to john day college and university here in new york every culture past and present has had some form of music the emotions passions and ideas that music expresses transcends all cultures and peoples all regions of the earth and all historical periods in a sense it's beyond time and space it perceives the britain work it touches our deepest being and expresses our very existence our feelings and thoughts about the unknown the all and wonder of the universe love memory dennehy death all forms and manner of pain and joy it's often a vehicle of expression for those who are rendered invisible by the catastrophic us who travel the subways here in new york often run into it credibly poignant situations where people reach out and hope to connect with their fellow humans in some way through song or dance sometimes these encounters hit home in ways that are almost unbearable for many of us to experience but music as the universal language it is makes it almost impossible to not watch or listen to the catastrophes around and within us as cornel west would put it how does integrity face oppression what does honesty do in face of deception what does decency do in the face of insult what discouraged do in the face of brute force and the answer at least in part is in our music a narrative of a catastrophe lyrically expressed that doesn't allow the catastrophe to have the last word we're thrilled today to have on the rack were made magination one of the leading producers talent managers and music promoters in her community she grew up less than a half mile from our eminent farmhouse studio  early last month she developed spired to use her love of music and social justice to help families still suffering from hurricane maria and has partnered with the united way to produce a beautiful album called ten songs for ten families this project has taken on a life of its own transcending space and time as she plans to produce similar albums to benefit other families in the from venezuela to other countries in central america she represents orchestras band of singers artists and creator marc expositions in all fifty five boroughs five boroughs fifty five boroughs of new york city and beyond as long as well so welcome maria berr do the radical imagination then thank you so much to manhattan one of the five boroughs i quickly want to buy and we're so thankful and blessed to have you here to tell us about your projects about your  love for the community about your nurturing of creative and wonderful artistic ventures in the community and giving back to the community that you came from st of all thank you jim so much for to develop my passion for what i've been trying to do for many years going way back since i was a little girl i always imagined you know of being a singer and getting dressed up and taking the hairbrush and pretending it was  latino you hispanic you puerto rican girls stay in the kitchen they get married they have children you know things like that what was the music you listen to the music that i grew up listening to which is is the heart and soul  i felt like i knew what her next stroke was going to be on that guitar and she was one of my very favorites as a young lady but as a kid we all were listening to the lyrics but the notes the next beat and that's what i was having in here somewhere well let's let's put on a clip or short clip of some of the music you might have been listening to at you know it's funny that you bring this clip on because chunka is a style of dance and i remember as a ted my uncles all the dance to this music and i was know in his performances with the community you know with the people on the dance floor he made people move you know whether you wanted to move or not that music moved deal and his attire was always you know unique and very was i catch ing in so many ways not just because of what how he looked but his presentation he was creative you can feel that his what he was doing wasn't just a job it was his passion it was his love followed and supported i give him so much credit for what he has done what he continues to do because he's creating for the next generation not the next generation but the ones to come and he's been love of my life and my soulmate unfortunately he passed on but he always said maria in this life all you have to do is do what you love and he was right because i do what i love you with that obvious we can feel music it was an international crowd it brought people together and that was you know a perfect platform for him to you know to leave a legacy you know and also he was a recording artist recorded over three hundred and twenty six songs created his own record label which was unusual back in the days you know with so much of the competition like finding and other labels record labels and he would say you know i did it my way and he did and that was that my nable i love people who take the initiative to do things their way because not everyone can do what somebody else is doing but if even though we see a part of it as it shining and everything is beautiful and wonderful there's a lot a lot of work that still has to be done there are people there without even fridge radio without a window without a roof without a stove the basic things that people need my own family was victims of hurricane maria and many of them lost even their jobs because they together people were trying to clear the roads together and clean the front of the house together and music help and and listening to music one way or the other it help you know us a sense that we i mean i remember for instance with music every saturday the st thing that went on was the music while we were sweeping and mopping and and opening up the windows and watering two or three plants you know it was it's part of what i grew up with you you go back and forth a meaning being there and not waiting for people to tell me how what it was doing you know we hear everything on the news only what is shared