Hilos Culturales

HILOS CULTURALES INSTITUTE
August 1 - 4, 2011
Adams State College
Alamosa, Colorado

A four day Cultural Institute Course will be offered on the history and traditions of the Upper Río Grande Region of Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. This course will take place at Adams State College   August 1 – 4, 2011 in Alamosa, Colorado.

Presentations about the history, music, language, drama, folk dance and much more will be taught by a highly qualified team of instructors, who will provide insightful understandings and experiences about the cultural landscape of the Upper Río Grande.  Hispanic traditions and culture, with indigenous influences that are innate to daily life in the Río Grande region, will be enjoyed by the participants. 

Institute topics will include:
Los Penitentes/The Penitente Brotherhood
Comanche Dancers
Santero Art/Devotional Art Renaissance
Dichos y Refranes/Rhymes and Proverbs
Linguistic Transformations
Bailes Antiguos/Social Dances
El Casorio/Wedding Customs
Romances Musicales/Musical Ballads
Los Matachines/Ancient Dance Drama
Folk Drama and Folk Tales
Old San Acacio/Field Trip

Books and music CDs purchases and signings will be available daily by the presenting authors and musicians. Included as part of the Institute will be a field trip to Fort Garland, San Luís and Old San Acacio.  The Institute will culminate with an evening public concert featuring regional musicians and “Música Del Pasado.”


 Click here to meet the faculty for the
Hilos Culturales Institute at Adams State College

Click here to view the institute schedule

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PREMIO HILOS CULTURALES

The Traditional Folk Artist Award presented annually to distinguished New Mexico and Colorado folk artists, will be given this year to Señora Antonia Apodaca and Father Alfonso Muñiz. The presentation will take place at the Hilos Culturales “Música Viva Concert” on August 4th at Adams State College in Alamosa, CO.

Señora Apodaca of Rociada, New Mexico is a member of Trío Jalapeño and has been recognized for her musical talents for several decades. She tours throughout the region performing regional folk music on the accordion and guitar. Recognized by her peers and faithful audiences as a “Living Musical Legend,” Señora Apodaca has also performed in Washington, D.C. at the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife.

Also receiving the Premio Hilos Culturales on August 4th, will be Father Alfonso Muñiz Of Longmont, Colorado. A lifelong musician, Father Muñiz originally from Capulín, Colorado, performs a wide range of music attributed largely to his travels throughout South America, including Ecuador, where he spent the majority of his priesthood with the Catholic Church.

Both Señora Apodaca and Father Muñiz will perform during the Hilos Culturales “Música Viva Concert” on Thursday, August 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the Adams State College Theatre Building.

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Hilos Culturales

“DESDE AYER Gallery Exhibit”

An exhibit featuring the contributions of such musicians as Pedro Casias, Ignacio García, Anastacio Taylor and Juan Chacón will be held at the Gallery at the Community Partnerships Building on the Adams State College Campus. These individuals were well known performers in the San Luis Valley during the middle 1900’s as soloists or as part of a group or a musical family.

This exhibit, “Desde Ayer,” will coincide with the week long Hilos Culturales
Institute being hosted at Adams State College August 1 – 4. The Institute will feature numerous presentations on Hispano traditions of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.

The month-long (August 1 – August 31) “Desde Ayer” exhibit will include
photographs, narrative highlights and musical collections of twenty contributing participants. The display will focus on a trail of musical memories, past and present, of 19th and 20th century music played at community fiestas and celebrations throughout Colorado and New Mexico.

The public is cordially invited to view this distinct collection of fine arts and literature and profiles of past and current performing artists. A Community Reception is scheduled for the exhibit on Wednesday evening, August 3, at 6:30 p.m. On exhibit will also feature Río Grande Weavings and tin framed retablos on loan from the Luther Bean Museum. Several publications by the Colorado and San Luís Valley Societies of Hispanic Genealogy will be on exhibit and for sale, including contributions from Hilos Culturales Institute faculty who will have their literature and music CDs for sale throughout the first week of August (Monday – Thursday).

Community Partnerships is located at the corner of Main Street and Edgemont Blvd. on the Adams State College campus Alamosa, Colorado. The exhibit is free to the public and will be open M – F from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily throughout the month of August.

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HILOS CULTURALES CONCERT

An evening of regional music and folk dance entertainment is scheduled at the ASC Theatre on the Adams State College campus on Thursday evening August 4th. Musical groups will include La Familia Vigil of El Rito, NM, a highly recognized guitar trio consisting of Cipriano Vigil and his daughter Felícita Piñon and son Cipriano Jr. Together, they have entertained audiences throughout the Río Grande region for the past 20 years. Their interpretation of Hispano Ritual and Folk Ballad Music has earned
them several invitations to the Smithsonian’s Folk Life Festival in Washington, D.C. Valley artists Rose Vialpando and her uncle Salomón López will showcase “ranchera” music from their recent recording “Dos Voces Dos Guitarras.” Another San Luis Valley family trio on the schedule includes Glenda Maes and her son Luís Madrid and his cousin Joseph Arellano. They are known for their “serenata” music tradition and versatile
popular music repertoire of regional folk music.

The folkdance group Los Coloniales formed in Santa Fé in1948, will perform a variety of “valses” and “polcas” with accompaniment by La Familia Vigil. This performance by the group’s 12 couples will be their first ever in the San Luis Valley. Los Coloniales are directed by Benjamín and Deluvine Baca.

Also featured will be the Southwest Musicians of Westminster who have realized several recordings through the years and will present a variety of songs and musical melodies recognized in the region as “Música del Pasado,” dating back to the 20s and 30s when early recordings and radio broadcasts began to filter on to the air waves to musical aficionados and musicians throughout the communities along the Río Grande.

They will be followed by Roberto Martínez and his son Lorenzo Martínez and Tony Orduño, who have established an enthusiastic fan base since the 1960s as members of Los Reyes de Albuquerque. Roberto founded this highly recognized ensemble that has recorded on Roberto’s recording label MORE Records over the past 50 years. In 2003, Roberto and Lorenzo were co-recipients of the prestigious NEA National Heritage Fellows Award of New Mexico by the National Endowment of the Arts. Roberto and Lorenzo have performed and taught several generations of young musicians, including at the Hilos Culturales Conference at Adams State College in 2000.

Special honorees at this year’s Hilos Culturales Concert will be two musicians who have distinguished themselves among their peers throughout the years. They include Antonia Apodaca, a performing artist of Rociada, NM and Fr. Alfonso Muñiz of Longmont, who grew up in Capulín. They will be recognized during the concert with the Premio Hilos Culturales, the Traditional Folk Artist Award, for their contributions to the folk arts of the
Upper Río Grande region.

The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Adams State College Theatre ( Edgemont Blvd. and Main Street) and is being co-sponsored by Adams State College, the San Luis Valley Comprehensive Mental Health Center and Kavley’s Business and Tech Center and Valley Wide Health Systems. Tickets are $10.00 per person (limited seating), and are available for purchase at the ASC Office of Extended Studies, Papers
of Distinction and SLV Federal Bank. Music CDs will be on sale before and after the concert.