Under the “big tent," Part 2

Huayucaltia's 25th Anniversary Performance

Ford Director of Communications Linda Chiavaroli chatted with the five members of Huayucaltia — Antonio Ezkauriatza, Cindy Harding, Ciro Hurtado, Julio Ledezma and Hernan Pinilla — after a rehearsal for the band’s 25th anniversary concert at the Ford. Here’s the second part of the conversation about what you’ll hear at the May 29 celebration.

The atmosphere of good cheer and easy camaraderie that prevails around Ciro Hurtado’s and Cindy Harding’s dining room table signals the genuine affection and respect the Huayucaltia’s members have for each other. “To be sure we have our dramas,” says guitarist Antonio Ezkauriatza, “but we’ve kept our sense of humor.” Shortly before the band’s Ford appearance in 1994, when the World Cup final was being played in the United States, the musicians hailing from Mexico, Argentina and Colombia were barely speaking to each other. “That’s why we picked May 29 for our performance this year,” laughs Ezkauriatza. “It’s before the World Cup starts.”

The May 29 program is a summing up of Huayucaltia’s 25 years of bringing their own musical cultures to L.A., absorbing other influences and expressing their passions about roots, politics and life. Says Hernan Pinilla of the band whose name can be translated as ”big tent” or “unity,” “Our music is a little bit of Chicano, a lot of jarocho (music from the Veracruz area of Mexico), a lot of Brazilian, Aztec and the magic of the Incas. But we’re still Angelenos. We grew up here musically and it transformed us.”

The immigrant experience has always been an important theme in their music and continues with a new song, “Corre, salta y vuela” (“Run, Jump and Fly”). “It kills us to see how tough it is for the immigrants coming now,” says guitarist Ciro Hurtado. “They cross the border in the heat and sun to try to get a better life for their family and many die in the desert. None of us have been in the situation of risking our lives to cross the border illegally. This song is our little tribute to the people who didn’t make it.”

Harding and three colleagues from Sabiá, the group she and her sister Libby formed at Brown University and toured with full time in the1980s, will reunite to perform two of their signature songs. One, which Libby Harding wrote when she was 15, is about an Andean woman and reflects the suffering of those who work under harsh conditions. The other, based on a Cuban poem, is about the urgency of singing, why one has to sing.

The two sisters will also play with the other guest group on May 29, Conjunto Jardin. Growing up in Latin America with parents steeped in Mexican culture, Cindy and Libby knew traditional jarocho music but when they formed their group in the mid 1990s they wanted to play “not the way dad did, but play with it a little, mess with it and add our own touch.” One of Conjunto’s selections, “America Negra,” melds Afro-Peruvian and jarocho sounds.

Huayucaltia will perform, for the first time in 25 years, a selection from their very first album, "Caminos y Puentes."  It was written by Ezkauriatza as "a tribute to roads and bridges, physical or otherwise, we must go through in order to get to our destination." In another revival, based on a traditional Bolivian piece, Pinilla and Harding each hold half of the pan pipes and half the notes of the scale. “In order to play a melody together, we have to work closely, each playing a note and anticipating the note of the other person,” says Harding. “It is reflective of the communal life style of the Andes - where people work closely together and depend upon each other for their survival.”

May 29 marks the fifth appearance of Huayucaltia at the Ford. Three of its performances were in the mid-1990s when the Los Angeles County Arts Commission was getting the Ford Amphitheatre summer season off the ground. “We’re just very excited to be playing in such a beautiful place,” says Pinilla. “It’s a space that gives musicians a chance. We’re happy to be part of its history and making it happen.”

For more information about this particular event, click here.

For Part 1 of the Huayucaltia story, about how the band came together, click here.

Huayucaltia’s show is one of seven events in the Ford’s Global Soundscape series celebrating music from around the world.

Click here to read more featured stories in our MEET THE ARTMAKERS series.