Thursday September 19
7:00 PM
Light Hall Theater
$20
Brasil-based Argentine composer, accordionist, and researcher Alejandro Brittes explores the music and dance tradition of northeastern Argentina, chamamé, which has been declared as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
Alejandro navigates with his accordion, playing with the temporal universe of his music. He utilizes gravity to awaken the sensation that the music can touch your skin. A unique perception that the music fluctuates, and in listening to it, you enter into a space in which anything can happen around you without you even perceiving it.
Alejandro´s concerts establish a connection with the earth, with the origins of the music of his home region and with the universe. His trademark is to employ his accordion as if it were a bandoneón, in conversation between the left and right hands. The basses of the left hand are masterfully explored, because according to Alejandro, the low basses connect us with the earth, and the right hand button keyboard, beyond providing melody to the music, elevates us to the Universe.
His musicality and his compositions express an uncommonly diverse musical intellect.
The ancestral based rhythm connects the listener with the earth and the universe through music. Connecting musicality and cosmovision (The cosmic worldview of a society or civilization), of the Indigenous Guarani and Baroque music within the context of Jesuit missions in a cultural microregion of Argentina, central and southern Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, that extend through watersheds and fresh water sources in these nations.
Gertie Lopez is a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation of Southwestern Arizona. ”My Goal is to preserve and share the traditional music of my people, the Tohono O’odham Tribe of Arizona, with the youth of our nation and to educate all people of the beauty and joy of Tohono O’odham people, our music, language, and culture.”
A celebrated accordionist and leading force in the performance and preservation of Tohono O’odham culture and music in Arizona and Mexico, Lopez has been immersed in study, performance, and preservation of her tribe’s social dance music since she was a little girl. She is an outstanding ambassador of goodwill for Waila Music and enjoys teaching music and singing to toddlers and Elders on the Tohono O’odham reservation.
She is revered as the only female band leader on the Tohono O’odham reservation. She will perform with her band, the T.O. Boyz.
The two bands will perform separately, and together.
Listen to Alejandro Bittes Trio or visit Alejandro’s website
Listen to Gertie Lopez and the T.O. Boyz
Buy Tickets
2024-25 Season Pass
Children 17 and under, WNMU students, faculty and staff admitted free with ticket
Tickets will be available for pick up after September 1st