Music and art became powerful mediums for keeping Latino identity and culture alive. The message were the centerpieces at this year’s Latino Identity through art event hosted by the Latino Club at Central Oregon Community College.
The event took place at Wille hall in the on Oct. 21 and counted with the cultural readings of poems by Matilde Koninsberg who has been teaching hispanic culture across the states in different venues and the authentic original music of composer Miguel de Alonso.
“We hope it will open the boundaries of what they know about Latin-American countries,” said de Alonso, “Be able to show them the cultural poetry and music we make and be able to share the culture.”
Koninsberg knows that it takes more than what we see at first glance to understand what it means to be hispanic.
“For me it brings a sense of nostalgia because I miss the art, the writers and the poetry of those times and being submerged in the rich culture,” Koninsberg said.
Some of the work that Koninsberg read for the audience included works from famed Latino writers like Gabroel Garcia Marquez, Juan Rulfo, and Pablo Neruda among others. Both Koninsberg and de Alonso travel around to different parts bring awareness to communities that wouldn’t otherwise know of what it meant to be Latino.
“After this [event] we may take it somewhere else, all depending on how the audience out therein community will take to this,” said Koninsberg.
Evelia Sandoval, who coordinated for both Koninsberg and de Alonso to be at COCC hopes students acquire a new way to look at Latino culture and they see the Latino identity through different eyes.
“A lot of times when we think of a Latino, we may picture a very traditional form of mexican music,” Sandoval said. “ But we got some very rich traditional culture and a rich tradition of writers, authors and original music.”
Being of the latino heritage come with different facets and goes deeper than just coming from south the of the broader. it encompases the writing and the writing, art and the rich sense of being that goes deeper than. skin pigmentation.
“When we think of Latinos we think of food, festivals and music. But even if you don’t understand spanish I still think you can take away something from the presentation,” Sandoval said.
Brayan Gonzalez | The Broadside
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