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Rootbeer Lozano is one of a few vibe players I know down in Tampico, Mexico.

I met them in Patagonia and watched her school percussion ensemble play a beautiful concert. One of the best of the week! The group is led by Evaristo Aguilar an amazing teacher, percussionist. Their music is so heartfelt!

It's a drug cartel town. We went out to dinner and the first 2 restauraunts we went to were closed. I mean the owners ran away because they were approached by the cartel. Another we drove by had bullet holes all through the front of the building.

Rootbeer lives in this town and has to deal with violence on a regular basis. Rooter is a great up and coming Mexican percussionist/vibe player. Ha! I don't even know her real first name. I've always called her Rootbeer.

She teamed up with a video person and made this beautiful video to tell her story. It's amazing and Rootbeer is amazing. There are 3 or 4 other vibe players down there. They all play well and are very dedicated to music and the vibraphone.

What I like is in the midst of all this chaos Rootbeer has an Omega Vibraphone and a few sets of my Mike Balter Mallets. That's cool!

I think one way we can help them is to at least watch the video and listen to the beautiful music.

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Traducción al Español.

Rootbeer Lozano es una de los vibrafonistas que conozco en Tampico, México.

Los conocí en La Patagonia y vi tocar al Ensamble de percusiones UAT quienes ofrecieron un hermoso concierto. Uno de los mejores de la semana! El ensamble es dirigido por Evaristo Aguilar un excelente maestro y percusionista. Su música es tan llena de sentimiento.

Tampico es una zona de carteles de la droga. Fuimos a cenar y los primeros restaurantes estaban cerrados porque los dueños habían huido por la inseguridad. Otro restaurante por el que pasamos, tenía impactos de bala.

Rootbeer vive en esta ciudad y tiene que lidiar con la violencia regularmente. Rootbeer es una futura gran percusionista/vibrafonista mexicana. Ja! ni siquiera conozco su primer nombre. Siempre la llamo Rootbeer.

Ella colaboró con músicos, artista visual y de video para hacer este hermoso resultado y contar su historia. Es asombroso y ella también lo es.
Hay otros 3 o 4 vibrafonistas en esa ciudad. Todos tocan bien y son muy dedicados a la música y al vibráfono.

Lo que me gusta es que en medio de todo el caos Rootbeer tiene un vibráfono Omega y unos cuantos pares de baquetas de Mike Balter. Eso es muy chevere !

Comments

Jerry Weir Fri, 07/07/2017 - 15:12

The music and video were beautifully done and very moving The opening sequence with the drawings of men with guns and the sounds of the small drums was almost overwhelming. I'm supposed to be working from home and I opened up Tony's email and thought I would check it out. I ended up putting my work chat into "Be Right Back" mode because the video just reached out and grabbed me, started it again and watched the entire thing while the emails piled up in my inbox.

A superb melding of music and art. The low rumbling instrumental swelling underneath the cello and vibes around 6:00 was very spooky and unsettling. The cello solo at 9:50 and the trumpet at 12:00 were beautifully played. I don't know what to call the artistic medium that was used for this but it was so eery and appropriate.

I wish Rootbeer (and the artist and rest of the ensemble) the best and hope for an end to this cartel madness for her and all the Mexican people.

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What instruments does this pertain to?