE IN CONCERT!

$15 Advance, $18 Door, All Ages!

PRE-CONCERT DISCUSSION: Quetzal Flores, guitarist of Quetzal, and Paul S. Flores, co-founder of Youth Speaks, will be participating in an intimate conversation about immigration, arts and social justice prior to the concert! The discussion will be from 7pm-8pm then break for 30 min. The concert begins at 8:30pm in the theater.

BRING CASH FOR THE TEQUILA BAR AND EMPANADA STAND!

Quetzal forges a sound that will simultaneously make you dance and contemplate change, a sound as rich and complex as their pluri-ethnic L.A. barrio experience. Their unique combination of community activism and creative compositions has allowed them to travel the world using music as a tool for creating a global network of musicians committed to building community.

Since 2002 Quetzal has been part of a transnational dialogue between musicians in California and Veracruz, Mexico known as “Fandango Sin Fronteras”. Many recordings, performances, and publications have been born from this dialogue. Their 5th album, “Imaginaries”, released by Smithsonian Folkways, received the Grammy Award in 2013 for Best Latin Rock, Urban, or Alternative Album.

PRE-CONCERT DISCUSSION AT 7PM:

PLEASE JOIN US AT 7PM FOR A CONVERSATION WITH ARTIST QUETZAL FLORES AND YOUTH SPEAKS CO-FOUNDER PAUL S. FLORES ABOUT IMMIGRATION, ARTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE:

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

QUETZAL FLORES: Growing up in grassroots movements, as the son of labor union organizers, Flores inherited an undying accountability to community struggles. From land struggles with South Central farmers, immigration reform, supermarket workers union strike, and the indigenous Zapatista struggle, to the everyday community struggles in East Los Angeles, he has been active with music in hand. Since 1993, he has been working as the musical director for the East Los Angeles based rock group Quetzal.

Throughout his professional musical career, he has shared the stage and has collaborated with groups and artist such as; Los Lobos, Taj Majal, Zack De La Rocha (Rage Against the Machine), Los Van Van, Son De Madera, Susana Baca, and Daara J, Aloe Blacc, among others. The ensemble Quetzal has made considerable impact in the world of Chicano music in the last 19 years. The importance of their work is marked by their participation in events such as the Homegrown Music Series at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress, the traveling exhibit American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music, and the completion of five albums, the latest of which, Imaginaries, was released this year on the Smithsonian Folkways label.

Since 2002, Flores has been a central figure in the transnational dialogue between Chicana/o musicians and artists from California and Mexicano musicians and dancers from Veracruz, Mexico. From this dialogue emerged many recordings, performances, publications, workshops, and community building efforts under the organizing auspices of Fandango Sin Fronteras. To enhance this dialogue, Flores spent nine months in Xalapa, Veracruz, in 2007 with his family composing and recording music with women of El Nuevo Movimiento Jaranero, a movement geared at reinvigorating the son jarocho music tradition of Southern Veracruz.

PAUL S. FLORES: Poet, performance artist, playwright, and spoken word artist Paul S. Flores explores the intersection of urban culture, Hip-Hop, and transnational identity rooted in his growing up in both Chula Vista, CA and Tijuana, Mexico. His theater works include the plays ON THE HILL: The Alex Nieto Story (2016), PLACAS: The Most Dangerous Tattoo (2012), a bilingual tale of fathers and sons, transformation and redemption; the solo performance You’re Gonna Cry (2011); and the two-hander REPRESENTA! (2007). He is a 2015 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award winner, 2014 KQED Hispanic Heritage Local Hero, and 2011 San Francisco Weekly Best Politically Active Hip-Hop Performance Artist. Support for his work also includes the 2016 Gerbode, Hewlett Foundation Theater Commission Award, three National Performance Network Creation Fund Awards, an NEA Theater grant, and two National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Fund for the Arts Individual Artist Awards. Paul is a director of the Latino Men and Boys Program at The Unity Council in Oakland and a leader in the movement to improve outcomes for Boys and Men or Color. As a co-founder of Youth Speaks, he has introduced spoken word to hundreds of thousands of youth all over the country, and has developed a national platform for young people through the Brave New Voices: National Teen Poetry Slam, seen on HBO. He teaches Hip-Hop Theatre and Spoken Word at University of San Francisco. See more www.paulsflores.com

This event is part of “Beyond Dreams”, a series of concerts and discussions sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts.

La Peña Cultural Center   3105 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley, CA 94705    lapena.org   510-849-2568