Los Elegantes perform at Hidalgo Hall in Brawley in the mid 70's.           (Photo courtesy of Alex Morales Jr)

Next Scheduled Showing:  Friday, February 26 at 7:00 p.m. at Hidalgo Hall, Brawley

This project funded in part by a grant from the California Council for the Humanities:  California Stories will be an intertwined multi-media community narrative of the impact of the Chicano Movement in the rural Imperial County as reflected in the music groups that made up the local music scene at the time; with the socio-political scene of the United States.  The project will focus on the pre-Chicano Movement music scene and the benignly named and influenced music groups of the 1950's and early 1960's and the evolution of those same groups and their offshoots into socio-political statements that reflected the emerging identity and outward desire to be noticed and respected as a people with a unique and valued culture that added to the mosaic that is the American Cultural scene then and now from the mid 1960's to the early 1970's.  The project will intermix current live interviews with old footage, a digitized photo collection with original soundtracks from the actual musicians  as they reflect on the evolution of their identity as related to the Chicano Movement and the impact it had on their lives then and in their future endeavors.       The project will also present the reflections, through interviews, of the reaction to the evolution of those groups from family members of the musicians and community leaders of that era and local oral community historians who will give a parallel reflection.  The parallel reflection will present a different perspective that will allow us to look into the continuous struggle to confront the generational and cultural gaps among the more Americanized and mobile next generations of the Mexican Community in a transient rural community and the reaction by establishment types who set the tone for other people's reactions in rural communities. This insight to the inherent conflict of identity and expression from different perspectives will give our current community an opportunity to understand the ideals and expressions of our community and foster better understanding as it continues to evolve socio-politically and economically and is reflected in the musical tastes of the different generations.