Posted by Elena del Valle on August 7, 2006
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Latin pop rock singer Diana Mera and Lorena Schmit, public relations professional, SGM Records
A podcast interview with singer Diana Mera and Lorena Schmit of SGM records, is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, they discuss Diana’s career and marketing music to Latinos with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
Diana was born in Quito, Ecuador. She was raised in Lima, Peru and lived in México, Venezuela, and Switzerland prior to arriving in the U.S. were she now resides. Diana, who always had a great desire to sing, started her career in TV shows such as “Despierta América” on Univisión and “De Mañanita” on Telemundo. Four of her music videos have appeared in VHUNO and MTV Español. She has appeared on radio and television shows like “El Gordo y La Flaca,” “América en Vivo,” Univisión Radio, Caracol and Cadena Azul and on Cristina Saralegui’s show.
Diana is also a composer and an actor. She was participated in a play written by Eve Ensler and was nominated as best actress for “The Vagina Monologues.” Diana is recording her second music album with two-time Grammy winning producer Gustavo Borner and Dany Tomas composer of hits that have been recorded by celebrities like Araceli Arambula, Cristian Castro, Diego Torres, Lara Fabian and many others. Song writer Claudia Brant is also collaborating in the new album.
Lorena Schmit recently joined SGM Records as a publicist and works closely with the public relations team to generate national and international television, print, radio and tour press for artists like Diana. Lorena has 16 years of experience in communications and public relations.
Lorena comes from Más Arizona, Channel 55 in Phoenix where she worked as programming director, news anchor and producer for six years. As programming director she had the opportunity to work directly with record labels and artist managers since the station broadcasts music videos and entertainment news 75 percent of the air time.
She began her public relations career in 1990 as a spokesperson for the government of the State of Mexico. Her responsibilities included coordinating media interviews and representing the governor’s office at public events. Lorena later joined the “Sistema de Radio y Televisión Mexiquense” in Toluca, Mexico as a public relations manager. Within a couple of years she was offered a position as reporter and later she became a news anchor.
In 1997, Lorena accepted a contract with Univision Phoenix and moved to the United States to become the news anchor for “Noticias 33”, 5 pm and 10pm editions, Monday through Friday. Three years later she left Univision to go to Telemundo KDRX Ch. 48 also in Phoenix, Arizona where she joined the news team as a news anchor and reporter.
We’re excited to include a short preview of “Conmigo,” one of the songs from Diana’s next album, following the interview. Enjoy!
To listen to the interview, scroll down until you see “Podcast” on the right hand side, then select “HMPR Diana Mera and Lorena Schmit,” hit the play button or download it to your iPod or MP3 player to listen on the go, in your car or at home. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the August 2006 section of the podcast archive.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on August 4, 2006
Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán
Photos: Adrian Mealand, Richard Haughton
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) will air “Mariachi: The Spirit of Mexico,” on August 6. The program made its national premiere on May 3, 2003 and features presentations from the 9th Annual International Mariachi Festival, a ten-day program held in Guadalajara in September 2002. Operatic Tenor Placido Domingo, who is a mariachi enthusiast, narrates the program.
“I have loved Mariachi ever since I first came to Mexico from Spain as a child. When I courted my wife, I hired mariachi singers to serenade her just as lovers do today. So how could I pass up a chance to experience the greatest mariachi festival in the world,” said Domingo, who also performed his favorite Mariachi song, “Paloma Querida.”
Plácido Domingo
The music list of “Mariachi” ranges from passionate love songs where performers are covered in red and white rose petals to celebratory anthems of Mexican culture. The program includes some of the festival’s 500 mariachis performing in concert halls and street markets. These include Mariachi America, Mariachi Los Caballeros , Mariachi Los Camperos, Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlan, Mariachi Real Jalisco, and Mariachi Vargas performing such songs as “El Mariachi, Pajarillo, (LittleBird),” “La Negra (The Dark-Skinned Girl),” “La Fiesta del Mariachi,” and “Guadalajara.”
The program was produced by WLIW New York in association with KCET Hollywood. More information on television listings can be found on PBS.org — Sergio Carmona
Posted by Elena del Valle on August 1, 2006
Hip Hop Hoodios
Photo: Hip Hop Hoodios
The Jewish community in the United States is relatively small. When broken into the Latino-Jewish community it’s much smaller. Then there is the mixture of the hip hop and Jewish communities. Out of a hybrid of these cultures came the Hip Hop Hoodios. The Hoodios next stop will be a free performance at this year’s Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC) on August 3, 2006 at El Museo Del Barrio in Spanish Harlem. The free performance is sponspored by the LAMC.
