We’ve got an update on the El Sonido del Agua project, our multi-year initiative in the Rio Grande Valley funded by ArtPlace America.

Call to Action fliers passed out at local events

Since the January 26th kick-off celebration, El Sonido del Agua has become an advocacy tool for our partner organizations (ARISE and LUPE) to use for members of the Alberta Meadows and Owassa Acres colonias in their continued fight for improved drainage infrastructure.

Content which includes the six original corridos (songs in the Conjunto tradition) and call to action pamphlets have been shared at local events to encourage other colonias in Hidalgo County to inform residents of their power and ability to make infrastructural improvements in their communities.

Here’s an example of some of the lyrics in the corridos:

Los niños estaban muy desconsolados
Pues sus vacaciones no podían disfrutar
Nubes de zancudos lombrices y ratas
Cubría el terreno imposible jugar

(The children were gloomy
Since their vacations could not be enjoyed
Clouds of mosquitoes, worms, and rats
Made the ground an impossible place to play)

Las inundaciones son un gran problema
Buscando el apoyo se puede arreglar
Uniendo a la LUPE junto con Arise
y con bcWorkshop lo resolveran

(Floodings are a big issue
Looking for support, we can find solutions
Uniting the LUPE together with ARISE
and with bcWorkshop they will be solved)

The project is set to culminate this fall with a final celebration with one final song recorded that expresses the community’s continued mobilization to make positive changes, as well as to solidify the two colonias’ pride for the efforts they have put forth to make El Sonido del Agua a tool, artistic expression, and a movement to fight for equitable infrastructure. Stay tuned for more updates from this exciting project!

We are excited to share that on Saturday, January 26, buildingcommunityWORKSHOP ([bc]), La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), A Resource in Serving Equality (ARISE), the Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center, and Texas Housers, with the support of UTHealth School of Public Health, UTRGV School of Medicine, and UTRGV-Cameron County will host a conjunto music celebration as part of the El Sonido del Agua project.

The celebration event will mark the live debut of six original songs that have been written through El Sonido del Agua—a multiyear initiative funded by the ArtPlace America National Creative Placemaking Fund which aims to mobilize and equip residents of the Lower Rio Grande Valley’s colonias to tackle public health issues that arise from inadequate infrastructure. The lyrics of the songs composed tell the story of what colonia residents experience—the day-to-day challenges of living in these substandard subdivisions, such as flooding and a lack of street lighting. Project partners and participants hope to utilize these songs to draw attention to inequities of place and build momentum for colonia residents’ organizing campaigns to win change for their communities.

At the event, the four musicians commissioned through the project, who have worked alongside residents over the past several months to craft lyrics, will play the corridos for a live audience. Project partner organizations will speak about the goals of the project and the suite of events that will be taking place over the next few months as part of the effort.

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