Press ReleaseContact: Nancy Green (915) 564-9218
La Concha de La Tortuga CD Release Party
December 20, 20008
El Paso Public Library
1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
La Concha de La Tortuga is a mixture of original music, natural sounds, and bilingual spoken word that brings to life a short story about the migration of Mother Turtle. Award-winning writer Denise Chávez, visual artist and musician Corina Gabaldón, musician Kris J. Wroblewski, musician Nancy Green, musician/recording engineer, Ricardo Valencia, photographer, Daniel Zolinsky and graphic artist Ernesto Hernandez collaborated to create this artistic work with funding from the City of El Paso Museum and Cultural Affairs Department.
The El Paso Public Library will co-sponsor a CD release party on Saturday, December 20, 2008 from 1-4:00 p.m. that will include a live performance.
The CD features the voice of Denise Chávez as La Voz, child Julian Valencia, and the Inutero heartbeat of Kaisa Dulcinea Penny is heard. The CD highlights original music “Walking Through Time” by Green and “Here We Are,” by Gabaldón and Wroblewski. Ancient Wisdom, Gabaldón's original artwork, graces the CD cover and Zolinsky’s photo of women coming down from Tortugas Peak on December 11th, the day of the climb and pilgrimage is on the backside.
The idea for this project began in 2007 when musician Nancy Green was asked to facilitate a workshop on How Music Is Born for staff of the Parents as Teachers Program of the Las Cruces Public Schools under the direction of Corina Gabaldón as part of the Familia=Arte Program. After reading a passage from Diccionario Ritual de Voces Nahuas by Adela Fernandez. Workshop participants divided into small groups, wrote an original story about each of four instruments mentioned in the passage (turtle shell, ocarina, conch, and Teponaztle), and created music for their stories. What emerged from the Chávez and Gabaldón collaboration was a genesis myth of the Emergence of Mother Turtle from the Earth.
The City of El Paso Museum of Cultural Affairs Department awarded Green an Arts Development and Enrichment Program (ADEP) grant to create a soundtrack of the story. Chávez, Gabaldón and Green reworked the legend, then invited pianist Kris Wroblewski to join. After a period of revision and rehearsal, the CD was taped at Studio Azul, in El Paso under the direction of musician Ricardo Valencia.
The CDs are available directly from the artists and at the Cultural Center de Mesilla, 2231 Calle de Parian in Mesilla for $15. For more information contact
Denise Chávez at 575.523.3988 at bbf@zianet.com
Nancy Green 915.564.9218 nancygreen9@yahoo.com
Artist Bios
Novelist, short story writer, playwright, actress and educator
Denise Chávez has a B.A. in Drama from New Mexico State University (1971), an M.F.A. in Drama from Trinity University (1974), and an M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of New Mexico (1984). A novelist, short story writer, playwright, actress and teacher, Chávez considers herself a Performance Writer. She is currently finishing a novel, The King and Queen of Comezón, as well as a children’s book, My Mother is A Maid. She is the Director of the Border Book Festival and the Cultural Center de Mesilla, an arts resource center, literary, storytelling, workshop and performance venue and serves as the home of the annual Border Book Festival.
Writer, musician, educator
Corina Gabaldón is a singer/songwriter from Las Cruces, New Mexico. Corina received her Master’s degree in Education from New Mexico State University. For the past 30 years she has been involved in music, art, and the educational field, working in school districts in California, Texas and New Mexico. She is the Special Projects Coordinator with the Las Cruces Public Schools, coordinating the Even Start Family Literacy and Parents as Teachers Programs. She co-wrote, performed and recorded Voices Through the Ages, the theme for a radio series, Coming of Age in New Mexico. She performed and co-wrote the theme song, Together We Can Make It Happen, featured in the nationally distributed video on family violence, Every 15
Seconds. She collaborated with Alma Productions in the creation of music and song for the production of Color Me Creative, a bilingual performance in storytelling and song. Other original compositions include Nuestras Mujeres, performed at the opening for the photo exhibit of Nuestras Mujeres: Hispanas de Nuevo Mexico, the theme songs El Corrido Sin Fronteras, Leer Es Vivir, Disappeared Lives, Cosecha/Harvest, performed at the First, Second and Third
Annual Border Book Festivals, and a tribute song, Legacy of Power, at a reception to honor author Alice Walker.
Musician, writer and educator
Nancy Lorenza Green, M.Ed. is an Afro-Chicana performance and recording artist from El Paso, Texas who uses poetry, percussion instruments and flute music as mediums of communication and cultural expression. Nancy has recorded three cds: Music From the Heart, Life Is Sacred, and a Tumblewords poetry compilation. She was a visiting artist with the Ysleta Arts Alive Program and the Familia=Arte in Las Cruces, a coaching artist with VSA arts of Texas, and a presenter at the VSA International Conference in Washington, DC. As a consultant for the Division for Blind Services, Nancy facilitates art and music therapy sessions for a family support group of children with disabilities and their families. Nancy is currently a member of Expresión Creativa, an artist collective that delivers art workshops in schools, community centers and libraries with funding from MCAD’s Community Arts Program.
Musician and educator
Kristina Wroblewski is a lyricist/keyboardist from Evanston, Illinois. Kristina trained classically in piano and after making New Mexico her home, embraced the heartbeat of the drum in her musical career. She has since incorporated both instruments to
naturally blend the world of words with harmonies and rhythms of sound/space. Kristina has a M.ED. from National Lewis University (1972) with advanced licensure and degree work from New Mexico State University (1986). As an educator with elementary through university teaching assignments, she has been a proponent of arts
integration throughout her professional educational career.
Recording engineer and musician
Ricardo Valencia was born in Mexico City in 1970. He studied Music Theory and Classical Guitar in the Universidad Autónoma de Música from 1989 to 1992. In the spring of 92’ he moved to produce and record with the band ‘Raza Antigua’ to Geneva, Switzerland where he studied Flamenco with Sidharus Ghali. In 1995, Valencia moved back to Mexico City and toured as accompanying guitarist with artists like Eduardo Capetillo, Zarabanda, Ricky Luis, Leo Dan, and many others. In the summer of 96’ Valencia enrolled in the Music Theory and Composition degree at The University of Texas at El Paso and specialized in Electronic Music Production. Valencia added the minors of French, Jazz Guitar Performance and Classical Guitar performance to his studies. Studio Azul is the digital recording studio managed by Valencia. Located in El Paso, Valencia has won national prices for productions like ‘Walking the Choctaw Way’ by the Nation Librarians Association.
Photographer
Daniel Zolinsky was born in France and moved to the U.S. when he was ten years old. A professional photographer, Zolinsky’s most recent exhibit was in October 2008 in Valencia, Spain called Visiones de México.
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