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Latino Band's New CD Honors Late Blind Poet: Proceeds Support Performing Arts Scholarship

Los Ciegos Del Barrio Tribute to Mary Anne Parks

New York, NY (June 29, 2009): "¿Por Que? ¡Porque…!" the latest CD from NYC Latino band Los Ciegos Del Barrio was released Tuesday, June 23. It pays tribute
to the late blind poet/educator/activist Mary Anne Parks. Through August 31, 25% of proceeds from the sales will help support a scholarship set up in her
honor. Visit:
http://losciegosdelbarrio.com/
Click on "Buy" and the DigStation link.

"We would like to thank the members of Los Ciegos Del Barrio for this generous and thoughtful gift," said Dennis Holston (31, Manhattan), president of
the non-profit Performing Arts Division of the National Federation of the Blind (PAD, NFB), "This is a fitting tribute to Mary Anne, and I know she would
be excited about this new collection."

Though they never met, Mary Anne's work as Performing Arts Division secretary touched their lives. Los Ciegos Del Barrio is featured on PAD's "Sound in
Sight" CD, a multi-genre compilation of 18 original tracks and covers all donated by blind recording artists. The CD, available at:
www.padnfb.org
Or, from CDBaby at:
www.cdbaby.com/cd/padotnfotb
celebrates the talents of blind Americans and raises funds which support PAD's work. Mary Anne was instrumental in bringing the project to fruition.

"Although I never had the pleasure of meeting Mary Anne personally," says Los Ciegos Del Barrio group leader Alvin Suarez, "we know she had a significant
hand in including us in "Sound in Sight." I never got a chance to thank her personally. We recognize how dear Mary Anne was to so many people and we understand
how incredibly energetic and sweet she was and it was certainly devastating to us when we learned about her passing."

According to Holston, a talent recruiter for the Manhattan-based Visionary Media Company who is in his second term as PAD's president, copies of the new
Los Ciegos del Barrio CD will be sold at the NFB's upcoming national convention in Detroit (July 2-8); proceeds from these sales will also support  the
Mary Anne Parks Performing Arts Scholarship.

Parks was killed at age 31 when a car broadsided the Hands on Atlanta van in which she was riding. A master's candidate who held several leadership positions
in the National Federation of the Blind, Mary Anne was on her way to do volunteer teaching at the time of her death.

"Los Ciegos Del Barrio" is a multi genre Latin music group. They play Merengue, Bachata, Salsa, Cumbia, Reggaeton, and Rock music in both English and Spanish.
"Los Ciegos Del Barrio" literally translates to "The Blind Boys from the Hood". The name was originally meant to be a joke, but they ended up keeping it
as an ice breaker. Most of the band members, who have been playing together since 1997 and recording since 2000, are legally blind.

Members include: Alvin Suarez - Band director, lead guitar, drum kit, percussion and vocals. Derek Christopher Suarez - Bass, Congas, percussion and vocals.
Jaime Diaz - Rhythm guitar, bass and vocals. Machete - Keyboards, harmonica, accordion, percussion and vocals. Jimmy Fontanez - Tambora, bongos and percussion.
Angel Dueno - Guira and timbales. He's the only member who's actually not visually impaired. Angel and Jimmy both live in upstate New York.

For further information about Los Ciegos del Barrio, call: (718) 886-8686, or visit the group's MySpace page at:
http://www.myspace.com/losciegosdelbarrio

###
About the National Federation of the Blind: With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind is the largest and most influential membership
organization of blind people in the United States.   The NFB improves blind people’s lives through advocacy, education, research, technology, and programs
encouraging independence and self-confidence.
It is the leading force in the blindness field today and the voice of the nation's blind.  In January 2004 the NFB opened the National Federation of the
Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and training center in the United States for the blind led by the blind.

--Read my articles on American Chronicle:
http://www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3885

Join Me on LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/dwh99

Or,  FaceBook:
http://www.facebook.com/donna.w.hill.

For my bio & to hear clips from The Last Straw:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/donnahill

Apple I-Tunes

phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=259244374

Performing Arts Division of the National Federation of the Blind
www.padnfb.org



 

Latin Band to Kickoff Glen Cove Concert Series

Los Ciegos del Barrio ready to show their musical talents at the city's Downtown Sounds on Friday.

By
Tony Tedeschi

Los Ciegos del Barrio, a multi-genre Latin music group from New York City, is slated to kickoff Glen Cove's Downtown Sounds concert series on Friday.

While songs in some of the musical genres performed by Los Ciegos del Barrio may be unfamiliar to members of the audience at the opening concert for this
year's
Downtown Sounds
series on Friday — cumbia, bachata, reggaeton, for example — the band's performance is not so much about categorizing the music they play as it is feeling
the pulse of the Latin-rhythm-driven melodies.

The band also performs the more familiar music of salsa, merengue, even rock with vocals in both English and Spanish.

"People's unfamiliarity with some of the musical genres we play, and also some of the percussion instruments, is all part of the musical adventure with
our band," said Alvin Suarez, the band's founder. "We are really looking forward to kicking off a great holiday weekend in Glen Cove."

The other unique element of the band is apparent in its title, which translates to The Blind Boys from the Hood. Most of the members are legally blind.
Alvin and his brother, Derek Christopher, were each born with leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), medically defined as an inherited retinal degenerative
disease, characterized by severe loss of vision at birth, although Alvin questions the genetic inference in that definition.

"Neither of my parents had LCA," he said, "nor have my children been born with it, even though my wife also has LCA."

Music, however, has been a disease indisputably inherited at birth. The Suarez brothers were children of a multi-instrumentalist musician, growing up in
Spanish Harlem, where they were greatly influenced by the music favored in their neighborhood.

From a very young age, the brothers began picking up and playing the instruments around their home and even had their first paying gigs in their father's
band at age 10. In addition, Alvin credits a trip to the Dominican Republic, and his exposure to the music there, as providing the final inspiration for
starting the band in 1997.

Here's how the band breaks down:

Alvin sings and plays lead guitar, drum kit and other percussion instruments. Derek Christopher also sings and plays bass, congas and percussion. Jaime
Diaz is on rhythm guitar, bass and vocals. Machete handles the keyboards, harmonica, accordion, percussion and some vocals. Jimmy Fontanez plays tambora,
bongos and percussion. Angel Dueño is on guira and timbales, two unique percussion instruments. Dueño is the band's only fully sighted performer.

The band's latest album, released last July, is titled "Por Que? ... Porque!" (Why? ... Because!). It is available for purchase via their website:
losciegosdelbarrio.com
, or via download on iTunes.

The Downtown Sounds series, which will run every Friday until Aug. 27, will be hosted by Joseph Manfredi Friday starting at 7:30 p.m. It will be held in
Village Square, at the intersection of Glen, Bridge and School streets. Visit
downtownsoundslive.org
or call (516) 759-6970 for information about the weekly performers, the Music Box dinner program, coupons and more.

On a crystal clear Friday night, with low humidity and a perfectly comfortable temperature, the band Los Ciegos del Barrio added a measure of heat before
a crowd that filled the area in front of the bandstand at Village Square in Glen Cove, kicking off  the city's
Downtown Sounds
summer concert series.

Latin vocals, wrapped in the rhythms of salsa, merengue, and more, punctuated by the occasional rock or pop tune, had the undivided attention of the audience,
with some members up and dancing before the bandstand.  

"There's a lot of rhythm going on here," attendee Maria Poulos said. "It's so nice to see people dancing, especially people of all ages."  

Mayor Ralph Suozzi appeared especially pleased as he went about the crowd asking attendees for their reactions. The evening seemed to be a great start toward
providing validation for a program that has been extended this year. The series is slated to run every Friday until Aug. 27.    

"We've doubled the series program this year, and the turnout tonight is just great," Suozzi said. "Music is the universal language and we are going to make
Glen Cove the music capital of Long Island. It's good for the residents, it's good for business. You can't go wrong when people don't have to leave their
hometown to experience something like this."   

And it seems that there was a universal consensus that a special level of energy was in the air Friday evening. The sentiment also appeared to highlight
that Glen Cove is a city where things are happening.   

"I need to come downtown more often," resident Sandra Jean-Julien said. "There's always something going on here."   

"I've never seen Glen Cove this excited," said Carol Hammond, a member of the Glen Cove Downtown Business Improvement District, the organization that organized
the series with the city. "The turnout is great and as the series progresses, we expect to see even more and more people come out for this series. We are
so pleased the program has been extended for another month."  

Members of
Los Ciegos del Barrio
seemed to feed off the energy as well.  

"This is a great crowd," said Alvin Suarez, the band's leader. "We feel it and we are so pleased the audience is really into our music."  

Many people who were enjoying dinner, some of them outdoors at nearby restaurants like Marra's, The Downtown Cafe and Fatty Fish on School Street, were
easily drawn into the concert.

Even restaurants like La Bussola and La Famiglia, further up the street, had tables outside where people could factor the sounds of the downtown serenade
into their summer night's dinner. People strolling the nearby streets also stopped to listen to the Latin tunes.   

"This is wonderful [and] it's really great for this [city]," said resident Tom Catalanotti, who wandered into the music with his wife and daughter. "Everyone
is enjoying themselves. This has a real small town feel. Glen Cove needed this. It brings people together."   

"This is a great way to kick off the summer," added his wife, Maria.  

Día de los Inmigrantes en la ciudad de Pittsfield
Posted by
elpueblolatino/about
El Pueblo Latino
April 23, 2009 06:10AM

Categories:
Anita Rivera,
Edición # 338,
Noticias Locales

04/large_Inmigrantes%20338
Foto por Anita Rivera

Por Anita Rivera

El Centro de Inmigrantes de Berkshire celebró el Día de los Inmigrantes el pasado 18 de abril en el salón de actividades de la Primera Iglesia Bautista
en la ciudad de Pittsfield. Es la sexta vez que el evento estilo feria se lleva a cabo con el propósito de proporcionar asesoramiento, información, promoción,
apoyo y remisión a los inmigrantes. Durante la feria, las personas se orientan con relación a varios factores cruciales como lo son el estatus migratorio,
el empleo, la ciudadanía, la vivienda y los servicios sociales.

“El año pasado este evento atrajo alrededor de 400 participantes. La gente viene a este lugar para compartir con las demás culturas ya que es un evento
diverso. Aquí encuentran abogados, especialistas en impuestos y sobre todo queremos que sepan que no están solos y que hay muchos beneficios que pueden
aprovechar,” dijo Brooke Mead, coordinadora del evento.

Hubo comida gratis, entretenimiento multicultural y la música estuvo a cargo del grupo Los Ciegos del Barrio, que vinieron directamente del Bronx, New York.
El grupo está compuesto de 6 músicos y lo más impactante fue que todos son ciegos e interpretan música para todos los gustos desde salsa, bachata, merengue
y cumbia.

Elizabeth Cardona, Directora de la Oficina del Gobernador en Western Massachusetts, estuvo representando al Gobernador Deval Patrick en el evento. Liliana
Bermúdez, organizadora del Festival Latino de Lee, también estuvo presente con su grupo de baile folclórico. Bermúdez nos informó que este año el festival
se estará llevando a cabo el 26 de septiembre.

Western MA Coalition for Immigrant & Worker Rights

The Western Massachusetts Coalition for Immigrant and Workers’ Rights is a group of organizations and community members who advocate, educate, organize,
and mobilize to protect the Human, Civil, and Constitutional Rights of all workers and residents in our communities.

Monday, March 3, 2008
Immigrants Day in Berkshires

The 5th annual Immigrants' Day in the Berkshires was a great success! The four hour event included great dancing and poetry by Williams College students,
music by the Cantilena Chamber Choir, performances by Multicultural Dancers and an amazing band, Los Ciegos del Barrio. Guests had a great time dancing
along, especially the little ones.
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Senator Benjamin Downing attended the celebration. This is a short clip of his speech.
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In addition to performances, announcements and speeches, the event offered free consultations with immigration attorneys, general practice lawyers and
tax specialists. There were also workshops on Breast Health by Project Heroa, Financial Education by Berkshire Bank, and Higher Education by Berkshire
Community College.

Congratulations to the businesses, volunteers and BIC for making the event a great success.

Posted by Cecilia at
7:19 PM
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NYISE grads tour The Dominican Republic
with Project Troubador
NYISE Alumni graduates performing in the Dominican Republic with their band Los Ciegos Del Barrio.

Between October 8th and October 22nd, 2006 NYISE graduates Arnaldo Vargas, Alvin Suarez and Derek Suarez spent two weeks staging performances in schools,
orphanages, old age homes, AIDS patient facilities, etc., in the Dominican Republic with their band Los Ciegos Del Barrio. The trip was organized and financed
by
Project Troubador
, a not-for-profit NGO that uses live performance to bridge cultural, racial, and ethnic barriers and to foster a different view of America and Americans
in the developing world.

Over the two week span, Los Ciegos presented twenty two free performances of their merengue, bachata, and salsa stylings, including one in a school for
visually impaired students in Santo Domingo .

Interest in Los Ciegos and their music ran high at every venue and plans to return with assistance from several local NGOs are already in the works. Project
Troubador's founder and Artistic Director is
Eliot Osborn
, at one time a music teacher for Schermerhorn and Van Cleve students at NYISE.
In this photo above, Arnaldo Vargas is playing the  accordion, Alvin Suarez is seated to his right behind a microphone, and Derek Suarez is standing behind
the conga drums.
full sized image

» LOS CIEGOS DEL BARRIO: Dominando

Since the year 2000, "Los Ciegos Del Barrio" has made some improving changes to better their music. It is about to pay off with their new release "Dominando".

This album has enjoyed a tremendous amount of underground success in clubs, MP3.com and on college radio. They have already amassed three #1 hits on MP3.com
with "Y Sigues Hablando", "Si Tu Me Quisieras" and their version of "I Will Survive".
"Los Ciegos Del Barrio" also show off their diversity on this new CD as they include BACHATA, MERENGUE, BOLERO AND SALSA on this album.

LOS CIEGOS DEL BARRIO include the following;

ALVIN SUAREZ - Lead guitar, vocals and percussion.

DEREK CHRISTOPHER SUAREZ - Bass, vocals and percussion (Alvin's twin brother.)

MACHETE - Keyboards and vocals.

JAIME DIAZ - Rhythm guitar.

HENNY FERNANDEZ - Bongos and tambora.

KELVIN PEREZ - Their newest member playing percussion and guira.

They have been blessing us with their music since 1997 and are now better than ever. They represent NYC with pride and have doubled their fan base since
their last album.
They call themselves "Los Ciegos Del Barrio" because the core members of the group are legally blind. That of course, is not a weakness for them. In fact,
they, for the most part, have a rather positive and even humorous attitude about being visually impaired. They love playing music and plan to be playing,
writing and singing for as long as they can physically do so. Hopefully, you will enjoy this album. They worked hard and have good reason to feel good
about it.

Los Ciegos Del Barrio would like to thank German Santana from WKCR FM for his continued support on his show Caribe Latino.

The following is a review that Los Ciegos Del Barrio received for the song "Ciegueton" on GarageBand.com on Sunday, August 16, 2009:

Original and Off-Beat
Certainly one of the more unexpected tracks. There is a mix of everything - this is really fusion with elements of latin, Pacific, Hip-Hop, even some German
traditional.

Percussion aptly ties the song together. Production and arrangement are seemingly flawless, with every element in place.

Male vocalist is amazing. - he can really soar!

Melody is strong and very recognizable, and very catchy. Lyrics are good although rather conventional. Great hook "Para que bailan todo el mundo" or something
like that. Overall mood is quite positive - the musicians seem like they are having fun. Tempo is rapid.

This is cool stuff! 5 stars all the way...

Reviewed by:
aleysana
from Mount Clemens, Michigan


Thanks. This is always appreciated by Los Ciegos Del Barrio.

Noble Horizons, in Salisbury, CT, welcomes chili lovers and music lovers to their Ninth Annual Fall F
estival Chili Cook-Off on Sunday, October 11, from
Noon to 2:00 PM on The White Hart Green. In 2008, hundreds of chili tasters enjoyed over 40 amateur and professional chilies while rocking to the salsa
beat of New York City band Los Ciegos del Barrio. New to the cook-off this year are professional food critics from Food and Wine magazine, Ladies Home
Journal, and the Television Food Network who will judge professional chilies prepared by chefs in the tri-state region!
Cook-Off guests are invited to sample the savory professional chilies as well as taste and vote on their favorite amateur chilies. Voting ends at 1:30
and awards will be announced at 2:00pm. Vegetarian and traditional chilies will be available for take out, or to eat in amidst the rollicking revelry of
Los Ciegos. More information and registration are available at 860-435-9851 or www.noblehorizons.com