Arturo O'Farrill's "Fandango at the Wall" Transcends Borders

 

 

Each year since 2008, around Memorial Day, a transnational jam session happens on both sides of the wall at the Tijuana-San Diego border. This Fandango Fronterizo Festival inspired Grammy-winning musician and composer Arturo O’Farrill to launch a three-part project (album, book and film) under the title Fandango at the Wall to explore the close connections between Mexico and the United States. For this concert O’Farrill and his special guests tear down musical walls, exploring jazz, classical, Broadway, hip hop and son jarocho.  NPR interviewed O'Farrill and discussed how he's not only crossing artificial borders but erasing them. 

Good news for those in the UC Davis area.  Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Band plus Villalobos Brothers and the Conga Patria Son Jarocho Collective will appear at the Mondavi Center on October 14.

KJ