It takes a village to raise a music scene.
Music promoters embrace the relatively thankless ordeal of organizing concerts and shows in spite of financial pitfalls, venue shortcomings and apathetic audiences. Thankfully, there are a handful of local promoters who welcome such grievances and provide reasons for us to leave the house on virtually every night of the week. As we welcome a new year, Chicanobuilt, Rasta Children, Fan Man Productions and High Mayhem outline and preview Santa Fe's musical future for 2007 and reminisce on shows past.
Chicanobuilt is a collective of artists/entrepreneurs with an expansive portfolio of prior events, clothing products and ideas that are difficult to compartmentalize. "Rather than wait for an opportunity to present itself, I want to create the opportunity,"
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Joe Ray Sandoval, one of Chicanobuilt's central figures and resident renaissance man, who has been at the helm of Chicanobuilt for the last six years, says. Chicanobuilt has collaborated with other local promoters to bring hip-hop acts like Atmosphere, Jurassic 5, Ozomatli and KRS-One (twice) to Santa Fe. Sandoval and Dynamite Sol can be found spinning reggae and dancehall at WilLee's Blues Club every Tuesday night with another ambitious DJ and new promoter named Abdul Soud, who recently produced the stellar Sister Carol show at WilLee's under his promotion company Rasta Children. A native of Kenya, Soud has been a fixture in the Santa Fe music scene for several years. Rasta Children's next production will be in February when Soud presents Rankin Scroo, a pioneer in urban reggae.
"The most important thing is consistency," Sandoval tells SFR. Chicanobuilt plans to find a permanent home in the near future for a regular hip-hop night, a problematic task considering what Sandoval calls the naive perception of hip-hop's "thugged-out" image and clientele. Nevertheless, Chicanobuilt plans an impressive year ahead with more shows and local events, details of which will materialize in the coming months.
Fan Man Productions, Santa Fe's eminent big act promotion outfit, will be celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2007. Jamie Lenfestey, Fan Man's tireless owner and operator, hit the ground running in 1992 with a Bruce Cockburn show at the Sweeney Center and hasn't stopped since. Another early gig, Indigo Girls and Willie Nelson at the Paolo Soleri Amphitheater, evidenced exactly how Lenfestey intended to roll: "I have been a major part of just about every club booking national bands since Club Luna closed: Club Alegria, the Santa Fe Music Hall, Drama Club, the Paramount," Lenfestey says. "When the Lensic opened…I was extremely fortunate to be the first independent promoter to present a show there with Sweet Honey in the Rock. That opened a lot of possibilities for me." Lenfestey has been busy planning another impressive year. "I have been working to make this coming 15th anniversary year one of the best ever for live music in Santa Fe," he says. Madeleine Peyroux, Spearhead, Arlo Guthrie, David Bromberg, The English Beat, Sparklehorse, Todd Snider, the second season of Live at the Paolo Concert Series, the third annual Santa Fe Picnic Concert on July 7 and 8, and more shows at the Santa Fe Opera are only a fraction of what we can expect from Fan Man Productions in 2007.
Enough can't be said about High Mayhem's engagement with the local music scene. "It's our commitment to emerging music and art that has earned the acknowledgement of our constituents and drawn quality talent from near and far," Max Friedenberg, director and co-founder of High Mayhem, says. Carlos Santistevan, program director and co-founder, handles all show requests, concepts and proposals, which he presents to his co-curators at weekly meetings. Friedenberg adds, "We try and pair touring acts with appropriate local acts, like any other promoter; however, because we are a nonprofit, the aesthetic and concept are the motivating factors, not the other thing-what's it called?-oh yeah, money." High Mayhem has its own venue for shows that doubles as a recording space for its record label. "The recordings figure into our mission as documentarians-we make them available to each and every artist that performs at High Mayhem at absolutely no cost to them."
High Mayhem recently amended its name to include IDEA (Institute for the Development of Emerging Arts), which encapsulates its nonprofit entity. The studio is still called High Mayhem, and IDEA will produce and promote shows as High Mayhem. The seventh annual Emerging Arts Festival is scheduled for October. Dates and a venue for the event will be announced later this year, as will many other programs and new album releases.
Defining Santa Fe's music
mise en scène
begins with deconstructing the sound emanating from the scene itself and those who play a pivotal part in its design beyond actually playing instruments. The exceptional wealth of local talent and gregarious individuals committed to promoting local and national musical acts with a sense of communal tenor is at once understated and intense. There is only one thing left. With the tenacity and passion for producing shows in place, it is now up to us, the audience, to sum up the equation and relish our local music scene by attending shows and recognizing the musical talent among us.
