Music takes center stage at Latino Fest

WASHINGTON — Large crowds flocked to Washington’s square on Saturday for the ninth annual Latino Festival, a cultural showcase and celebration organized by the nonprofit group Latinos For Washington.

In preparing for the event, organizers said they’d prioritized a lineup of top-notch musical acts, from a Latin Grammy-nominated Mariachi Band, to local acts in the early afternoon.

Latinos For Washington Co-Founder and President Sonia Leyva said the group was especially excited to bring back “Banda” this year, a genre of brass and percussion music widely popular in some regions of Mexico.

“It’s not a party without banda,” she declared.

Performers said they agreed.

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“It’s very traditional to have a banda, whether it’s in a quinceañera or a Holy Communion, or even a wedding … it’s just more hyped up,” said Jose Gutierrez, a member of closing act La Tentadora Banda 20—20. “It’s music that we brought from our country, and we’re trying to make it be big in this side of the United States. There’s really not that much banda in this part of Iowa, but we’re trying to keep it going, keep our traditions going.”

Another headliner of the day was Mariachi Herencia de México, a Chicago-based group whose current tour schedule includes big shows in Las Vegas, L.A. and Colorado Springs.

Isaías López, a member of the band, said mariachi served as a strong tie to his own heritage.

“I come from a family of Mariachi, I was kind of born into it,” he said. “I was kind of born into it, my dad taught me and I just kept going.”

Mariachi Herencia Music Director and trumpet player Marco Villela said he felt the connection was especially important for families that had to leave some traditions behind when moving to the U.S.

“It’s just a beautiful thing that especially matters to us more now, to immigrants,” he said. “Keeping Mexico close, being a whole country apart. It just means the world to us.”

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While mariachi has deep roots in tradition, the genre hardly avoids innovation.

Mariachi Herencia de México has a reputation for combining styles with other music that shares mariachi’s instruments, despite being otherwise wildly different. The set contains several tributes to Frank Sinatra.

While it isn’t the first mariachi band to have such an idea, Villela said the combination represented group members’ lived experiences stateside.

“Half the group is born here in the United States, so we have been exposed to a lot of music, we have been exposed to a lot of different cultures,” he said. “While being in Mariachi Herencia, learning about the music of Mexico, learning about the school that is being taught, it was kind of easier to take influence from all sides … to adapt American music into mariachi.”

Not every show on the central park stage Saturday featured big names.

Wapello-based group Los dos de la V was composed of 13-year-old Edgar Vazquez and 17-year-old Robert Vazquez. The two brothers played the day’s opening live show around noon.

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The duo said they were second-generation: born in the U.S. after their parents immigrated from Mexico. They grew up around the same music they performed, a set of older music from the ‘40s and ‘50s popular in the northern part of Mexico. The genre — música norteña — is named after the region.

Robert Vazquez said he and his brother showed talent at a young age, which their parents encouraged them to pursue. He said he hoped doing so would preserve the songs and their legacy.

“People that are making new music now, it’s very different,” he said. “We’re just trying to keep all of these oldies alive while we still can … all these songs have lessons in them, and that’s what I like about the songs.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com