La Peña del SurCo

**If this event says sold out please still come! Eventbrite caps free tickets but we still have space!**

All Ages/All Welcome! Free Event! ADA Accessible

Join El SurCo, Celestino Fernandez & other members of our community for this month's La Peña del SurCo. Las Azaleas a Tucson, all-female, mariachi-inspired musical group and Jacobo Ramirez will perform three of Fernandez' corridos.

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A peña is an informal Latin American folk music gathering. Peñas are found in different forms across Latin America. Peñas are more participatory than a normal concert in that usually more than one musical group performs, group singing often occurs, and frequently community members are invited to share a song informally as part of the event. By design Peñas are intended to be inclusive community events open to music lovers of all ages.

La Peña del SurCo is a cultural initiative led by ethnomusicologist and arts and health researcher Dr. Jennie Gubner and her Argentine/Chilean folk music trio El SurCo. Gubner’s current research interests involve leveraging intercultural participatory music practices to foster and strengthen age-friendly and intergenerational healthy communities. La Peña del SurCo seeks to celebrate folk music traditions from Argentina, Chile and across Latin America while building community through intimate, acoustic, and participatory musical practices. Che Cafe Empanadas will be selling Argentine Empanadas! They will have drinks for sale but you are also welcome to bring your own!

El SurCo is a musical collective that blends guitars, violin, charango, bombo, and vocal harmonies to bring to life chacareras, cuecas, chamamés, gatos, and other popular and folk stringed music traditions from Argentina, Chile, and surrounding regions. The word surco means groove in Spanish, and references the furrows where seeds are planted in agricultural fields. A musical term with a rural subtext that speaks to the landscape where many of these styles emerged and continue to thrive, El SurCo (or The Southern Collective) transport their listeners into the diverse and vibrant musical ecosystems of the Southern tip of the Americas. El SurCo is composed of Maxi Larrea (guitar, vocals, bombo), Jennie Gubner (violin, vocals, bombo), and Andres Pantoja (guitar, charango, bombo, vocals).

Dr. Celestino Fernández is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Arizona, where he was a professor for 42 years, and where he also served in several administrative positions, including as Vice President for Academic Outreach and International Affairs. He has collected, written about, presented on, and composed corridos for over 40 years. Celestino has organized corrido contests at Tucson Meet Yourself, the University of Arizona and several high schools, and has led workshops on composing corridos for youth and adults. His corrido, “La Mujer Misteriosa,” was featured in the movie, Rita of the Sky, and another, “Peligro en el Desierto,” was played on radio stations on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2023, Celestino led the recording a 2-CD set of his corridos, which he accompanied with a booklet that sets each corrido in context and includes the words. Dr. Fernández is also known for the very popular class he created on Happiness that enrolled over 500 students every spring semester. He completed both his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at Stanford University

For more information visit our website: https://www.elsurcotucson.com

This event was organized by University of Arizona Ethnomusicologist Dr. Jennie Gubner in collaboration with Sydney Streightiff and the members of El SurCo.

This event is sponsored by The 4th Ave Coalition. The 4th Ave Coalition is a volunteer group of neighborhood folks, business owners, artists and activists dedicated to the preservation and protection of equity, diversity and accessibility of the 4th Avenue District. Their aim is to bring public art and voices to the Avenue District, promote sustainable practices and provide support for neighbors and local businesses to thrive.

Community Sponsors Include:

Banner Health

The Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona

The Guitar Society

University of Arizona Event Sponsors Include: The Applied Intercultural Arts Research Graduate Interdisciplinary Program (AIAR GIDP) aiar.arizona.edu, The Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) https://clas.arizona.edu, The Southwest Center, The School of Music

This program is funded in part by the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona with funding from Pima County and the City of Tucson.

For more information about this event series or if you are interested in sharing a song at a peña, please contact [email protected]

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Host or Publisher Dr. Jennie Gubner and Sydney Streightiff