Dr. Sophia Enríquez: "Fandango Futurities: Listening for the Nuevo South and an Emerging Southern Son"
Thursday, February 22, 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Talk Location: Schaffel Recital Hall, Broyhill Music Center (BMC 129)
Reception Location: Broyhill Music Center 212
About the Series: This event is part of the Music Humanities Community Conversation Series, which provides a forum for students, faculty, and staff at Appalachian State University and community members to engage current topics in music humanities through invited talks and workshops given by scholars, artists, and cultural leaders from Appalachian State and the surrounding region.
- The events are free and open to the public.
- Attendees may park in the Schaefer Lot, Broyhill Lot, or Peacock Lot for free from 7:00pm to the end of the event. The Broyhill Music Center is at 813 Rivers St, Boone, NC, 28608.
- For more information, contact Dr. Jacob Kopcienski, via email at kopcienskija@appstate.edu or by phone at 828-262-7385.
- This event is sponsored by the Hayes School of Music with generous co-sponsorship from the Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University.
Lecture Topic
"Fandango Futurities: Listening for the Nuevo South and an Emerging South"
The phrase the “Nuevo South” reflects how Latino communities have transformed the cultural landscape of the region. This talk asks: what does the Nuevo South sound like? How does the music of Latino communities in the U.S. South help us make sense of shifting regional politics of place, race, and migration?
This talk explores the significance of the fandango—a community music celebration of the son jarocho tradition from Veracruz, Mexico—as a meaningful site of community building and transformation in the Nuevo South. I weave together networks of musicians from Veracruz and the U.S. South whose music tells new stories of belonging while also gesturing toward a forgotten Mexican southern past.
I argue that the fandango offers a new musical way of knowing in the South—of southern music(s) as a critical connective tissue of migrant histories, routes, and futures.
Biography
Dr. Sophia M. Enríquez (she/her) is the Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor of Music, Latino/a Studies, and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies at Duke University. She works at the intersections of Latino and Appalachian regional culture and is currently working on her first book project, “Canciones de Los Apalaches: Latino Music, Migration, and Belonging in Appalachia and the South”.
Sophia is an active performer of Mexican and Appalachian folk traditions, and is the co-founder and co-director of the Fandango de Durham, a week-long festival that brings the son jarocho tradition from Veracruz, Mexico to Appalachia and the South.