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sentinel staff writer

Like folk music in the United States, the Nueva Canción movement of the Spanish-speaking world brought together the music and political sensibilities of the past with present urgencies: war, oppression and social change.

"You had Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, and we had Silvio Rodriguez, Victor Jara and Joan Manuel Serrat," said Juan L. Sánchez, who plays and sings with his ensemble Sunday night at the Kuumbwa.

Blending the influences of the Nueva Canción with world music and jazz, the Juan L. Sánchez Ensemble lives up to its name in the richly textured and joyous CD "Cosmopolita."

With Paul Contos on saxophone and flute, Dayan Kai on piano, mandolin, clarinet, zampońa, kena, guitar, accordion and voice, Steve Uccello on bass and guitarrón, Noe Hinojosa on congas and bongó, David McCormick on percussion, Sánchez on guitar and lead vocals and special guest Armando Mafufo, this ensemble showcases some of the finest musicians living around the Monterey Bay.

Touch the heart
It was in his work as a bilingual third grade teacher at Echo Valley School in Prunedale that Sánchez felt an urgency to bring his classical music training and his social consciousness together.

"I realized that the model for bilingual education was the subtraction model: you take a child and annihilate their language and their culture," said the father of two.

"I felt it was necessary to write music with a wider scope; music that expressed my frustration with oppression, and my obsession to touch people’s hearts."

He was told it wouldn’t sell. He was asked to sing in English. But the warm encouragement of audiences showed Sánchez he was on the right track.

"I try to keep from being preachy and let the music be the conduit," he said.

Five years ago, he left elementary school classroom and started bringing his vision of a better world — and his ensemble — to school auditoriums.

He also teaches what he practices at California State University at Monterey Bay, where he has developed a social justice curriculum. There he sends students out into the community to work in after-school programs in art and music.

Combining interactive education, inspiration, fun, and artistic quality, Sánchez and ensemble work through SPECTRA, Young Audiences in San Jose, and the California Arts Council to encourage their young audiences to think about things on their own terms.

"We’re just a field trip," he said. "But I like to offer them other ways to see things.

"For example, I sing with a lot of emotion and they’re not used to hearing that. This culture is cruel, it doesn’t let boys be kids, especially Latino boys. I show them that you don’t have to be cool all the time."

Troubadour tradition
When Sánchez was a young man in Malaga, Spain, it was the music of the Nueva Cancion that shaped his thinking about the world.

"I remember sitting for hours on hot summer nights, playing dominos and listening to recordings of those guys," he said.

"We’d go to the beach with a guitar and someone always knew a chorus and everyone would play along."

Born from the troubadour tradition of the Middle Ages, Nueva Canción drew many of its lyrics from the poetry of two influential generations: the poets of 1898 and 1927.

"The generation of ’98 was writing during the period when the debacle of Spanish colonialism ended," Sánchez said.

"The generation of ’27 — Garcia Lorca, Miguel Hernandez, Alberti, Cernuda — is the one I thrive on."

Nueva Canción was as strong in Latin America as in Spain with the music of Chile’s Victor Jara and Cuba’s Silvio Rodriguez, drawing on the poetry of Octavio Paz, Cesar Vallejo and Pablo Neruda.

"Every one of those guys gives a political spin to their music, even though some of them paid for it with their lives," Sánchez said.

Today, Sánchez and ensemble join the ranks of the novisimos (the new Nueva Canción) like Spain’s Ismael Serrano and Mexico’s Alejandro Filio.

"What I have in common with these musicians is the inclusion of world music into the arrangements," Sánchez said.

"What’s different is that my music has more of an ensemble quality, full of textures and layers. It gives it a different life."

Contact Nancy Redwine atnredwine@santa-cruz.com.

If You Go

WHAT: The Juan L. Sánchez Ensemble

WHEN: 7:30 p.m., Sunday.

WHERE: Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320 Cedar St., Santa Cruz.

TICKETS: $12. $10 students and seniors.

DETAILS: 899-9909 or www.juanlsanchez.com.

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