Concerts & Events

This event builds on the work of the 2018 & 2019 Mexican Indigenous Music Festivals held here in Chicago and is co-produced by the Old Town School of Folk Music and the Cenzontles organization of Chicago.

The Cenzontles Indigenous Celebration is an event recognizing the rich traditions of the indigenous communities of Mexico within the free World Music Wednesday series at the Old Town School of Folk Music. For the past thirteen years, the World Music Wednesday series has celebrated the music and dance of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe, forming a core presentational world music platform at the Old Town School. The series has featured a number of events involving the Mexican indigenous communities including the First Annual Mexican Indigenous Music Festival in 2018 and a concert with Pindekuecha, a group from the Purepecha community of Michoacán, around which a music documentary was produced in 2013 and aired multiple times on public television station WYCC.

The Cenzontles Indigenous Celebration will feature a variety of local and touring artists from a number of the 89 distinct indigenous groups of Mexico. The mission is to celebrate and to educate the Chicago community about these rich cultural traditions. The indigenous communities of Mexico have struggled to preserve their traditions and gain the respect and support for their art and this event is designed to give these communities a platform to share their art forms with our Chicago public.