The bicoastal group led by Josh Norek of Colombian decent and Abraham Velez of Puerto Rican decent is part of a collective of Latino hip hop artists based out of New York and Los Angeles. The group mixes Latin rhythms with hip hop beats, topped with trilingual lyrics (English, Spanish and Hebrew).
The Hoodios have been garnering recognition since their 2002 debut album “Raza Hoodia.” The self-released album sold 5,000 copies. This is impressive considering it was completed in one weekend on a $500 dollar budget. For the second release, “Agua Pa’ La Gente,” there was a lot more money and time thanks to the Hoodios signing on with Jazzheads Records. The group spent a year working on the album, produced by Happy Sanchez, which includes 12 new tracks and a money back guarantee.
Although according to the Hoodios the majority of their followers are Latinos they are also recognized by the Jewish community. They were one of the first Latin groups invited to perform at the Salute To Israel Parade in June of 2005. The annual parade down 5th Avenue in New York City included a float blasting the sounds of “Nose Jobs” and other Hoodios tracks. — Melissa Gonzalez.
Posted by Elena del Valle on July 28, 2006
Photos of full size sculptures by Carlos Cartagena
Photos: Chelis Lopez
Bay area artists have come together to bring immigrant silhouettes to life. Peruvian filmmaker Mabel Valdiviezo will follow Salvadorian Artist Carlos Cartagena as he travels throughout the Americas to help immigrants tell their stories in her latest project “Silhouettes: Immigration/Emigration Through The Eyes Of An Artist.”
Cartagena will portray the tales of the immigrants’ journeys from their homeland to the United States by using silhouettes. He works with them to create full size images of the immigrants carrying their prized possessions. The silhouettes are made up of letters written to and received from each person’s country of origin, documents of identification and photographs. Along with these are the reasons that caused him or her to leave his or her country.
Photos of full size sculptures by Carlos Cartagena
The documentary will be made up of different installments shot through out North and South America. Mexico City is planned to be the first stop. From then on the artists will bring the past location’s silhouettes in order to give others a foundation on which to base the artwork.
Valdiviezo will produce and direct the film for Haiku Films based out of San Francisco. She is a principal in the company which also produced the film “Soledad is Gone Forever.” With “Silhouettes,” she believes immigration is being explored in a new light with a fresh dynamic perspective.
The film is a finalist in a PBS short film contest based on her work with Cartagena on his “Music Box” collection and a sample proposal for a finished full-length documentary. The winner will be selected by an online vote that can be cast at the PBS website until August 8, 2006. More information is available online at HaikuFilms.org — Melissa Gonzalez
Posted by Elena del Valle on July 27, 2006
Julieta Vanegas
Photo: LATV
LATV, the bilingual youth network, is airing musical performances taped before a live audience this summer. Featured acts on “En Concierto” include Julieta Venegas, Jeremias, Bebe, Jeannie Ortega, Lucybell, David Garza and Sidestepper.
Every week, LATV’s studio and television audiences enjoy live concerts “in an intimate setting.” Offering a mix of mostly English and some Spanish language music and lifestyle programming, LATV aims to be the groundbreaking network among bicultural young Latinos in Los Angeles, America’s largest Hispanic metropolitan market. According to station promotional materials, LATV is the only network airing on basic cable in Los Angeles that reaches the highly sought-after bicultural demographic.
This summer’s LATV “En Concierto” airdates are as follows: July 12 and August 7 Julieta Venegas and Jeremias; July 17, Angel y Kris and Jay D; July 19 and August 16, Jeannie Ortega and Rigo Luna; July 24, Gecko Turner and B Side Players; July 26, Lucybell and Zenvox; July 31, Elefant and David Garza; Augutst 2, Sidestepper and Superelegantes; August 14, Bebe and Locos Por Juana.
Posted by Elena del Valle on July 21, 2006
El Morro
Photos:WLIW New York
“Visions of Puerto Rico,” part of the WLIW Visions series underwritten by Public Broadcasting Service viewers, will premiere nationwide August 2006. “Visions of Puerto Rico” promoters promise television viewers a visit to the Caribbean island’s main landmarks using the lighthouses at the four corners of the island as transition points. Puerto Rico is 35 miles wide by 100 miles.
