ÑAWI - new Ecuadorian music

• Event Date: Friday, April 30, 2010
• Time: Workshop: 4:00-6:00pm / Concert 7:30pm - 9:30pm (CDT)
• Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: Free Admission

• Performance

Workshop and Public Concert

ÑAWI is an exciting new musical collaboration joining the talents of outstanding musicians from Ecuador, including singer Mariela Condo, musician and cultural promoter Alex Alvear, and multi-instrumentalists Roberto, Rumi and Curi Cachimuel, from the award-winning ensemble Yarina. In Kichwa, the language of several indigenous groups in Ecuador, ÑAWI means "faces,” and a concert by ÑAWI is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy this ensemble’s unique expression of the diverse musical styles of Ecuador. From the ancestral Yumbo to the jovial Bomba and Albazo, from the powerful Churay to the melancholic Pasillo, ÑAWI will transport you to a place rich in its musical traditions yet still unknown to many.

The members of ÑAWI are indigenous from the Puruha and Otavalo people of the Ecuadorian Andes, and from Quito, Ecuador, Mexico and the U.S. Their work includes a fusion of modern styles with a variety of traditional rhythms from the Andes of Ecuador. Members of the group perform original arrangements and songs in both Spanish and Kichwa.

During the afternoon workshop, ÑAWI will offer an introduction to the musical styles they perform with discussion of cultural traditions and live demonstrations of the many instruments they play and the various rhythms they produce.

The Spurlock Museum hosts ÑAWI in collaboration with the Ecuadorian Students Association and the Fellowship for Activism and Applied Research at the University of Illinois. Concert, workshop, and related activities are funded by SORF (Student Affairs Program Coordinating Council), Spurlock Museum, Student Cultural Programming Fee with co-sponsors: Department of Anthropology, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, La Casa Cultural Latina, and Latina/Latino Studies Program.

Auditorium seating is limited. Museum doors open at 7:00 pm.

Music samples available upon request.

This event is sponsored in part by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

Related information can be found on the event's facebook page (external link)