FIRE BREATHERS, POET LAUREATES, FRANK MARTÍNEZ Y MÁS!
OMG! What a great week we have for you at Latinopia this week! We start with East L.A.’s great music group Queztal. Last week we posted a performance of their song “Migra.” The response was so great that we returning this week with yet another Quetzal performance. Have you ever seen those fire eaters that stand on a busy intersection and try to make a living by putting gasoline in their mouths and spurting it out in flames. Your Tia saw this in Mexico City and was sorry for the ends to which people have to go to make a living. Well, Quetzal did something about it! They wrote a powerful song about it. Please check out “Tragafuegos,” (Fire Breathers) and please note the cool literary language. Se avientan these guys! And please note that Latinopia videos are now being filmed in High Definition!
Our other video, from the archives of our pre-High Def days, is a video poem by California’s own Poet Laureate, Juan Felípe Herrera. Last week we mentioned that Latinos now have four official Poets Laureate in the US (are there more?) : Carmen Tafolla, Poet Laureate of San Antonio, Alejandro Murguia, Poet Laureate of San Francisco, Alberto Rios, Poet Laureate of the state of Arizona and Juan Felípe Herrera, the official Poet Laureate of California. We showcased videos of the other three poets (isn’t Latinopia on top of the game?) But we didn’t have a JFH video, Púes, aqui esta! Hope you enjoy this rollicking reading by Juan Felípe back in 2010 at the USC Flor y Canto Literary Festival. Once you see this video you’ll understand why Juan was named Poet Laureate of California!
And not to diminish the diamonds in our cupboard, we have Angela Ortiz and Sergio Hernández returning with their weekly blogs. Angela back with another terrific photo, this time of something that is at once very familiar and yet new because of her rendering. Sergio commenting on the sad passing of a pioneering Chicano artist, Frank Martinez, Our other bloggers are prepping for their regular monthly blogs. Stay tuned next week for more new blogs.
Enjoy this week’s videos!
Tia Tenopia