Students from a UNC-Chapel Hill music class and their professor have produced “¡Viva Cackalacky! Latin Music in the New South,” a CD that pays homage to the growing Latino community in North Carolina, focusing on music as a medium to explore their migration experiences.
David García, associate professor of music, worked with 17 of his students on a class project in spring 2012.
The project was granted a 2012 Latino Migration Funding Award from the Latino Migration Project at the Institute for the Study of the Americas and the Center for Global Initiatives, in addition to funding from the UNC Program of Latina/o Studies. García’s class was responsible for each step of the production process.
The CD compilation includes songs performed and recorded in North Carolina over the past two decades. The CD encompasses a wide variety of styles of music ranging from from norteño, mariachi and música llanera to salsa, merengue, samba, cumbia and religious music. Tracks range from Rey Norteño’s popular ode to the city of Raleigh to Mariachi Amanecer Tapatío’s live performance at La Hacienda Mexican Restaurant in Chapel Hill.
García said that he hopes the ethnomusicological album contributes a “different kind of perspective on the debate on immigration, one that privileges music as a way to humanize and give voice to those (both Latino and non-Latino) in the forefront of shaping the New South.”
Hannah Gill, director of the Latino Migration Project, commended this album for its “uniquely North Carolina material and for showcasing the incredible talent that our new Latino neighbors are bringing to the state.”
For a free copy of the CD (limit one per request), please email Garcia or call him at (919) 843-2093.
Published July 3, 2012.