NAMPA, Idaho — Music can be a way to connect with others, express yourself and even celebrate your roots. That's what one event did, it brought people together with a concert to celebrate Idaho Latino history through song and dance.
Members of the Latino community throughout Idaho put on the Nuestros Corridos Concert to share their heritage and history in a special way.
Songs can tell a story.
"It's a beautiful story - the history of Latinos in Idaho," Ana Maria Schachtell, director of the Idaho Corrido Project said.
Those stories are told through corridos - ballads based on real-life events and people and were performed to celebrate Latino history and culture in Idaho.
"We're very proud of our history in the in the state of Idaho," Schachtell said. "So, we have collected stories that appear in the newspapers, in magazines, - you name it. Stories that were very important in our community. And we have put them to music."
People gathered at the Hispanic Cultural Center of Idaho in Nampa to celebrate and tell the stories of 150 years of Idaho Latino history through songs, poetry and dance.
"What's it like to tell a story through dancing? It's amazing," Monique Michel, director of Ballet Folklorico Mexico Lindo said. "Because we get to use our body, we use our feet, we use the music and we use our dresses to convey the beauty and the diversity that is Mexico. It's what we do best, it's what we know, and it's our passion."
That passion is also felt by Ballet Folklorico Mexico Lindo, a dance group that performed a traditional corrdio called "Las Adelitas" about Adelita, a name given to women who fought during the Mexican Revolution.
"She is to Mexican culture what Rosie the Riveter is to American culture," Michel said. "So, she is the embodiment of feminism, and courage, and bravery and strength."
The group also performed a dance that celebrates the beauty of the Gem State.
"It's called 'Homenaje a Idaho' and in English, it translates to 'homage to the state of Idaho,'" Michel said. "It talks about the beauty that is Idaho - and the mountains, and the potatoes and the rivers. So, it's a really beautiful song.
The Idaho Corrido Project started in 2010 when a group of musicians gathered to start writing and telling stories. They recently published a book full of corridos based on Latino history in Idaho.
"We're so proud to kind of celebrate our history, our culture - and then invite people to join us in the celebration and participate by listening to us and learning about stories that possibly they have not learned before," Schachtell said.
The concert gave dancers an opportunity to represent their heritage and culture while inspiring a love of music and storytelling through music, choreography, and traditional attire.
"We all make up such a diverse group within our dance company, within the Treasure Valley, within Idaho, within the United States. And so, we are representative of the diversity that is Mexico," Michel said. "Mexico is beautiful and diverse in itself, and it's just an honor to be a dancer and a dance teacher, and to share my time and talents with my dance company and with our community to show that we are beautiful Mexico."
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