Kyle Kellams: México en el Corazón celebrates Mexican culture through music, dance, food and drink. The internationally touring group visited the Fayetteville Town Center last Thursday as part of Music Week. We sent our reporter Jack Travis down the street to check it out. He got to sit down with Sergio Suárez, president of the North American Institute for Mexican Advancement, the group that organizes México en el Corazón. We offer these bites from their conversation, paired with sounds of mariachi and more.
“Buenas tardes. Disfruten. Canten. Aplauden y comparten esta noche en comunidad. Porque el arte nos surge y la cultura nos define. Señoras y señores, esto es ‘México en el Corazón.’”
“Connection. It's something for everybody. A Mexican like me that I immigrated 48 years ago. For me, it's remembering my roots. To see what we left and what we come from. But for our kids, for our grandkids, it's knowing who they are. It's identity. And for the American people, it's for them to see what. To know a little more about their neighbors.”
“Nine of us work year-round to get that tour going. And right now, you know, it's a lot of collaboration, a lot of love for our identity, to be able to express what it cannot be expressed with words, with art, with music, you know, with everybody understands when the mariachi singing.”
“I had an experience one time in Chicago. It was an Asian lady, and she was crying. And when they introduced me to her, I asked her, do you speak Spanish? She goes, no, but I can feel what everybody around is feeling. I can see what's going on.”
“Imagine a kid looking, being with his grandfather, listening to music. And suddenly this kid connects and sees his grandfather tearing up, crying. It's a different type of connection. It's not nostalgic. It's remembering. It's knowing. You know how far everybody comes, and for the grandfather to be able to see his kid, his grandkid, you know, integrated into this great community, the United States.”
Kellams: Sounds of México en el Corazón at the Fayetteville Town Center this past Thursday night. Their performance part of the city of Fayetteville's participation in Arkansas Music Week. That audio postcard was collected and produced by Ozarks at Large's Jack Travis.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