The program features aerial and ground footage shot in high definition with the latest technology. It includes informational narration by Rita Moreno about the island’s history, architecture and natural beauty and a soundtrack of local favorites including the omnipresent chirp of the tiny coqui frog.
Old San Juan
“Visions of Puerto Rico” includes scenes with dancers on the last day of Carnaval in Ponce, Cerro Puntas, small mountain towns, west coast beaches, hotel resorts, casinos and golf courses in the Condado district and El Yunque rainforest.
Film locations of the WLIW New York produced program include Bahia de San Juan, Fuerte San Felipe del Morro, La Fortaleza, Fuerte San Cristobal, Plaza de Colón, Parroquia San Agustin, Plazuela de la Rogativa, Raíces Fountain, and Puerta de San Juan. WLIW New York’s Visions series includes “Visions of Italy,” “Visions of Greece,” “Visions of England,” and “Visions of Germany.”
Posted by Elena del Valle on July 20, 2006
Voy Baby DVD cover
Photo: Voy
Los Angeles, California — Visual Entertainment (VE) entered into a multi-year distribution agreement with Voy to distribute film and television programming for DVD release. Initial releases are slated to appear in major U.S. retailers by the summer.
Voy, self-described as “the first diversified multimedia company focused on the next generation, bilingual Latino consumer and those discovering the Latin culture,” will begin by releasing the first DVD in a series titled “Voy Baby,” an infant line for parents who want their children to learn Spanish. Additional volumes of the series will be released in the coming months.
The documentary “Chivas: Si Se Puede” (“Yes You Can”) will also be released as World Cup fever sweeps the world this summer. Produced by Primetime Group, the film tells the true story of a Mexican soccer franchise’s unlikely success building an entire team in the U.S. from scratch: the Chivas of Los Angeles. The film was directed by Sergio Guerrero, the co-writer of last year’s “A Day Without a Mexican.”
Other products will cover a wide range of culturally relevant content such as mainstream pictures with a Latin theme, narrative documentaries, and videos for young families. Voy also plans to launch extensive online content, complimenting the releases with additional services and entertainment features.
According to Centris, Latino households buy 30 percent more DVDs per month than the average household. Retailers and suppliers, we are told, have taken note of this outperformance by increasing the number of Latino-oriented DVDs offered over the past several years.
The Visual Entertainment (VE), a division of Universal Music Group Distribution (UMGD), product line features family, comedy, foreign, Latin, urban, fitness and theatrical releases. Studio partners include Bauer Martinez Distribution, Bodywisdom Media, Clanagan Media, First Independent Pictures, Melee Entertainment, New Light Entertainment, Palm Pictures, Rising Entertainment, Trinity Home Entertainment and Xenon Pictures.
Voy (Spanish for “I Go”), was founded to create the first diversified media company focused exclusively on the Pan Latin Generation, a market segment consisting of upwardly mobile and bilingual 13-49 year old Latinos. Voy has offices in New York, Los Angeles and Buenos Aires.
Posted by Elena del Valle on July 14, 2006
Jorge Hernandez of Los Tigres del Norte, performing at a concert in Culicán, Sinaloa, Mexico, as seen in “Al Otro Lado”
Photos: Courtesy of “Al Otro Lado”
Director Natalia Almada chronicles the conflicts involving the United States-Mexico border in the documentary “Al Otro Lado” (Spanish for “To The Other Side”), airing on Tuesday, August 1 as part of public television’s (PBS) Point of View (P.O.V.) series. The documentary is seen through the perspective of Magdiel, a 23-year-old fourth–generation fisherman and aspiring composer who gets involved in drug trafficking and illegal border crossing while seeking the “American Dream” and supporting his family through Mexico’s economic crisis.
“We look at issues through Magdiel’s experience on economic decisions because he can’t support his family. In U.S., people look at moral decisions but not on economics in the region of Mexico,” said Almada. “There is injustice with people dying in the border and films look at (an) intimate portrait of someone making decisions for family in (an) intimate way. I don’t think a lot of people recognize this and they look at numbers.”
Man at Los Angeles club, as seen in “Al Otro Lado”
In, “Al Otro Lado,” poor fishing practices and global demands in Magdiel’s hometown, Sinaloa, propel him to become involved as a drug trafficker for his friends and to cross the border illegally to the United States. The documentary uses the Mexican tradition of Corrido music, which is compared to ganster rap in content and lyrics, to aid in telling the film’s conflict with drug trafficking.
“Al Otro Lado” was selected as part of the Tribeca Film Festival’s “All Access Program,” and had a week-long run at the Museum of Modern Art in 2006. It has received the following awards: New York International Latino Film Festival’s Cultural Voice Award in 2005; Puerto Rico International Film Festival’s Best Documentary in 2005; and CineFestival’s Best Feature Film in 2005.
Almada has won awards at the Tribeca and Chicago International Film Festivals. She received a master of fine arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design. This is her first documentary series.
P.O.V., in its 19th season on PBS, airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m., from June through October. More information about P.O.V is available online at PBS.org — Sergio Carmona
Posted by Elena del Valle on July 10, 2006
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Red Hot & Latin Redux album cover
Photo: Nacional Records
In celebration of the ten year anniversary of “Red Hot & Latin,” Nacional Records is bringing back the compilation and reissuing it as “Red Hot & Latin Redux” with five new bonus tracks from Latin alternative artists like Brazilian Girls with Kevin Johansen, Thievery Corporation, Nortec Collective, Kinky and Plastilina Mosh.
The album also features remastered tracks from the original release such as bilingual collaborations between David Byrne and Café Tacuba, Fishbone and Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Los Lobos and Money Mark and Laurie Anderson and Aterciopelados.
Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot & Latin, originally released in 1997 on Jellybean Benitez’ H.O.L.A Recordings, was the tenth album in the Red Hot series created to fund the fight against AIDS in Latin America and the Latino community. Some thought the pairing of artists like David Byrne and Café Tacuba reflected a cultural encounter ahead of its time.
When “Red Hot & Latin” was originally released, the album was the subject of an MTV special. Profits generated by Red Hot & Latin Redux will go to the Red Hot Organization to fight AIDS in the U.S. Latino community and in Latin America. For more information online visit RedHot.org
To listen to “What’s New Pussycat,” a song by Los Fabulosos Cadillacs and Fishbone from the recently released “Red Hot & Latin Redux” album, scroll down on HispanicMPR.com until you see “Podcast” on the right hand side, then select “What’s New Pussycat” by clicking on the title or on the play button. You can also download it to your iPod or MP3 player to listen on the go, in your car or at home. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the July 2006 section of the podcast.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on July 7, 2006
Ricardo Montalban’s American high school diction teacher inspired his future as one of Hollywood’s most recognizable Mexican Americans, seen here as Fantasy Island’s “Mr. Roarke”
Photo: Photofest and Shades of L.A./Los Angeles Public Library
WLIW will redistribute “The Mexican Americans,” originally produced in 2000, nationwide on public television in August 2006. According to promotional materials actor Ricardo Montalban, comedian Paul Rodriguez, singers Vikki Carr and Tish Hinojosa, former U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson, director Luis Valdez (“La Bamba”), activist Dolores Huerta, artists, politicians, journalists, and community leaders share their personal stories during the program.
According to the film producers, Mexican Americans defended this nation in every war in the 20th century, becoming among the highest decorated ethnic groups. “The Mexican Americans” looks at the Mexican diaspora and its various waves such as the “accidental immigrants” who found themselves on the other side of the California and New Mexico borders at the end of the U.S.-Mexican war; the miners and railroad workers who came after the Mexican Revolution; and the migrant farmers who came to the United States when their Mexican ranchos were taken from them. “The Mexican Americans” endeavors to showcase the challenges they overcame, and the changes that their children have affected in the United States.
World War II servicemen and their girlfriends
For the migrant farmer, traveling up and down the United States following crop seasons or a wage increase of as little as two cents a bushel, playwright and director Luis Valdez recalls in the program, home “was a question mark.” But as many in the program recognize, this sacrifice reaped the American Dream, and when the children of these laborers succeeded, they never forgot where they came from.
Comedian Paul Rodriguez shares an emotional account of the day he handed his father the deed for the 40 acres of farmland his parents worked to provide for the family when he was a small boy. He was able to make the purchase from a level of success they never imagined possible for themselves.
The program also focuses on Mexican-Americans’ ability to improve the quality of their experience in the United States within a generation; and the late Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta’s efforts. The program includes archival film and photos blended with modern footage of communities in California, Texas, and New York in order to portray the Mexican American community’s heritage.
“The Mexican Americans” is the twelfth program in WLIW New York’s series of cultural documentaries celebrating the diversity of America, which also includes “The Cuban Americans” and “The Puerto Ricans: Our American Story.” It was produced by Roy Hammond, executive producer; Roman Brygider, producer and director; and producers Robin Llompart and Blanca Santos.
