Dia de los Muertos celebration show at Segerstrom Center will feature music and dance
The Segerstrom Center for the Arts will celebrate Dia de los Muertos with performances by Perla Batalla, La Santa Cecilia, Pacifico Dance Company and Quetzal.
Four performances will take place in one concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall.
The Mexican holiday, which is increasingly observed in the United States, focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember those who have died and help support their spiritual journey. Dia de los Muertos, which translates as Day of the Dead, begins Nov. 1 and ends Nov. 2.
Tickets for the show start at $39. Batalla, a Grammy Award-nominated singer and songwriter who was a Leonard Cohen back-up singer, will perform classic Mexican songs like “Cucurrucucu Paloma” during her return to the Costa Mesa center.
“When I’m singing, I’m definitely conjuring up the spirit of my culture and my ancestors,” Batalla said by phone in Ojai. “It’s a spiritual energy that propels me, and I’m not spooked by it. That’s a Mexican thing. It makes someone live forever. It’s your being and energy that never leaves. It can be beneficial for creativity.”
Los Angeles band La Santa Cecilia, which began its career by serenading passersby on the corners of Olvera Street, also will return to the Center for this year’s Dia de los Muertos concert.
The group — accordionist Jose “Pepe” Carlos, bassist Alex Bendana, percussionist Miguel “Oso” Ramirez and vocalist La Marisoul — has won a Grammy, toured the nation, collaborated with Elvis Costello and most recently shared the stage with Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones.
“This is about celebrating life and death and remembering people you love,” La Marisoul said. “It’s a translation that tells us to let the dead be dead, celebrate life and have a good time.”
The concert also includes Quetzal, a bilingual Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles that won a Grammy three years ago for Best Latin Pop, Rock or Album, and the Orange County-based Pacifico Dance Company.
The non-profit dance company preserves and reconstructs classical and contemporary Mexican dance forms.
“Dias de los Muertos is about honoring the people who have gone before us but to also celebrate that we are on Earth,” La Marisoul said. “We are to celebrate the pleasures of life.”
Segerstrom Center for the Arts is at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. For more information, call (714) 556-2787 or visit scfta.org.
Twitter: @KathleenLuppi
