FANDANGO AT THE WALL

From the Border to Live in New York City, this special and timely event includes a live concert, screening of the HBO documentary, and Panel Discussion.

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"Fandango at the Wall is the concert version of the Fandango Fronterizo gathering, which takes place at the border of Mexico and the United States, in which musicians and dancers gather from all over the world and celebrate by playing, dancing, singing, and improvising poetry across the actual fencing that separates our two nations. It's mind-blowing artivism that utilizes the elements of division and xenophobia to celebrate unity and the pueblo. In these difficult times, The New School is taking a stand for humanity and understanding by presenting the documentary, live music from the film with its GRAMMY award-winning musicians, and hosting a panel that will examine the rhetoric around border politics. It will be a celebration of humanity and the power of expression, art, and community as an answer to isolation and divisiveness. We hope many can join us.” -Arturo O’Farrill

Experience the festival that became a social movement, an HBO film, a Grammy-winning album, and a phenomenon...

An event that speaks to our timeliest issues, with artists responding to our moment.

Join us for this joyous and profound gathering.

All Events are Free with Registration / Space is Limited:

EVENT SCHEDULE:
Thursday, October 30 at 4:00-5:30pm
~Film Screening of the HBO Documentary, Fandango at the Wall, followed by a panel moderated by Alexandra Délano Alonso, Professor of Politics and Global Studies at The New School.

Panelists:

Jorge Castillo – Founder and Director of Fandango Fronterizo
Arturo O'Farrill – Pianist, composer, and faculty at The School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and Mannes School of Music
Patricio Hidalgo – Director of Conga Patria Son Jarocho Collective
Alexandra Délano Alonso – Professor of Politics and Global Studies at The New School

Location: The Auditorium on 12th Street / The New School

Thursday, October 30 at 7:30-9:00pm
~Fandango at the Wall in Concert

Arturo O'Farrill and The Afro Latin Jazz Octet

 The Conga Patria Son Jarocho Collective
The New School Studio Orchestra
Location: Tishman Auditorium / The New School

About Fandango at the Wall

The diplomatic relationship between the United States and Mexico has soured considerably. When the US President launched his campaign in 2015 with a speech that blamed Mexicans, he tore off the scabs of what was already a fraught relationship that has involved periods of bigotry, invasions, and wars. Yet considering the two-hundred-year up-and-down relationship between these two countries, it might be easy to dismiss the recent antagonism as just the latest swing or even a return to normal of mutual skepticism. But we shouldn’t be so complacent or dismissive because this distrust and suspicion, left unchecked, can turn into darker forces.

It falls upon private citizens and individuals to promote cross-border friendship and rapprochement. And that is ultimately the goal of Fandango at the Wall: to bring the people of the United States and Mexico together through music. After all, we don’t just share a border but families and friends, histories and futures. Our countries are interconnected, and our fates are interlinked. Indeed, we should root for and help each other. 

One of these individuals working to bring our countries together is Jorge Francisco Castillo. He is a retired librarian who organizes the Fandango Fronterizo Festival, which began in 2008. It’s a cross-border fandango, like a jam session, that features son jarocho music from Veracruz, Mexico. Once a year, around Memorial Day, these son jarocho musicians gather on both sides of the border wall in Tijuana and San Diego, and they perform a fandango. Members of the public are encouraged to come, eat, sing, and enjoy the festivities. Jorge’s vision has grown into a movement in which hundreds of people attend the festival, and many around the world have taken notice.

Maestro Arturo O’Farrill, who was born in Mexico, came across a story about Jorge and the fandango in the New York Times. He instantly thought it could be grist for a project that tears down the human-made walls that form between people. So, we traveled to Tijuana to meet Jorge and asked him if he’d like to collaborate on a new project, and he said yes. And then we got to work!

Fandango at the Wall tears down three types of wall: (1) physical walls, as we recorded musicians on both sides of the San Diego and Tijuana border; (2) musical walls, as we invited special guests from different musical traditions such as jazz, classical, Broadway, hip hop, san jarocho; and (3) recording borders, as we recorded both outside in the live environment and also in a recording studio.

Here is the moment that struck me: the border wall was behind us, the sun was setting over the Pacific Ocean, the crowd was yelling “Epa” and “Otra!”, and the band was grooving. Many of us were in tears as we took everything in. For a moment, we had helped to turn a symbol of division into a common space of peace and harmony. 

Fandango at the Wall is ultimately a project of convergence. I hope that as you listen to this music, you’ll hear the possibilities of what the relationship between the United States and Mexico can become. And that we as artists and activists continue to create the world in which we want to live.

–Excerpted from the liner notes By Kabir Sehgal

for Fandango at the Wall

Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra featuring Special Guests

Catch a glimpse of the phenomenon of Fandango at the Wall: Fandango at the Wall (Official HBO Trailer)