Local music group Sol de La Noche embodies this very sound. The quintet is a Latin music combo composed of UNM students pursuing degrees in the College of Fine Arts.
Senior music major Diego Manrique said he began the project independently with the prospect of growing artistically.
“It doesn’t matter where you come from,” said Manrique, who sings and plays guitar in the group. “What matters is that you don’t give up on what you love, even if you are not the best in the music program. Be true to yourself and try to learn as much as you can.”
Manrique was born and raised in Colombia, where he had some instruction in classical Colombian music, he said. He immigrated to San Diego from Colombia, but moved to Albuquerque to attend UNM.
Manrique joined UNM’s music program to complete formal guitar training. He said he struggled to understand the finger-picking classical style, which professor of music Michael Chapdelaine taught.
The program is primarily a classical music conservatory. Chapdelaine said his particular instruction works to orient classical-guitar students toward competitions and establishing a repertoire so that they can play a solo recital.
The discipline given at UNM helped Manrique define what he wanted for the band, for each arrangement or for each performance. However, there is no direct interaction between the faculty and secular music in the community, Chapdelaine said.
“Sol de La Noche is trying hard to make serious music about things that are important to them,” he said. “I think it is great what they are doing because, while I am not the judge of what good music is, nowadays it seems that it takes a lot more businessmen and a lot fewer artists to make popular music.”
There is a unique association between musical elements from Spain and the sense of cultural belonging in the Southwest. The fusion of these two cultures has a great effect on people, he said.
A percussionist and vocalist for Sol de La Noche, Gabriela Garza said Sol’s purpose is simply to make people dance.
“That is what Diego seeks in every musician in the band: someone with good spirit and willing to make the best effort to have people enjoy the moment through the spirit of the Latin essence,” Garza said.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
The concepts taught at UNM can be applied to any musical context within the University or out in the community, including Sol de La Noche, she said.
“Besides the technical aspects of your instrument, you learn how to be a good musician at UNM, being able to develop in any area of music,” Garza said.
Garza emigrated from Mexico to the United States with the vision of furthering her musical education. UNM has provided many opportunities for careers and scholarship in music, she said.
“As a student it is always a struggle to balance school, practice time for musicians, work and personal life,” Garza said. “But I don’t see it as an obstacle; I see it as a way of making me more responsible to fight for what I want and what I believe in. I know it is worth it, and my heart tells me this is the right place.”
Manrique said the band is about following one’s passion without restraint, as is evident in their name: Sol de La Noche.
“It is the concept of the sun being the source for energy and a god of native civilizations in Latin America, the concept of how apparently opposite or contrary forces are actually complementary. Sun of the Night,” he said.
Sol will be playing in an end-of-semester celebration at the Zinc Cellar at 9:30 p.m. Dec 13.
Mateo Rocha is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