but when you're there with the people it's a whole different story you know exactly exactly so so how did you connect with so and family while because let me just share with you a little gem about how this came about because i've had the privilege of traveling i've gotten to me some great people you know who are the same mindset of helping others and last year here in new york i coordinated and created an opportunity a twelve hour kind of like a through music and the arts and poetry and comedy right here in the bronx and we raised thousands of dollars but that wasn't enough and i felt a sense of wanting to do more well in my travels  i met wonderful people of the same mindset and one of them is hosseini of is he is the president of an organization which is a nonprofit organization through the same thing like i do with music i'm like oh my gosh this is amazing and then he has a great friend and his name is call weiss who is from blue records out of memphis tennessee and they are good friend he both of them wanted to do something to help to help families here come along i'm expressing the same thing make a long story short the three of us came together and through them and this is hot off the press ok it's online all the digital platforms and the great thing about this is because the idea that the united way wanted to partner with us because they were really touched about how we put this together three people of three different backgrounds with the same mindset of helping people in puerto rico and they offered not only to promote it but they will be selecting those ten families that are in most need rice so the poll cvs of this particular cd ten songs for ten families will be going to help these ten families that are selected through the united way  gave us his blessing and thought it was a great idea to to do this through music because we all love music and music is what puts people brings people together i believe we have a clip us and again as you were saying these songs come from different genres yes so tell us a little bout the different musical influences that come from that grea tradition right i mean you know as this particular project i wanted to assure that we covered different genres of music because music brings people together like food and sports so what do you have the you have we have and soul and what they've done you know because musically it's it's universal there's no there's no borders around it it's free it makes you and speaking of that you're going to be on puerto rican borders you're  going to make what other very young guys there's going to be other projects that will help families in haiti and venezuela and other countries in great need so this is just one of the projects that was just hot off the york and what i love about that particular store as i've been going there for decades and it was also built the year that i was born so i make that extra special for me but also this collage in the middle with all of these artists  becoming so popular i was reading that it's become more people are buying latinum american music then country music yes true well i believe  believe in that and it's happening and it should have happened a while ago but now the fact that more people are law embracing it and it's also about having the opportunity on the market to talk about to talk about it to be in front of audiences and let people know that this music does exist and it will always exist and it's important for people to come and support and enjoy and that's what it's all about the pretty here is this is music that transcends anyone's culture absolutely and i'm a very observant person so when i go to a neighborhood and automatically i hear music i look amounts to see who's who's in that area who's responding to it who's reacting to it and to see young people embrace that listen and even make their own dances make their own moves it's a wonderful thing you know it really is  fulfilling i should say to see that the future of latin music what do you what are you looking for what it would is your ear hearing out there in the community  airwaves well that's a good question because devolving it's definitely is evolving in so many different ways this new generation from where they get on from thirty years ago i remember telling someone this youth has something new that they're going to create and they have and that's when i'm on for thirty years hip hop i was one of those girls right here on the street dancing hip hop you know forty something years ago you know  to the young who are trying to get their foot in the door or to try to be in front of other people and say hey you know i have a talent help me to you know develop help me to be in front of a community you know and so on and that's what i'm actually helping also to help those kids that the youth and many new artists girls and boys very important because it's a great outlet you know back in the days when i was growing up here in spanish harlem and barrio in the lower east side there was so many some of the violence and kids didn't really have a place to go people kids won the street that's why so many got involved with drugs and gangs and shootings and and a lot of you know there's a beautiful and it's it's a beautiful effort that you're breaking to channel this in such wonderful creative happy and productive ways  live interview we're talking about the history of music the history of culture in communities and little politics probably be a eyes when i'm on for a very long time and i've always been a huge supporter and now to be on the other side you know wow this is quite amazing and more people are listening to the station you know i was told by the director of the station she goes maria since you've been on the station we have more listeners and also i have done two  outstanding fundraisers for them back in november and recently in march there were very successful people from all all backgrounds coming to support say poetry