Cascada de Flores specializes in achingly beautiful songs from Latin America’s golden age, including bolero to fill your heart to bursting, rancheras to break it, and guarachas that make you want to jump up and dance. At the heart of the music is the gorgeous voice of Arwen Lawrence and the expressive guitar of Jorge Liceaga. Together they create a wonderfully lush, intimate atmosphere. Tonight, they bring their 2017 version of Radio Flor —a concert and love letter to the early days of Latin American radio, when songs were king and a melody grabbed your heart for a lifetime. Whether broadcasting from station XEW in Mexico City, or RHC of Habana, Cuba, the sultry songs of Radio Flor tell the story of a bygone era. Musical vignettes feature heart-wrenching bolero, raucous Cuban guaracha, or earthy Mexican son, set in an old-time radio show format, including jingles and radio drama, a bit from 1930 and mostly from the musicians’ bi-cultural imaginations.

Tonight’s ensemble features pillars of the Bay Area’s traditional music and Latin jazz scene, with Saúl Sierra-Alonso on leoncita and double bass, Marco Díaz on trumpet and piano, Brian Rice on percussion, Kyla Danysh on violin, Jorge on a variety of traditional guitars, and Arwen on vocals, as well as dancing and playing rhythm guitar. Tonight, the Sextet will be joined by special guest percussionist Carlos Caro. Together they will debut new compositions and special arrangements of the musicians: from waltzes to danzones to a new musical grammar lesson.

Besides a call to nostalgia, Radio Flor is also a proposal for the present day: to ponder the simple lo-tech orchestration, find the beauty of its spaciousness, and of its frank emotions. Arwen and Jorge invite you to “Sit, listen, dance, cry, laugh. Radio Flor is a little bit from the past, a bit from the present, and little more from our imagination.” Tonight’s Radio Flor is titled “Cantando”, with a special section dedicated to female composers such as Mercedes Simone (Argentina), composer of the tango Cantando: "Singing, I found him, singing I lost him, and because I know not how to cry, singing I shall die.”

Visit the Cascada de Flores website

Listen to a track from Cascada de Flores: