Hispanic Heritage Festival Triumphs
By Misha Chellam
Staff Writer

Hispanic culture is in vogue. The taco is replacing the hamburger. Enrique sells more records than Justin. TV is just talking heads anyway, and Univision is way more exciting than CNN. Who doesn’t like the Buena Vista Social Club?

With all this going for them, the organizers of last Friday’s Hispanic Heritage Festival must have been feeling pretty confident. They were bringing in a world-class band, serving homemade guacamole and sangria, and utilizing the best venue on Pomona’s campus, the Sontag Greek Theater. The event was being co-sponsored by five on-campus organizations, and one of the most visible students on South Campus, Andres Lopez ’04, had put together a salsa band to open the show.

Then things got iffy.

Scheduling was the first problem. Most weekends feature the same party with a different name, another Eversole affair with so-so beer and a so-so DJ. That is one of the reasons why Antonio Ramos Alvarez, the Spanish language resident at Oldenborg, decided to organize the event to give students a different option. On this particular Friday, however, there were two other events – live Indian music at Scripps and Studio 47’s ingenious VideoFlow party – that were competing in the same creative niche.

Publicity was another problem. While most students were talking about the yellow package-slipesque flyers that advertised the Studio 47 event, there was almost no promotion of the Festival, save a few digester messages.

Friday also brought the first day of autumn and gray skies which shocked and angered most students on campus. The idea of sitting around at the Greek theatre for hours suddenly became less appealing.

At 7:00 pm, the advertised starting time, things were not looking good. Due to a miscommunication, the power at the Greek theatre hadn’t been turned on, and no one knew who to contact about it. The musicians from Los Pinguos played kick-ball against the wall of Seaver Theatre, while the band alternately known as "Andrés López' Salsa Trio" and “The Gabriel Kwofie Experiment” milled around on stage. Then a final blow came: the alcoholic sangria would not be served until 10:00 p.m.

But things turned around dramatically, starting with the appearance of Dean Frank Bedoya, who heroically answered a call at home and came to turn on the power at the Theater. Minutes later the opening band had sound checked, and as a steady flow of students filled the stone bleachers, the ALST/TGKE began to play its Latin-flavored rock.

The six Pomona students put on a good show, considering their lack of experience playing together, and they were well-received. Noteworthy performances came from Nick Villalon ’04 on upright bass, Gabriel Kwofie ‘04 on djembe, and the dynamic bandleader Lopez on guitar and vocals.

Then came Los Pinguos. Los Pinguos rocked.

The seven-piece Argentinean band, established in the LA area but unknown to the majority of students in attendance, immediately gained credibility with a crisp opening nod to the Simpson’s theme song. Even people who didn’t know a lot about Hispanic music knew that these guys were good. Singing and playing complex harmonies and rhythms, Los Pinguos had the audience out of the bleachers and onto the floor by the second song. That sober students were willing to look silly salsa-dancing was a testament to the band’s skills.

Near the end of the set, organizers began to serve alcoholic sangria, and the crowd was genuinely sad when the band announced that this would be their last song. Begged for an encore, Los Pinguos obliged the students with one last display of virtuosity, and then hung around and chatted with the lingering crowd.

After that the 5-C dance party began, although a lot of students had already headed off to one of the night’s other social events. The party continued until about midnight. All in all, the Hispanic Heritage Festival was a huge success and will hopefully become a yearly tradition.