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News > Culture

Mexican Artists Launch Concert Series to Assist Earthquake Victims

  • Oaxacan singer Lila Downs was one of the main organizers behind “Oaxaca Corazon,” an event which seeks to raise funds for earthquake victims.

    Oaxacan singer Lila Downs was one of the main organizers behind “Oaxaca Corazon,” an event which seeks to raise funds for earthquake victims. | Photo: LilaDowns.com

Published 17 September 2017
Opinion

Artists have joined together organizing a series of concerts and donating the proceeds to the Oaxaca relief effort.

Mexican, but in particular, Oaxacan artists are joining together in an act of solidarity and month of concerts to raise funds for victims of Mexico’s recent earthquake.

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Musicians and artists, calling the tragedy one of the worst in Mexican history, have made a call to action to participate in the movement after the 8.2 magnitude quake left 98 dead and thousands homeless and displaced.

“We need to reach every corner of Oaxaca, with our people who were affected by the misfortune,” singers and organizers for the "Oaxaca Corazon" event, Lila Downs and Susana Harp said in a video published across social media.

"I am very excited to do something for our people and am also looking for a way to find the strength to send it in a real and helpful way," Downs said, adding that she hopes the event will send a message of unity to Mexico.

The initiative has enlisted the help of numerous local and national artists in a concert Sunday that will be held in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The profits will be donated to assist Oaxaca’s earthquake victims who suffered the greatest damage and loss.

Among those scheduled to perform are Eugenia Leon, Aida Cuevas, Tania Libertad, Geo Meneses, Diana Bracho, Alejandro Robles, Ana Diaz, Filippa Giordano, Natalia Cruz, Natalia Toledo, Mardonio Carballo, Grupo Raices, Tono Cisneros and the State Music Band of Oaxaca, among others.

Artists, who can not attend have picked up the torch, scheduling other events in a continuous series of concerts and entertainment throughout the month of September.

"We are from Oaxaca and many of our friends were affected by the earthquake,” said reggae artists, Sobredosis Power Roots, who plan to hold a concert Sept. 22 titled, “Strength and Unity,” with other reggae artists to raise money for emergency relief food and hygiene products.

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The dance troupe La Apuesta will be holding an event, enlisting their own team of artists to perform free of charge and donating their services to fund the reconstruction of Oaxaca. The group says their event is still a few months away and tickets will be priced between US$3) and US$25.

The earthquake which shook Mexico on Sept. 7, affected around 2.5 million people, with 78 of the 98 deaths occurring in the southwest state of Oaxaca. Mexico’s national seismological institute said more than 1,000 aftershocks rattled the area, while the U.S. Geological Survey said that nearly 60 of them had a magnitude of 4.5 or greater.

More than 5,000 homes were flattened in the Indigenous coastal town of Juchitan, which lies a little over 15 miles from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The town was the hardest-hit in the country, and the community continues to climb through the rubble, searching for victims amid the shattered glass, rubble, and ground concrete.

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