Trina Bardusco Episode 25 - Innocence and wisdom shine out of Trina’s eyes when she speaks. Trina is an American, Venezuelan, and Italian extract, who from dancing to cycling to producing does it all with gusto and bravado. El flamenco is one of her greatest loves. Because of it, she holds to el Duende (sprite) as a means to sustain a living with meaning and purpose. We talk about that, her Made in NY fellowship year, Habla, Latino Media Works, and Flamenca Films. Grateful for the sisterhood.

Sol

I can’t stop thinking about Standing Rock. The camp is set to shut down tomorrow Monday. For the government sanctioned “last day,” an army of two thousand veterans for the Sioux Tribe, the Native American nations, and all the water protectors, are expected to arrive in South Dakota today. Fierce. I pray nothing bad or tragic happens. I pray. More words elude me, so I’m reposting my Letter to President Barack Obama. It stands relevant.

And, here’s part two of my heart-to-heart conversation with Elba Cabrera.

Here In New York City, Elba Cabrera is an esteemed figure of the Puerto Rican diaspora. Of strong stock, with strength and honor, she’s of one of those people everyone here knows. Her sister, the beloved and legendary leader hailed as the mother of the Bronx was Evelina López Antonetty.
 
She personifies cultural legacy. She greeted me with homemade banana bread, coffee, and quiche, and then gave me a tour of her apartment while she went on about her paintings and pictures. Her eyes and times have seen much.
 
Episode 23 is part one of two, and this first part of our conversation plays unedited because is nuanced - history bits and in-between the lines…

Lucía Castellano Vega and Inés Mongil Echandi is the team of directors behind the lovely short doc., Clubman 13.3.13. The piece trails one man whose work ethic, dignity, and elegance, reveals itself by his own words and actions. For over sixty-years, this man devoted himself to men’s wear. His sense of honor and duty reflected. The story is so simple it feels like a caress, a gesture.

What gets us up each day? How come we live and for what? What is our purpose? How does time change and alter what we do and focus on? What happens when circumstances change and we must take a different course? Clubman 13.3.13 addresses these themes. A poetic story about lifelong commitments but also about a changing labor market and workforce. 

The protagonist holds to his work ethic because he knows only it, will save him. As long as he has his will to live there is always something to do.

Inés and I talk life, finding stories, elegance, and dignity. 

Resistance is not futile. 

Sol

Good day, fair people: The timing is just right and unplanned. Poetic that episode 21 is a bit about why we fight the fights we fight. A new dawn is upon us. A terrifying one I think. And so, here someone who has something to teach us.

Melissa Montero is an Ecuadorian-Puerto Rican warrior, activist, filmmaker who dances the hustle. Automatic five stars, in my book. Her moral compass directs a lot of her creative efforts. We talk dance, the hustle, salsa, discipline, Oscar Lopez Rivera, and Isabel Rosado.

Melissa is one of the core committee members of the 35 Mujeres NYC X Oscar, a group of 35 women of different ideologies, faiths, and backgrounds who gather in neighborhoods throughout New York City the last Sunday of every month to rally until Oscar Lopez Rivera is pardoned and released from prison.

She’s been working on a documentary, Mi Madrina Revolucionaria (My Revolutionary Mother) for several years, about her search for a deeper sense of her identity as a Nuyorican through her encounters with Isabel Rosado, a woman whose life encompassed the history of Puerto Rico over the last century, and whose struggle reflects the politics that have divided Puerto Ricans to this day. 

Sol

(Photo by Sophia Guida, Standing Rock, September 2016)

CODA - Letter to President Barack Obama | If last week I smiled, this week I cried. Not sure which drop was the last drop that kicked it out me, but inspired by T.S. Eliot’s The Hollow Men and during my sleepless night of Thursday I wrote. And, a letter to President Barack Obama came out of me, which I sent to The White House and the Council of Environmental Quality on Friday morning. Later in the afternoon, I recorded myself reading it - Listen: 3 minutes and 50 seconds long. Below the letter:

Dear Mr. President,

What a wild, wild world we have in our hands these days. My heart is always with artists because no one like them to express quagmire. I think you feel the same way. T.S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men,” says it best right now. It’s epic last line, this is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper, resounds as imminent.

So many things ailing the world, and Lord knows there are many, and I know you are very cognizant of what these ailments are. I was relieved to see your segment on Now This. I can tell by your countenance that you are exhausted, Mr. President. And I feel you. I am with you. The enormity of all that is unfolding is simply mind boggling. But I have a grievance that I must express to you.

