“Our Rhythms, Our Voices,” a project that is part oral history/part concert, will take the stage at the Long Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday. The performance is a collaboration between Austin musician Javier Jara and Austin Unconducted, a group of classical musicians who perform without a conductor. It takes stories from 11 migrants to the United States and turns them into original music.
Turning stories into songs
The project started with Jara’s partner, Jane O’Brien. As part of her master's thesis at UT, she interviewed migrants about their immigration and lives in the U.S. Her thesis centered around the negative portrayals of migrants in American media, but Jara felt inspired when his friend and fellow musician Yahir Durán wrote a poem based on one of the interviews O’Brien conducted.
“We were thinking like, how do we counter these negative stereotypes, using storytelling, poetry and music? And that's how ‘Our Rhythms, Our Voices’ came out to be,” Jara said.
Jara turned 11 stories into songs for the project, each song written in the style of music of the interview subject’s native country.
Austin Unconducted
Jara met the folks at Austin Unconducted at a classical music jam in town, and members helped Jara take the music to another level. Jara had been composing string arrangements for the songs he was writing, and Austin Unconducted was the perfect partner to help him bring those arrangements to the stage.
“I'm not a string player, but I have the idea, so we had to always go back and forth to talk about things that worked or not,” Jara said. “It was a very seamless collaboration; I really enjoyed the process with Austin Unconducted musicians and arrangers.”
Each song is composed for an 18-piece string orchestra with upright bass and percussion.
Mas Cultura
You can celebrate Mexican Independence Day a little early on Sept. 14 at VIVA Mexico fest at the Pan American Recreation Center. The event is free and will feature many family-friendly activities.
The following day, you can kick off national Hispanic Heritage Month with Mariachi Rock Revolution. The show will feature guest performances from Rick Trevino and “El Gato Negro” Ruben Ramos. The show is at the Long Center on Sept. 15 and supports Mariachi Para Todos, which provides hands-on mariachi music education for folks aged 10-55.
Find more events in Austin Vida’s monthly Cultura Guide. Sign up to receive it every month at AustinVida.com.
