Real Art Ways’ Family Fest 2006
presents
Sol y Canto:
A Bilingual Musical Fiesta
Saturday, March 11, 2pm

Hartford, CT: February 27, 2006– Real Art Ways presents
Sol y Canto (translated to sun and song) in concert, on Saturday, March 11 at 2pm. The band will perform their multiple-award-winning bilingual children’s album “El Doble de Amigos/ Twice as Many Friends” featuring a chorus of the Parkville Community Elementary School in the Parkville neighborhood of Hartford. Sol y Canto specializes in bilingual educational children's songs, adding an uplifting beat to its Spanish/English songs with an inviting, participatory approach. Songs include originals by Brian Amador along with perennial favorites from Latin America and the U.S., and fresh, new bilingual interpretations in toe-tapping, be-bopping arrangements. This event is part of Real Art Ways month-long Family Fest, celebrating creativity that inspires families to think, talk, and interact with art and culture in exciting new ways.

These infectious rhythms literally have the audience “dancing in the aisles and on top of seats.” (Scott Alarik, Boston Globe) Tickets for adults are $10/ $8 Real Art Ways Members; children 12 and under are $5/$3 Real Art Ways Members. For tickets call 860.232.1006 ext.222. For more information, visit www.realartways.org/famfest. Real Art Ways is located at 56 Arbor St., Hartford, CT.

Led by Puerto Rican/Argentine singer/bongo player, Rosi Amador & New Mexican guitarist Brian Amador, Sol y Canto (sun and song) has brought audiences to their feet from the Kennedy Center and White House to the California World Music Festival, Puerto Rico’s Conservatorio de Música and Museo de Arte as well as the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Vancouver's Folk Festival. Sol y Canto features Rosi Amador's crystalline voice and Brian Amador's lush Spanish guitar accompanied by outstanding Latin musicians from Uruguay, Perú, Panamá and Argentina. Their lyrics address social and political concerns alongside matters of the heart.

Rosi and Brian Amador were two of the founding members of the renowned Latin Boston-based Nueva Canción (New Song) band, Flor de Caña (1984 - 1994). They perform regularly as a duo, trio, and sextet. The group has established a national reputation for its unique interpretations of latin music, and for making this music accessible to non-Spanish and Latinos alike, and for singing socially-charged lyrics alongside songs featuring the breathtaking poetry of other Latino contemporary songwriters alongside their original material.

With its rich, natural harmonies, Sol y Canto's sound is built upon a framework of Brian's warm, versatile Spanish guitar and Rosi's expressive, crystalline voice. Brian's playing shows how the nylon-string guitar, often abandoned in contemporary popular Latin music, has provided a backbone of harmony, melody and percussive rhythms from the Flamenco styles brought by the Spanish settlers to the sones of the Trio Matamoros, and how vibrantly relevant that instrument is to the music of today. Rosi's singing has been described by the Boston Globe as "like clean spring water: it's smooth, it's clear, and somehow, you come to believe that it's necessary for life." Sol y Canto's newest (2003) release, "Twice as Many Friends/El Doble de Amigos" is on Rounder Records and features celebratory bilingual children's songs, both traditional and contemporary originals, to dance to and learn by. Fun for kids and adults alike guaranteed!

This project is made possible with support by the Joseph S. Stackpole Trust. Real Art Ways programs are made possible by Major Support from: Real Art Ways Members; Greater Hartford Arts Council; United Technologies; The Wallace Foundation; The Hartford Financial Services Group; Bank of America; The Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism; The Ford Foundation; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; National Endowment for the Arts; St. Paul Travelers ; Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.