For more info:
http://sonesdemexico.com/
Note in the Chicago Tribune (By Laura Emerick)
Sones de Mexico aims to play giant-killer
THE GRAMMYS
Chicago folk band is up against heavyweights of Latin music
Fortune has smiled not once but twice upon Sones de Mexico, the Chicago-based ensemble that specializes in Latin folkloric music.
The band received a Latin Grammy nomination for its latest disc, "Esta Tierra Es Tuya" ("This Land Is Your Land"), and then found out a few months later that it would be competing for a Grammy Award against Latin music heavyweights Vicente Fernandez, Pepe Aguilar and Cristian Castro.
"We are very flattered and happy the work has been recognized," said Juan Dies, who co-founded Sones de Mexico in 1994 with musicians based in Pilsen. "We really worked hard on the album, and it was all self-funded. We didn't want to set any limits of what we wanted to have at our disposal. We wanted to make the best album that we could."
If the album somehow triumphs at the Grammys, it would be like David slaying Goliath. Sones de Mexico Ensemble Chicago (the band's full name) is competing in the best Mexican/Mexican-American album category against three giants, all legends in Mexico and the Spanish-speaking world (the fifth nominee is Paquita la del Barrio, not as famous but still formidable).
In addition, Sones de Mexico records independently, and the other four nominees are signed to major labels. It plays traditional folk music, whereas the competing discs are ranchera -- a much more commercially popular Latin style. Most of the songs on "Esta Tierra Es Tuya," the band's third disc, are arranged in the son style, including renditions of Led Zeppelin's "Four Sticks" and Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3.
"It's very unlikely for an indie artist to be nominated for this kind of award, but the Latin Grammy nomination was the springboard to help us get more attention," Dies said. "We're just a small band from Chicago."
Though Sones de Mexico lost out in its nominated category, best folk album, it still relishes the Latin Grammy experience. "It put us within earshot of other people, such as National Public Radio" -- and other big media outlets.
Along with Dies, a bassist-guitarist-percussionist and former Old Town School of Chicago staffer, Sones de Mexico consists of music director and co-founder Victor Pichardo, dancer-instrumentalist Lorena Iniguez, violinist-guitarist Juan Rivera, and percussionists Javier Saume and Zacbe Pichardo (son of Victor).
All are immigrants, and their music addresses issues of identity and related themes. "Esta Tierra Es Tuya" reworks Woody Guthrie's socially conscious ballad "This Land Is Your Land" in a norteno-style arrangement.
"We don't have a political agenda, but the spirit of that song, about Okies fleeing the Dust Bowl and going to California, struck me as similar to the plight of Mexican migrant workers today," said Dies, a native of the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, who came to the United States in 1982 (and later graduated from Indiana University with a degree in ethnomusicology). "That song is revered by American kids, and so we thought, why not sing it in Spanish? Besides, it has become the anthem of immigrants everywhere."
As it champions the immigrant cause, Sones de Mexico happily realizes that it also is living out the American dream.
"It's about being given an opportunity -- that's also something that is mentioned in the song ['This Land Is Your Land']," Dies said. "People from Mexico are not asking for charity. We just want to be part of the society and put our best work forward. We come here with our culture, and we sing of a living tradition."
