Sounds of Columbia & Venezuela coming to Milwaukee | Events

Jon Waldbauer, United Community Center Communications Contend Coordinator

While the plains of the Midwest are far from the hills and countryside of Venezuela and Colombia, Latino Arts will transport our audience to the world of the herders of the Llanos grasslands with the music of Arpa y Bandolas. This enchanting genre and its warm, layered melodies are sure to captivate the hearts of anyone looking to escape the brisk Wisconsin winter.

The musicians of Arpa y Bandolas have roots in Colombia and Venezuela, and their music shares the beauty and folklore of these sister nations. The band performs ‘llanera’ music, the sounds of the herders that occupy western Venezuela and eastern Colombia, using traditional string instruments like the harp and the cuatro. Several of the performers are multi-instrumentalists, sharing duties on a number of varieties of guitar specific to the llanera sound, such as the bandola llanera, the requinto, and the tiple. Arpa y Bandolas is a new collaboration between Chicago-based musicians that hail from Latin America, and their upcoming performance at Latino Arts will be the group’s Milwaukee debut. They take the stage on Friday, March 16 at 7:30 p.m. in the Latino Arts Auditorium.

Ticket prices for evening performances in the Latino Arts Auditorium: General Admission $25, Seniors (60+) $20, Full-Time Students $15, $8 per student in groups of 10 or more. Dinner & A Show includes a General Admission ticket to the performance and the Friday fish buffet in Café el Sol (beverages and gratuity not included) for $32. Tickets for performances in the Latino Arts Auditorium are now available to be purchased online safely and conveniently through an exclusive collaboration with MiVoz.com.

Following Palindrome Series #2: Conversion by Pamela Diaz Martinez will be displayed in the Latino Arts Auditorium until March 30. The art of Pamela Diaz Martinez is alive with magical realism, detailed scenes of lifelike clarity with whispers of surreal circumstances that address the ever-present pull between the physical and the spiritual.

Exhibitions in the Latino Arts Gallery are open to the public Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. for a suggested donation of $1.