ÑAWI, a group of new Ecuadorian music: Are you interested?

Dear friends,

I am looking for co-sponsorship opportunities to fund the visit of the musical group ÑAWI, a group of new Ecuadorian music based in Boston, MA.
Initially, the visit would include a concert of up to 2 hours and a workshop of introduction to Ecuadorian music, with a focus on Andean instruments. More details are described below.
So far, I am planning to apply for SORF through a few RSO's as well as request co-sponsorship from CLACS, La Casa, and other departments. I am hoping to raise about $8000 which is the estimated budget for a 2 day visit of ÑAWI to campus.

If any of you has ideas or know anyone who could be interested, let me know. We are planning the visit for the last week of April.

Thanks in advance!

Pilar Eguez G.
Ph.D. candidate
Department of Anthropology, UIUC
peguez2@illinois.edu

ÑAWI is a collaborative musical project between singer Mariela Condo, the Cachimuel brothers and their Ecuadorian folk music group "Yarina" and "Equatorial" a project of musical director and composer Alex Alvear. ÑAWI is not a traditional group or a group of Ecuadorian folk music but rather a group of "new ecuadorian music". This means that the background and sources of information/inspiration are rhythms and musical traditions from Ecuador. They propose a fusion between traditional Ecuadorian music with influences of Rock, Jazz, New Age, among others.

ÑAWI is a relatively recent musical project based in Boston, MA, even though all of the components of this project are well established artists with their own trajectories and broad visibility.
Because they are a new project, they do not have a web-page set up yet or recordings, however you can find details about each of these artist's independent productions at:

www.myspace.com/yarinamusic or http://www.spiritwindrecords.us/Yarina.html
www.alexalvear.com
www.myspace.com/marielacondo
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=223738861595&ref=mf


ÑAWI perform original arrangements and songs from of each one of the artists that integrate the group. Eventually they want to compose together exclusively for ÑAWI. However, due to the extensive shared material, they have a sufficient amount of music to offer concerts of up to 2 hours of duration.

The workshop proposal by ÑAWI is to do an introduction to the music of Ecuador.

This workshop can be as short as one hour and as long as two hours and it will offer an introduction to the diverse musical styles from Ecuador with explanations and demonstrations of diverse musical styles and the many instruments used. This will be offered by members of the group and will include live performances as part of the demonstrations, as well as listening to pre-recorded music and watching video clips.

In addition, depending on the interest, ÑAWI can also offer more specialized workshops such as master classes.

Posted by: K. Medina