Panel discussion on Fandango at the Wall with Cornell alum, Director Varda Bar-Kar, Border Environments, A Special Events Series

Sponsored by the Central New York Humanities Corridor from an award by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Feature documentary follows Multi Grammy Award winners Arturo O’Farrill and Kabir Sehgal, as they prepare to record a live album at the U.S.-Mexico border wall. The project is inspired by the annual Fandango Fronterizo Festival, which unites people on both sides of the Tijuana-San Diego border. This festival features son jarocho, a 300-year-old folk music tradition. Before recording, festival organizer, Jorge Francisco Castillo, takes O’Farrill and Sehgal on a tour of Veracruz, Mexico, where this musical mixture of indigenous, Spanish, and African traditions originated. As they travel, they meet legendary son jarocho musicians such as Patricio Hidalgo, Fernando Guadarrama, Ramón Gutiérrez, Wendy Cao Romero, Tacho Utrera, Andrés Vega, Martha Vega, Yaratczé Hidalgo Sandoval — and recruit many of these artists for the upcoming festival. Their travels cumulate with the annual celebration, promoting peace and celebrating unity. From executive producers, Quincy Jones, Andrew Young, Carlos Santana, the film introduces the beautiful music of the region through intimate interviews and captivating concert footage. Directed by Varda Bar-Kar.

Website for film, with images: http://fandangowall.com/film/

Co-Sponsored by: Latin American Studies Program, Latina/o Studies Program, Department of Comparative Literature, Cornell Cinema, and the Migrations Initiative