The situation ensuing as a result of the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline is to me the most telling of metaphors, at a global scale. I am dismayed and embarrassed by the lack of urgent action, by our government, in condemning such appalling behavior against the Native American Nations. It strikes me cold to see a wide disconnect between your administration’s claims to support climate change and environmental policy to save humanity, and the allowance of the Dakota Access Pipeline construction, at this particular time in the United States and world history.

Time and again we learn that pipelines crack, explode, and spill to the cost of human life and to the detriment of Mother Nature. As I see it, this is no longer about one water reservation at stake. Overall, in the big scheme of things, we the people have nowhere else to run.

We are all being bullied and the stench of the feces of greed is asphyxiating us slowly, slowly, slowly. The other issue emerging out of our mess is white supremacy. Terrifying. White supremacy appears to be alive and well by the looks and sounds of this disgraceful presidential election campaign. The succinct example in all its glory, seeing the Bundys get acquitted while we watch Native Americans get punished.

And so it has come to pass that Lady Liberty’s robe has torn at the seams by thousands-of-thousands of people grabbing on to it in the pursuit of liberty and justice for all. But Alas! The wind is blowing, Lady Liberty’s robe has unfurled, people are falling, and our dirty ass is showing for everyone to see. A whimper indeed.

Respectfully yours,

Soldanela Rivera López

Woman

Woman of color

Latina

Puerto Rican

U.S. Citizen

+ Photographer Sophia Guida came to my life a couple of years back and I'm a better woman for it. She is poised, shy, courageous, bright, and with an incredible sense of humanity. In late September she took off from the Bronx by bus, with a group of people, to Standing Rock. Here some of her pictures…

#IStandWithStandingRock, #ClimateChange, #BeforeTheFlood, #SOS, and#IamWithHer,

Sol

Good day: This is a Spanglish podcast and episode 20 of Notes From A Native Daughter. My guest is Puerto Rican actress, writer, and filmmaker Kisha Tikina Burgos. In our second go at recording, we end up having a heart-to-heart philosophical conversation about creativity and purpose. Lovely. 

Next week, on November 9th, her award-winning film “Antes que cante el gallo” (Before the Rooster Sings) directed by Ari Maniel Cruz, opens the International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival (IPRHFF) here in New York City. Among other awards, “Antes que cante el gallo” just received the Mejor Pelicula de Infancia 2016 by UNICEF Colombia during the 33rd edition of the Bogotá Film Festival. This is very cool and head over to Google translate to flip language and learn more. The film’s executive team are all a bunch of super Puerto Rican pros. Also very cool. So be on the lookout for streaming.

Sol

Good day fair people,

My good friend Francisco Serrano, one of those people I consider brilliant, calls me up a few weeks back to tell me I have to listen to the guy that his little daughter Isabel (3) is obsessed with. “She just can’t get enough of him.” I love Francisco and his plea was real. So I went ahead and listened and tuned in for a few hours of Google video watching. Turns out that 123 Andrés (Andrés Salguero) has a Spanish/English music act, with substance, for kids and with it, he’s making a respectable career. So much so that, for two consecutive years he’s been a Latin Grammy ® nominee for Best Children’s Album. Last year with his debut album ¡Uno, dos, tres Andrés! and this year with Arriba Abajo(Above Below).

123 Andrés is not a one-man band, Christina Sanabria, his wife, completes the powerhouse team behind all the fanfare. The band expands and “shrinks” depending on the gig and though they themselves are Colombians, their other bandmates represent Latin America and the Caribbean in various forms.

The bilingual element in 123 Andrés is intentional, smart, and fun. He puts out vallenato, rock, cha-cha-cha, cumbia and much more. Andrés is a skilled music man with a doctorate degree and all. In this episode #19, Andres and I talk bilingualism, being Latino in the U.S., seeing children learn, parenting and a bunch of other stuff. 

During these times of such grotesque political behavior, I search for things to hold on to. I think of Patricia Zárate and Danilo Pérez and the work they're doing with hundreds of children in Panama in the City of Knowledge; or the elegant campaign and action Paola Mendoza and Michael Skolnik are engaged in, in the U.S. with undocumented children to bring attention to immigration reform; and the commitment of Andrés Salguero andChristina Sanabria to use music and language to educate children of all backgrounds on the wonder and beauty of the Latin American continent. They, of course, are not alone in quest and purpose, but today they're very much on my mind and it makes me smile. 

Sol

I

It’s time to repent.

II

There’s no business like show business.

