Beall Concert Hall
Frohnmayer Music Building
961 E. 18th Ave.
University of Oregon
Around the O story
Mare, a Zapotec rapper from Oaxaca and founder of Advertencia Lirika, will perform at Beall Concert Hall on the University of Oregon campus at 4 p.m. October 16. The performance is sponsored by the UO Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies in conjunction with the UO Center for the Study of Women in Society, the UO School of Music and Dance, and other units.
Mare uses her rap as a tool to develop consciousness and to build networks within social movements in Oaxaca and elsewhere. Always looking to expose the gender inequality that exists in society, she has worked with a wide range of groups and organizations within Mexico and throughout the world.
She narrates her personal history in the documentary film “When A Woman Steps Forward” (2012), directed by Simón Sedillo and produced by Manovuelta. The film can be accessed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvVtDcXC0XU.
The filmmakers say: “Mare is medicine for the devaluating experiences of many young women of color today. As a young native Zapotec MC* born in Oaxaca City, her unique life experience is a rarely heard perspective on life and community liberation. As an MC in a state known for popular and indigenous rebellion, Mare’s life and experience has been channeled into very powerful and conscious rapping and singing.”
In June 2012, NRP Music selected Mare’s work as the “Best Alternative Music of the Year” after she toured in 25 U.S. cities in six states. In March 2013, Mare received the Maria Sabina Prize in recognition of her work in promoting women’s rights through music. In April 2013 she went on her second tour of the United States, working primarily with immigrant Latin@ and Chican@ groups in 12 cities. The book Song and Social Change in Latin America (2013), written by Lauren Shaw, also highlights her work.
Mare has shared the stage with nationally and internationally recognized groups such as Golden Ganga, DJ Aztek 732, La Tremenda Korte, Krudas Cubensi, Alika, Delinquent Habits, Cihuatl Ce, Guerilla Queens, Guerillerokulto, Lengualerta, Los de Abajo, Roco Pachukote, and Mono Blanco, among others. She has also taken her message to all eight regions of her native Oaxaca.
Mare continues to work on her own individual rap projects and also in community-based projects giving workshops and collaborating with other musical groups. Recently she collaborated with the Banda Feminil Xaamkiisy Xuxpete ”Mujeres del Viento Florido” (Women of the Flowery Wind) in Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec in the Mixe region of Oaxaca.
* MC, for those not familiar with rap lingo, comes from Master of Ceremonies or Mike Controller, and means “rapper.”