Mexican Fiesta shows off students’ skills
Teenage musicians with Latino Arts Strings perform with Grammy-winning La Santa Cecilia at celebration
When La Santa Cecilia headlined Mexican Fiesta on Friday, it brought out some musical guests — about 40 of them.
The Grammy-winning Latin rock band from Los Angeles performed at Henry Maier Festival Park on Friday night with teenage students from the Latino Arts Strings Program in Milwaukee.
“I was beaming, looking at the faces of all the students,” said the program’s creator and director, Dinorah Marquez. “I really seek out transforming experiences whenever possible, and this was definitely it.”
It was a celebratory, full-circle moment for the groups, which have become big fans of each other — and collaborators — since first crossing paths in November 2014.
That’s when La Santa Cecilia performed a Dia De Los Muertos concert at the Latino Arts Auditorium at the United Community Center. The Strings Program, which has taught about 1,000 children to play Mexican folk music since 2002, was the opening act, and the band did a preshow workshop with the students.
The musicians in Cecilia were so smitten by the students, the group came back to Milwaukee three months later to record a song with about 30 students from the program. Their waltz “Caminante Nocturno,” with an arrangement composed by Marquez, appeared on the band’s Grammy-nominated album, “Buenaventura.”
Friday, Cecilia and the Strings Program performed the song in concert together for the first time.
“Excelente,” Cecilia frontwoman Marisol “La Marisoul” Hernandez cried out as the lush strings from the army of young musicians, dressed in sharp mariachi attire, swelled around her.
During the song, Hernandez shared vocals with 18-year-old cellist Karla Rodriguez, who performed her last strings program concert Friday, before heading out to the University of Wisconsin on Saturday for her freshman year. A few minutes later, Hernandez wiped away a tear as Marquez came to her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
The band’s handlers had said the students would be able to perform only “Caminante Nocturno” during the hour-long set, Marquez told the Journal Sentinel. But when Marquez and Hernandez connected backstage shortly before the show, the Cecilia frontwoman insisted the students perform another song.
Marquez selected a spirited mariachi standard, “El Cascabel,” with Kevin Avalos on bass guitar and Sergio Jara Reynoso on vihuela kicking it off. Karina Rodriguez and Victor Cardenas playfully tried to upstage each other with vibrant violin solos, while Rodriguez, Leticia Hernandez, Kalei Vasquez, and Zamira Castillo belted out the lyrics, with Cecilia’s Hernandez joining in.
After the students finished, they congregated backstage, some dancing as Cecilia continued with its set, others posting backstage video of the show to Snapchat. Cellist Rodriguez cried as she hugged Marquez and thanked her for the experience.
“This was one of the greatest moments I’ve ever had,” said a tearful Rodriguez.
“What is really amazing about (Cecilia) was they didn’t just give us the time of day,” Marquez told the Journal Sentinel. “They fell in love with the students, they fell in love with the program, they put their money where their mouth is and came back and recorded with us . ... It’s been a never-ending fountain of giving, and really humbling and beautiful.”