III

Caridad de la Luz

“La Bruja”

A poet, a sister, a mother, and daughter

IV

   (Us at 5:00 a.m. LGA to D.C. early Aug. 2016)

V

Puertorriqueñas

Boogierican

Nuyorican

Latinas

Amigas

Vecinas

Alma

True hearts

VI

This show was made in four parts

And features Poet Emilio Montilla

with "Meet me in the Middle"

VII

Watch Habla Y Vota

Vote

S.O.S.

Peace,

Sol

Good day fair people,

This episode is about music and about people that want to change the world.

I have the good fortune of knowing people that act and live in accordance to the greatest dream of all, to make the world a better place. Beginning with my dad, Danny Rivera, who has devoted years to good causes unbeknownst to most, moving about with his underlying tactic, music. I’ll get to talk to him at some point in the near future, but for now, the long story short is that Danny takes chances on the young. A consistent small gesture that plays a big part in his pursuit of that grand dream.

Many years ago, right before a rehearsal was to start for a concert date Danny had in Panama, a young teen pianist was brought on last minute to play the concert date because at the very last minute, the adult musician was unable to play the gig. Danny hadn’t arrived yet and the promoter was freaking out and asking to have the kid be taken out, when Danny walked in and said, “the kid stays.” That kid was Danilo Pérez.

Almost thirty years later, Danilo invited Danny to be part of his festival, the Panama Jazz Festival. At the press conference, Danilo shared this story, and I paraphrase but the gist was that Danny’s gesture made all the difference in the world, because he was validated.

The Panama Jazz Festival, aside from being a performance platform of the highest caliber, is also a music project meant to change the world.

The Executive Director of the Panama Jazz Festival is a woman, the fierce Patricia Zárate.

When I say fierce, I mean to the 10th power. She believes music can change the world.

And, the silver lining is that indeed the festival’s impact is doing just that, transforming lives, my own included.

I was there this January with Dad and saw Patricia Zárate and Danilo Pérez, her husband, in action.

On September 5th, 2016, the Panama Jazz Festival became Law 312.

(After the gala show - John Patitucci, Randy Weston, Danny Rivera, Danilo Pérez, Patricia Zárate - January 2016)

Patricia and I talk about her journey as a musician, student, educator, wife, mother andher role as executive director.

Music is all about timing and this week’s synchronicity is nothing short of poetic andmusic is its crux. This podcast plays three days after I worked the 2016 Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame LA MUSA AWARDS, two nights after catching the music giants Gilberto Santa Rosa and Sergio George in the audience of the musical I Like It Like That, and the night after I went to see Danilo Perez’s Jazz 100: The Music of Dizzy, Ella, Mongo & Monkgig at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

I did not plan it this way, but the back-to-back force of music reverberating inside me this morning leaves me with a concrete takeaway, I too believe that music can change the world.

Sol

Good day fair people,

There’s so much I want to say about Eduardo Alegría, and yet I'm completely out words. He was the first light I saw at the end of a dark tunnel. EA is a star. A performance artist, writer, dancer, vocalist, philosopher and band leader. He calls Se Nos Fue La Mano a musical “novelette.” The album is an outstanding piece. A Spanish alternative-rock gem for the ages. 

In the episode, Poneletreros, his words, music, queer life, Clowns Caress Me, Lucecita Benitez, Puerto Rico, made in the sea, El Recipiente/Tsunami.

Attached, the song Alucinando al Máximo (Hallucinating to the Max) for these days of thunder and seeming moral putrefaction.

#libertadparaoscarlopezrivera,

Sol

+ the booklet with full credits and lyrics 

Good day fair people,

From the personal to the universal or from the universal to the personal – the quest of artists. To nail that very thing that grabs at us in our core. A hit and miss type of thing, but the noblest of efforts. Well, Argentinean filmmaker Gaston Solniki has an uncanny ability to achieve just that, every single time it seems. He’s known for his non-fiction documentaries Süden (2008) and Papirosen (2011).

I didn’t know of Gaston until a few weeks back when Cinema Tropical sent out the press release announcing the premiere of his latest film Kékszakállú, his first fiction feature, an official selection at this year’s Venice, Toronto and New York Film Festivals. He won the FIPRESCI Award (International Federation of Film Critics) a few weeks back at Venice. Sold on Kékszakállú with the opening line of the press release: “Kékszakállú is a singularity: a playful portrait of spiritual lethargy. A portrait of several young women at the threshold of adulthood…” 

Kékszakállú did not disappoint me. Quite the contrary. I saw myself. When I dug him up to prepare for our chat I found Enjoy Yourself, one of the shorts for which he’s known for. Marvelous. There I was again. I was that girl at the Quinceañeras, disco parties, andBar Mitzvahs dancing my ass off. Alas! 

