MUSIC SIN FRONTERAS. 3.17.24

A 3-day festival of music, dance, art ad ialogue like an Aztec version of SXSW. Loved the Progressive jazz/Aztec drumming/flamenco dance fusion

The Michi-Cihuali Festival of dance, music, and art

Michi-Cihuali is the Aztec goddess of Lake Chapala, in Mexico, the queen of the wind and waters who protects Mexico’s largest lake and the water supply for almost 4 million people. She controls the winds, gives the fish life,  and calms or riles the waves as needed. She is a local deity in Chapala and Ajijic –and her image and celebrations of her are all over the area. She is very much alive in the hearts and minds of the Mexicans and the expats.

So it was fitting that the cultural hub of Lakeside for pre-Hispanic art and music and dance and jazz and flamenco staged a three-day festival to celebrate the goddess of the lake with Aztec dancing .

Each night the festival opened with an Aztec ceremony led by Sergio Hernández, the leader of the C-Olin indigenous Aztec dance troupe, honoring the water, the sky, the lake, and the mountains – the elements that come together to create and support the ecosystem of Lake Chapala. This was followed by films, discussion groups with ecological experts on the Lake, Aztec dancing lessons for audience members,  a visit by the local Sayacas (comic characters who dance ad cavort and sometimes throw flour or glitter on audiences,) a tuba-led  Mexican party band, Aztec tribal dances, authentic local food, and much more.

It felt like a Mexican-Aztec version of South by Southwest, without the corporate logos.

The highlights of the festival came on Sunday night when Mexico-City-based flamenco dancer Marien Luevano joined he leader of the C-Olin Aztec dancers and members of the Trialogo progressive jazz  band for a espectáculo de danza .

Marien Luevano is the co-founder of Hojas de Té Flamenco Center  in Mexico City  and is a pioneer in innovative and experimental flamenco. She has danced and taught dance all over the world. Sunday night she blended innovative flamenco with modern dance and Aztec ceremonial dancing, powered by Aztec drums ad progressive jazz. I have never seen anything like it.

The festival closed with the ignition of a castillo (steel tower with fireworks on it that whirls and sings when  the fireworks are lit) made by local families.

By the end of the festival, we all had the Aztec drumbeat imprinted on us like our heartbeats (it is designed to represent the music of the corozón – the heartbeat). And we all hoped that Mich-Cihuali is listening and will blow away the pollution that threatens the lake and its bountiful diversity of wildlife.

And nobody mentioned St. Patrick’s Day.

Patrick O’Heffernan

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