WEDNESDAY FOLK TRADITIONS at the PORTER-PHELPS-HUNTINGTON MUSEUM CONTINUES WITH VIVA QUETZAL JULY 10, 2019
HADLEY, MA-- The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum continues the 38th season of Wednesday Folk Traditions with the return of Viva Quetzal on Wednesday, July 10th. Viva Quetzal is a World/Afro-Andean/Latin/Jazz Fusion group of talented musicians of varying backgrounds that combines folk music from throughout the Americas. This and all other performances in the series are held Wednesday evenings at 6:30 pm in the Sunken Garden at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, 130 River Drive, Route 47, Hadley, MA 01035. General admission is $12 and $2 for children 16 and under. Picnickers are welcome on the museum grounds beginning at 5:00 pm. The Museum and its grounds are a smoke free site.
Originally founded in 1986, Viva Quetzal has recorded three albums, most recently Hijos del Sol. They are also included on Putamayo’s Music of the Andes (2014). Viva Quetzal’s unique blending of musical styles and use of over thirty instruments not only delivers a range of melodious rhythms that create a link between the rainforests of Central and South America, the carnivals of Brazil, the high plateaus of the Andes, and the urban barrios of Latin America and the United States.Viva Quetzal’s members-- who hail from Latin America and New England-- feel that merging musical traditions may help reconcile political, cultural, and linguistic divides throughout the Americas.
Viva Quetzal includes Joe Belmont, who has performed with the group since 1992. Belmont’s classical and electric guitar chops are given an added dimension by the Colombian tiple. Roberto Clavijo, originally from Chile, can be heard performing on quenas, zampoñas, charango, Venezuelan cuatro, and vocals. He has toured internationally with other groups and has been a member of Viva Quetzal since 1993. Jon Weeks plays flute, saxophone, wind, synth and more and continues to perform with many jazz, rock, and Latin bands on the East Coast. Rudi Weeks, plays upright and electric bass and has been part of the group for twenty years. He is an experienced musician, having performed with over thirty ensembles ranging in style. Abraham “Abe” Sanchez has provided Viva Quetzal with vocals and keyboard for over ten years. He brings a wealth of musical experience from his native Venezuela, where he was director of a music school and accompanied national and international touring musicians. Eliezer Martinez is their newest member and can be heard playing the drums with the group. He aims to share his love for music in every performance.
Wednesday Folk Traditions continues on July 17th with a performance by Pan Morigan and Friends. Morigan will present “I Sing Earth!: Songs for the Fragile Waters and the sweet Dirty Ground: A musical meditation on the times we're livin' in.” Morigan is a vocalist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist and uses innovative, original songs and passionate, unbridled vocals in multiple tongues, to reflect on migration, home, creativity, and love.
The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum Wednesday Folk Traditions is funded, in part, by grants from: the Marion I. And Otto C. Kohler Memorial Fund at the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts; the Amherst and Hadley Cultural Councils, local agencies, supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency; Massachusetts Cultural Council Festivals Program; Easthampton Savings Bank, Eversource Energy, Gage-Wiley & Co., and with generous support from many local businesses.
The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum is located at 130 River Drive (Route 47) in Hadley, two miles north of the junction of Routes 9 and 47. The Museum is open for guided tours Saturday through Wednesday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The house, which remains unchanged since the family’s occupancy, tells the story of six generations of prominent Hadley residents. The family, prosperous traders turned farmers, fought in both the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars, rose to prominence in local government, and embodied a consistently progressive social consciousness. Tours highlight both local and regional narratives, from architecture, material culture, and labor, to early-American theology, economics, and social movements. For further information about tours or other programs, please call the Museum at (413) 584-4699 or visit our website at http://www.pphmuseum.org.