Sun and Song a la Latin America

Sol y Canto brings its Latin American sound to CSUN’s Performing Arts Center on Saturday, but don’t expect a Ricky Martin sound-alike.

Led by husband-and-wife Rosi and Brian Amador, Sol y Canto has a long track record of burrowing into the distinctive and powerful music of Latin America.

Brian, of Mexican descent, and Rosi, whose heritage is a mixture of Puerto Rican and Argentine, launched Sol y Canto, Spanish for “sun and song.”

“Sol y Canto has been a performing group from the beginning, and its main reason for being is the music,” Brian Amador said by phone from his home in Boston.

Sol y Canto has shifting personnel. At CSUN, it will perform in a quartet with Alan del Castillo, who sings and plays Andean wind instruments, and bassist Saul Sierra. The program will lean heavily on the group’s third and latest album, “En Todo Momento,” on the Redwing label.

There is clearly an educational component to the Amadors’ work beyond its natural sonorous charms.

“In most of the commercial Latin music, all you hear is merengue and salsa and pop music,” Amador said. “A lot of people are quite ignorant about how much beautiful music there is in Latin America, and we’ve always wanted to highlight that a little bit in our work.”

BE THERE

Sol y Canto performs Saturday at 8 p.m. at Cal State Northridge, 18111 Nordhoff St. (818) 677-2488.

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