A group of more than 100 people gathered at the Orpheum Theatre Thursday for the Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration.
“The Hispanic heritage is the heritage of Phoenix, it’s my heritage and it’s your heritage,” City Manager Ed Zuercher said.
The celebration included many performances from groups like Mariachi Juvenil de mi Tierra and the Yolloincuauhtil Aztec Dancers.
The Mariachi Juvenil de mi Tierra greeted guests with a live performance of a collection of Mexican folk music for the arriving guests at the theater’s entrance.
The first performers of the program were the Yolloincuauhtil Aztec Dancers—an ensemble of colorfully dressed performers from the Salt River Indian community. The dancers opened their performance by bestowing a blessing on the stage and the theater with their Aztec dance using only a drum and a horn.
Junior Lopez, a Phoenix resident in attendance, was happy to see the Aztec representation.
“It’s really rare to see that type of representation when you’re Latino, and it just seems that people forget that there used to be Aztecs, Mayans and Inca tribes,” Lopez said.
La Luz de la Luna is a rotating trio of women playing on guitars for the performance, with the exception of Andria Bunnell, who always performs with the group as the main vocalist.
“We started this project as an homage to our ancestors and the ones who came before us. My grandparents were mariachi musicians, so I grew up with this music all my life,” Bunnell said. “The thought was to create an intimate vibe of camaraderie, love and familia.”
Zarco Guerrero, a mask maker, comedian and poet took the stage and introduced himself in his native tongue, the Aztec language of Nahuatl.
Though Guerrero made the entire crowd laugh with his jokes and anecdotes, he had moments of seriousness where he spoke about the history of the western portion of the United States. Guerrero told the crowd that he once fought alongside Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta fighting for workers’ rights.
Mayor Gallego said she was excited to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with the City of Phoenix and talked about the upcoming plans for the Latino Cultural Center.
“This is to celebrate the rich heritage that is part of our community, and to build for the future. There are so many exciting things coming to the city in this next year, and hopefully we’ll be moving forward on our Latino Cultural Center,” Gallego said.
Contact the reporter at milopez6@asu.edu.
