Juan Díes, co-founder of the twice GRAMMY-nominated Sones de México Ensemble, has been writing, performing, and teaching corridos for at least 35 years. This year, as part of "Celebrating America 250," the National Endowment for the Arts is partially sponsoring Corridos of the Semiquincentennial: Voices of Courage and Hope, a musical storytelling project developed by Sones de México Ensemble to honor eight national heroes through the creation and performance of eight new traditional Mexican corridos.
Join us for a family-friendly presentation of these and other corridos, narrated in Spanish and English by Juan Díes and members of the ensemble, that combines live music, storytelling, projected visuals, and audience interaction. This performance is free and open to the public.
Juan Díes, folklorist, ethnomusicologist, co-founder of the Sones de México Ensemble, and this year's recipient of the NEA National Heritage Foundation Fellowship, the nation's highest honor in folk and traditional arts, is an avid performer and teacher of corrido songwriting. For more than 30 years, he has led corrido songwriting workshops with children and adults, capturing real stories told by communities across the U.S.