Rock y Arte: New festival brings together beats, dance and art from all over the Americas
IF YOU GO
Southwest Florida Rock & Art
When: 2 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11
Where: Golden Gate Community Center band shell, 4701 Golden Gate Parkway, Naples
Cost: Free
Information: 325-7362, Web site in Spanish: www.empapate.jimdo.com
Take a trip to Jamaica’s dance halls, Colombia’s night clubs and Bolivia’s rock concerts — all here in Naples.
Local musicians, visual artists and performers have organized an ambitious new festival, featuring seven bands with members and influences from Central and Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States, along with artists and other performers, at the Golden Gate Community Center’s band shell on Saturday. It’s called Southwest Florida Rock y Arte 2009.
“Hoping to be a bridge between culture and musical expression, a group of young local artists ... are working together to bring the first festival of Southwest Florida Rock & Arte,” said Mauxy Fontalvo, the festival’s general producer, in a prepared statement. Fontalvo, an actress, will be putting on a skit during the festival. “Our objective is to bring out the beauty and diversity of Naples, (and) to make this the center of the international movement of alternative music of Latin America.”
It will be a “multimedia event to please all the senses,” said Juan Diaz, a Naples artist who will paint during the festival and who helped organize the event. “It will be music, it will be visual art, it will be performance art — all in one.”
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
■ 2 p.m.: Origen. Fort Lauderdale
Origen describes its songs as "hard-driving, catchy rock songs." Catch this Miami-based band on Dec. 11 at the Southwest Florida Rock & Arte festival in Naples.
Two Venezuelans, a Mexican and an Ecuadorian make up Origen, a Miami-based band that describes its songs as “hard-driving, catchy rock songs, mid-tempo, groovy sing-a-longs or slow jams of stadium proportions.”
■ 3:10 p.m.: Reynolds, Washington, DC
A group founded by four brothers, Reynolds plays Latin pop rock. They’re from Bolivia.
■ 4:20 p.m.: Bachaco, Miami
Bachaco takes their name from a leaf cutter ant found in the Amazon. Catch this cumbia and reggae-influenced group at the Southwest Florida Rock & Arte festival on Dec. 11.
Bachaco’s music is a fusion of cumbia, a Colombian musical style, and dancehall, a Jamaican reggae-influenced style. Their band members — from Venezuela, Jamaica and Colombia — sing in a mix of English and Spanish. The word Bachaco (BAH-SHA-KO) is the name given to a the leaf cutter ant found in Venezuela and across the Amazon in countries including Panama, Colombia and Brazil. Venezuelan Indians use it to make hot sauce.
■ 5:30 p.m.: Versus Nova, Orlando
This group’s members hail from the Dominican Republic, United States and Puerto Rico, playing a fusion of folk, alternative, blues and Latin music. They met in Orlando, mixing Latin and alternative rock scenes. They are Ray Liriano, vocals and guitar; Gustavo Méndez, vocals and guitar; Bruno Ufret, drums; and Brian Holmes, bass.
■6:40 p.m.: Odas, Naples, with guest Felipe Szarruk, Bogotá, Colombia
Odas, featuring Felipe Szarruk, is set to take the stage Saturday night at the Southwest Florida Rock & Arte 2009.
Odas is a Naples-based Latin pop/rock band led by a female vocalist, Karla Iriarte, and the lead guitarist, Carlos Iriarte. The band’s single, “Al Final,” was selected by Miami’s “Boom” magazine to be included in a compilation of outstanding artists in the summer of 2008. They’ll be playing with special gust Felipe Szarruk, a Colombian-Salvadorian musician who plays Latin alternative rock. Other members of Odas are Victor Hugo Muriel, rhythm guitar/backup vocals; Juan Daniel Lopes, drums; Camilo Machado, bass.
■ 7:25 p.m.: Skit by Mauxy Fontalvo, actress
■8:00 p.m.: Marrocko, Santiago de Cali, Colombia
The name means “a sea of rock,” and this band describes its music as pop rock with powerful guitar.
■ 9:10 p.m.: Dr. Krápula, Bogotá, Colombia
Latin alternative rock band Dr. Krápula will preform Dec. 11 at the Southwest Florida Rock & Art festival in Naples.
A Latin alternative rock band founded in 1998 in Bogotá, this 5-person band plays rock, with some elements of reggae and ska thrown in. It has earned 10 Shock Music Awards, four Nuestra Tierra awards, three Nominations from the Latin MTV video music awards and one nomination to 40 Principales Awards in Spain. The band is Niko Cabrera, drums; Germán Martínez, guitar; Mario Muñoz, lead singer; David Jaramillo, bass; Sergio Acosta, accordion and keyboard.
ARTISTS
■ Juan Diaz, Naples
Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Diaz was inspired by his father, a professional sculptor and ceramist. After he moved to Naples, he earned awards from the Von Liebig Art Center and the Marco Island Art League. He has worked with nationally acclaimed artist Jonathan Green since 2006. He will be painting during the festival.
■ Cesar Aguilera, Naples
Aguilera will also be working on artwork during the festival. His specialties include portraits made by dripping paint on canvas and sculpture. He is a native of Ecuador.
■ Mauxy Fontalvo, Naples
Fontalvo, born in Santa Marta, Colombia, studied fashion and textile design and performing arts at universities in Colombia. She performed on stage in Colombia, and when she moved to Naples she took up acting in her new language. Today, she teaches Zumba and performs in plays around town.
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