comedy everything has to do with the arts and community bringing people together so there's also the sort of the curve of power tics and activism now as a young woman you were elected to the school board so you have that in you too i had that and then here i had taken me because growing up in the spanish harlem and the lower east side it saw so many people struggling all the time to fight for their vite have a voice and i remember saying to my high school teacher at the time oh i want to run for community school board member and he was my history teacher and he actually told me don't waste your time and i was in shock because i'm a seventeen year old saying to him you want to be you're worried you're going to be helping me right make history but anyway i thank him because of him i said ok i'll go do my own homework i found out i had to be eighteen to register to vote that i found out i needed thousands and thousands of signatures on petitions i did that and how i had to figure it all out myself you out what's going on here we're only need to do we as we figure it out as women as girls and women we figure it out we don't depend on other people we figure it out yes we ask for help because you can't do everything by yourself i remember getting ten of my friends and going to the projects on avenue d in the east side getting those signatures putting our flyers under the door as folks like i would choose doing that since then that's how it is you have to be involved you have to be hands on person so i did get elected at the age of nineteen i held that position for three years i didn't continue in politics because at that time it wasn't really my forte i really preferred to do the music moore correct right i was a little like there's a young kid too was i think a school board full board i mean and then he went on we've got that's how it is sometimes you move on to other things but at the same time it's part of the whole process of creating developing and making things happen so what do you say about your community today you've had numbers of years being involved you've seen it so see is happening it can be how is it changed and is changing well st of all nothing stays the same and communities evolve people evolve and unfortunately back in the days where there was so much crime and things that i saw that maybe a little girl shouldn't have seen as a teenager the same thing and so on but i am proud to say that i was born in ways that i badly are the heart of new york city the melting pot as well the lower east side the melting pot as well and have learned to be around people from all over the world and to to respect to respect the diversity and what they bring here you know that we all can share with each other as for the global politics and all the different things that are happening all i can say is that i keep america in prayer every day you're trying to make the messages you know and thanking me for what i've been showing putting music in the forefront helping new artists supporting the pioneers keeping our culture you know the best parts of it which if you don't a for your own culture and your own roots i mean what do you have i mean that that's priceless how is women's role changed from when you were a little girl here and told you could perform is that while we turned world unfortunately and i mean i've been told stay home what are you doing on the streets why are you helping other people that's them figure it out themselves you know or you're woman oh no this is a man's world well you know what i wear a dress and i'm a lady and i belong where i choose to be long and that's doing what i'm doing because i love it and that's it and if i can help other women which i have and will continue to do so that's the way it's going to be now what would you like to see happen if you could make it happen i would love to see my own community embrace each other with heart in the soul instead of this separation and when they see someone taking the initiative to create something new to do something positive that they learn how to embrace it because be pitted against each other tell us a little more what you believe what i mean about this i'm a very supportive person for example if someone got a promotion and the st one to say congratulations and i've noticed that in my own community people that i know people that i've had dinner with lunch that i've supported in so many ways directly and  or the st one to say all now you're a big shot i can talk to you nobody is the big shot we're in this together it's when you rise you leave the rest behind which you obviously have and you know what i do is i keep trying to keep the people coming and togetherness is very important because creating opportunities like this for others to embrace and to learn and to take pride in you know people say oh my dear you don't have a microwave i said no i don't have a microwave or you don't have a percolator not because i so make coffee like my great grandmother used to do with you know  contaminated with right cheesecloth or whatever but you know people use and one hundred and three thousand one hundred and three my grandfather passed away when he was ninety seven they both died in their sleep that's the gift of gifts you know that's right he didn't even have an ounce of fat never saw a doctor was in great shape and he weighs fourteen kids on a farm and i remember him saying when you raise your children on a farm they'll always be food on the table and i'm very proud of that you know that all of my uncles and  human encyclopedia and i've learned so much because i love to be around smart people cry i love to learn and i love to share what i learn and every now and then i'm doubly casey are kind of let you know which is another show radio show pioneers coming through those doors through those airways and educating us all and we're so blessed you found your way to the radical magination seriously it's been a privilege and honor and you've