Get set for a musical 10 days ahead

Festivals and markets are offerings all summer long, and now in August, there’s a new addition to the list of what makes Santa Fe so attractive

during June, July and August. On Friday, the first Santa Fe Music Week begins, and organizers want it to become an annual event. And what a first week, or 10 days, to be more accurate. The event is broad, taking in everything from final Santa Fe Opera performances to live music in local venues to flamenco to music on the Plaza and at the Santa Fe Railyard. Taken as a whole, the planners have laid out an event that reveals how music can draw in many kinds of listeners and audiences. enters As we a sort who of live lull here after know, Santa the Fe Indian town Market week, with visitors headed home and the lines at local shops and restaurants much reduced. A music week, planted at the tail end of summer, is the kind of activity to draw in the curious visitors as well as locals, boosting tourism but also providing entertainment for the people who live here. As a plus, it brings attention to a different part of the cultural scene, the music that enriches our lives. Over the summer months, not only are there fine classical performances — Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, individual shows at the Lensic Performing Arts Center, opera and others — we have an abundance of live flamenco dancing and music, incredible free shows through the Santa Fe Bandstand program on the Plaza and many nights of music in local bars or taverns. Yet we tend to take these offerings for granted, bemoaning that,“oh, there’s nothing to do” when, in reality, there is much to do. Santa Fe Music Week, then, will help remind us of all we have to offer, drawing in visitors who enjoy live music, whether classical, traditional or modern, and perhaps turning them into repeat visitors. Highlights include live mariachi performances on the Plaza all through the celebration, Robert Earl Keen and the Flatlanders at the Santa Fe Opera, nightly music on the Plaza, the Platinum Music Awards, Tobias Rene at Fort Marcy Ballpark for Zozobra, several shows at Meow Wolf, the Mariachi Extravaganza at the Santa Fe Opera and the Mavericks at the Santa Fe Opera in a benefit show for National Dance Insitute of New Mexico. Many of the shows already were on the booked; the difference is that now, they are offered under the umbrella of “music week” and are being marketed as such. It’s a careful use of tourism dollars for advertising. Tourism Santa Fe has the right idea: Take what we do well, add in a few special events to the mix and let visitors know that during these 10 days in August, Santa Fe is a humming place to be.