Sones de México Ensemble Chicago
Sones de México Ensemble Chicago is a Chicago, United States, folk music group that specializes in the Mexican musical tradition known as "son". History. Sones de México Ensemble Chicago formed in 1994 to keep the Mexican "son" tradition alive in its many regional forms, including the regional styles of "huapango", "gustos", "chilenas", and "son jarocho", among others. As performers and recording artists, the ensemble has developed and popularized many original arrangements of Mexican traditional tunes touring mostly in the Midwest, East Coast and Southern U.S. Some of its original work has experimented cross-culturally with  symphonic, Irish, folk, country, jazz, and rock music, though never abandoning its roots in Mexican "son". Also a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization, the ensemble is committed to teaching. The ensemble members reach out to young and old with many of their educational programs nationwide. Sones de México's album "Esta Tierra Es Tuya (This Land Is Your Land)" was nominated both for a Latin Grammy for Best Folk Album of 2007 and for a Grammy for Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album. The title song is the group's translation of the Woody Guthrie song, with some slight modifications for  the Mexican immigrant context. That album also included arrangements of J.S. Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto No. 3" and of Led Zeppelin's instrumental "Four Sticks", with most of the remaining nine pieces being traditional, all played "on over 50 all-acoustic instruments from México". In 2010 Sones de México marked the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution with its "¡Viva la Revolución!" album. In 2012, their album "13 B’ak’tun" celebrated "the beginning of a new era according to the Mayan calendar". Starting in 2014, with the help of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the group created  the musical/educational program "A Musical Geography of Mexico". In 2016, Sones de México developed and performed their soundtrack to Sergei Eisenstein’s unfinished silent film "¡Que Viva Mexico!". On September 8, 2015 at the Library of Congress, the just-inducted United States Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, Sones de Mexico, and their songwriting class, cowrote the ballad "Corrido de Sandra Bland", in Spanish, to honor the Chicago woman who had died in police custody in Texas. Sones de Mexico performed the song the next day. In 2021, two past and present Sones de Mexico members collaborated for performances, including  on a tour of Mexico, with Chicago's multicultural Surabhi Ensemble, founded by Saraswathi Ranganathan. Ensemble members. When Esta Tierra Es Tuya was being recorded, Sones de México consisted of Victor Pichardo (music director; founding member), Juan Díes (CEO and producer; founding member), Zacbé Pichardo (son of Victor Pichardo), Lorena Iñiguez, Javier Saume, and Juan Rivera. In 2014, Victor Pichardo left to return to his native Mexico. By February 2017, the group consisted of Díes, Iñiguez, Zacbé Pichardo, Gonzalo Cordova, Eric Hines, and Rudy Piñon. Later in 2017, Iñiguez left and Eréndira Izguerra joined, and in 2018 Victor Pichardo returned  to the group. Cordova left at some point, and in late 2019 Izguerra left and Karen Marcial joined. Discography - Albums. All self-released by Sones de México Ensemble Chicago, on CD and download: