Since 2008, Jorge Francisco Castillo, a musician and retired librarian, has presented the Fandango Fronterizo, a celebratory jam session that brings together son jarocho musicians on both sides of the border separating Tijuana and San Diego. The idea is that music creates community despite separation, and son jarocho, a folk music born in Veracruz with a revolutionary pedigree, offers the perfect vehicle. When pianist, composer, band leader, educator, and activist Arturo O’Farrill learned about this annual event, he felt it provided an elegant opportunity to bring together a variety of cultures to make a musical statement of global community in response to the divisive cultural and political currents abroad in the world today. Working with Castillo and his own longtime producer, GRAMMY-winning Kabir Sehgal, O’Farrill brought together his Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra with son jarocho musicians, internationally renowned jazz artists, and musicians from marginalized countries at the 11th annual Fandango. The result is a cornucopia of vibrant musics energized by a common purpose. Continue reading