De Inga y Mandinga Premieres at LANGSTON
April 23, 2022
On Saturday, April 23, Early Music Seattle and LANGSTON presented a conversation, documentary, and concert about De Inga y Mandinga (roughly “of Indigenous and African heritage”). This work is a multimedia, multidisciplinary and multigenerational bilingual (English-Spanish) theater production that celebrates cultural and ethnic diversity in Latin America through stories of colonialism, migration and cultural mixing.
The full performance of De Inga y Mandinga had been scheduled for April 23, but insecurity around the pandemic encouraged us to scale the work down to a town-hall-style presentation. The livestream recorded here explores the artists’ motivation behind the work as well as the institutional learning that took place as Early Music Seattle partnered with BIPOC artists.
View the 10 minute documentary – click here
View the entire livestream of De Inga y Mandinga – click here
De Inga y Mandinga has a Change of Plans
February 11, 2022
Due to the challenging environment of COVID-19, Early Music Seattle and the director and cast of De Inga y Mandinga have decided to postpone the full performances scheduled for April 22 and 23 at LANGSTON. Instead the ensemble will present a Town Hall-style presentation and discussion at 2 pm on April 23rd at LANGSTON which will tell the story of De Inga y Mandinga’s creation, highlighting the unique process of ongoing collaboration between a white-led arts organization and artists of color. The Town Hall will also feature a short documentary film that captures the spirit of the performance and the personal journeys of its creators. The full performances will be scheduled when conditions allow, stay tuned!
De Inga y Mandinga
December 10, 2021
CAJITA
The Cajita is an instrument used in the music of Peru. The ensemble preparing the April 22 and 23 performances of De Inga y Mandinga will be using the cajita in their ensemble. The instrument has its origins as a box to collect alms in for the Catholic Church. Denied the use of their traditional drums, enslaved people repurposed the box as a percussion instrument. The cajita is an example (or manifestation) of African descent populations’ cultural resilience and survival. Enjoy the video below and click here for more information about De Inga y Mandinga.
Here are two of Pancho Fierro’s watercolor paintings (early 1800’s) featuring Black people playing cajita during a religious street parade. Black people were made to parade as “devils” during Catholic celebrations of Corpus Christi.
De Inga y Mandinga
October 12, 2021
We are planning to give you regular updates on the development of this project, which Early Music Seattle will present on April 22 and 23 at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center. The latest news – last week members of the cast of De Inga y Mandinga got together with Eduardo Balcazar Garay on Zoom to study the Checho, an ancient Peruvian percussion instrument made from a large hollowed gourd. This instrument will be included in the performance!
Ignacio Merino, Peruvian artist, early 1800s
Clockwise from the upper left: Jabali Stewart, Monica Rojas, Taryn Webber, Eduardo Balcazar Garay
With sponsorship from:
Early Music Seattle
LANGSTON
La Sala: A Latinx Artists’ Network
Movimiento Afrolatino Seattle (MAS)
University of Washington Stroum Center for Jewish Studies
Sephardic Studies program in the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies
