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The Pittsburg State University Department of Music held the Hispanic Heritage Concert to honor Hispanic Heritage Month.
The concert was held in McCray Recital Hall on Sept. 24 and started at 7:00 p.m. The performance featured music of composers from Honduras, Columbia, Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, Argentina, as well as Canada and the USA. The concert was sponsored by the music faculty, Hispanics of Today, Elizabeth Conrad, the international office, El Caballo de Oro, Pueblo Mio, Salvadoreno #1, and Limo’s Tacos. Following the performance, sponsors provided food and beverages for performers and the audience. The concert was curated by associate professor of music, Raul Munguia, who performed several pieces with the violin at the concert.
“It’s in commemoration of the National Hispanic Heritage Month and this is the first time that we (have done it) here in McCray Hall, in the music Department, to plan an all Latin American program,” Munguia said. “We have some Latinos hear in the university and Hispanic of today, it’s a very active student organization, and I decided to, you know, to collaborate with them and they’re helping me with this concert. I have faculty, students, as well as community members participating in this concert.”
The concert featured music in classical and folk styles. The performance had folkloric Mexican dancers participate in the concert. Robin Belew watched his wife, Carmen Belew, dance in the performance.
“I thought it was great, I thought the music was really great..,” Robin Belew said. “I think it’s good that we get to see and hear music from all different regions and kind of better understand the culture than what we might see on tv or radio, that kind of stuff. We get to see more heritage than what’s modern anyways.”
The performers of the concert decided their own music to perform. Some of the performers have been working on pieces for the concert for about a month. Kallie Shannon, sophomore in electronic engineering, performed with the PSU Strings. Shannon said PSU Strings has been practicing for their performance throughout the past week.
“I asked the participants to perform, and they choose what they want to perform..,” Munguia said. “Every performer decides what to perform in the concert, I just ask them to participate.”
Munguia said performers were excited to participate in the concert and they look forward to trying to hold and perform in future Hispanic Heritage Month concerts and continue to include Latin American music in their programs.
“The Hispanic culture here in the United States is huge and it goes from science, goes to literature, it goes to obviously music,” Munguia said. “Music is one of the most impactful, a biggest one because Latin music is very popular… I think it’s important for me in this part of this state because we don’t get to see many Latinos or not a lot of culture… You don’t see that very often, especially here on campus. So, to me it’s very nice to be able to provide this to the community, to the college.”