Most of you know I wear my heart on my sleeve, I can’t help it. So I tell Gaston about that, and he responds. A sweetheart and a great talent. Partly inspired by Béla Bartók’s sole opera Bluebeard’s Castle, Kékszakállú is a must see.

If you’re in New York City try catching one of two NYFF Screenings:
Tuesday, October 4, 8:45pm at Walter Reade Theater
Wednesday, October 5, 8:45pm at the Bruno Walter Auditorium

If not, be on the lookout for streaming.

May today be grand.

Sol

Good day fair people, Ivonne Coll plays a fabulous Alba Gloriana Villanueva, abuela, on The CW hit show, Jane the Virgin. Ella es una estrella puertorriqueña / a Puerto Rican star with a career path of many years. I offer a heartfelt introduction about her and to her, for all of you, which, I think will make up for the fact that I lost her first nine minutes of conversation. Humbling.

Ivonne es bella y tremenda and she’s family. 

This picture of Ivonne from the 70s, taken by the grand man Gabriel Suau, a whole other beautiful story, is part of my childhood framework regarding arts, culture andentertainment in Puerto Rico during the 70s and early 80s. Talented people. Beautiful people. Beautiful times.

I apologize again for my blunder with tech and sound. But I stand by the conversation. Mistake withstanding, and to my credit, starting this podcast was more important than achieving perfect sound from the get-go. I hold four more pre-recorded episodes using simply headphones with a mic and a laptop. Those upcoming ones, however, have recorded fairly well. And, just recently I upgraded my equipment, mics-macs-and all, so, pa’lante y mejorando.

Live long and prosper,

Sol

Good day, One of the great bounties of my life is the fact that I have human beings like Rosal Colón in my life. Numerology anyone? Her birthday is 4/13, mine is 12/13 and she’s the 13th episode. But I digress.

Rosal Colón is a real thoroughbred of the theater. Serious stuff. This kid has credits.

Some of those are: Alumna of the Conservatory of Theater Arts, SUNY Purchase; member of the acclaimed Labyrinth Theater; Freeman of Color (Broadway), The Motherfucker with the Hat (Broadway and regional D.C.; Much Ado About Nothing (The Public Theater); Ninth and Joanie (Labyrinth Theater); Between Riverside and Crazy (2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and read the New York Times review); Season 4 Orange Is The New Black (filming season 5).

And carrying on…

Shout out to:

1) The originals, Rosalba Rolón and Alvan Colón-Lespier and Pregones/PRTT.

2) And, Alejandra Ramos Riera, the up-and-coming playwright working on the fringes who should be at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

From the heart,

Sol

Part I

My guest for episode 12 is Zaida Adriana Goveo Balmaseda. Her name sounds like the great Latin American novel, à la Anna Karenina, less the tragic ending. But it befits her. She’s an alchemist artisan. Dexterous with her hands, Zaida Adriana creates things from natural and recycled materials. Visit BALMASEDA so you can see her poetry.

There’s one big BUT in this episode. My DIY sound engineering capabilities failed to ask Adriana to speak closer to her microphone…we live and we learn. My editor did make it better, but my voice is over powering. However, our conversation was lovely and I stand by it. It’s symbolic, that the artisan that shares how she has to be so present and in the moment when she does her alchemy, should get a podcast episode that requires the listener to do just that, be still, present and listen…ja!

Episode 12

Hello, World!

Solid, supportive, soulful, singular and a superb professional with one of the most beautiful smiles ever, that’s Tony Chiroldes. 

He loves to sing Out There from the film The Hunch Back of Notre Dame for his cabaret show. Out There is all about chops and heart something Tony has galore. And, he reminds me that being out there in the world and living, is what it’s all about.

Paola Lázaro is fierce. Here’s a young, talented and emerging wordsmith, in a very crowded landscape, standing as a unique voice.

Recent credits:

Selected by the Atlantic Theatre Company to be its Tow Playwright-in-Residence as part of the Tow Foundation’s 2016–17 playwright residency program.

She was part of the 2015 Emerging Writers Group at the Public Theater.

Received an Arts Entertainment Scholarship Award from the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts for the pilot episode of her TV show, Trópico.

Appeared in "To the Bone" at the Cherry Lane Theatre and received a 2015 Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress.

In May of this year, Paola participated in the Sundance Institute’s pilot Theatre Lab in MENA, held in Morocco.

Episode 9

Harry Nadal is a creative a mind and consummate professional. His next gig - Arena Stage in D.C. to work on A Raisin in the Sun. Harry does what he does because, “it’s the talent that God gave me and it is what I was brought into this world to do.” In a field that is not Latino dominated, Harry is a mentor and an example for future Latino designers.