En Pie De Lucha (Getting back up for battle)
In the wake of the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico, MIT’s Festival Jazz Ensemble joins forces with Miguel Zenón to provide aid.
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With their plans to tour Puerto Rico in 2017 thwarted by hurricane Maria, the FJE, Miguel Zenón, and special guest Evan Ziporyn, gave two benefit concerts last year (MIT & Hunter College, NYC), raising nearly $7000 for the Puerto Rico Recovery Fund.
Between January 20-27, 2019, FJE and Miguel Zenón, a MacArthur Fellow and leading saxophonist-composer of his generation, had an intensive cultural exchange with Puerto Rico, presenting four free concerts, holding eleven science and engineering workshops at four high schools, and participating in community activism talks on climate change, clean energy, and technology for disaster relief.
FJE were immersed in the musical culture of Puerto Rico through La Plena workshops, performing with musicians on the island, and other musical interactions. "We are thrilled to now fulfill our dream of bringing Miguel Zenon’s music (including his new composition and our anthem for the tour, En Pie de Lucha, For the Resilient People of Puerto Rico) and the research/work of MIT students to the island in an effort to contribute to the ongoing challenges Puerto Rico faces,” noted Fred Harris.
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