Rain Town, by Santiago Savi, a visual offering that can be heard

▲ Santiago Savi in ​​front of his mural , The Universe of the Cornfield, 5 meters wide by 2.5 meters high. Photo by María Luisa Severiano

Daniel López Aguilar

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, June 14, 2025, p. 2

In Santiago Savi's canvases, there are seeds. Some germinate in the form of corncobs with eyes and a smile, others bloom like talking flowers, serpents floating over plowed fields, jaguars watching over the sleep of the earth, or grandmothers of smoke walking among the furrows.

Everything grows with reverent slowness, as if each stroke were designed to invoke rather than illustrate. Thus unfolds Rain Village, an exhibition that occupies the lobby of the Vasconcelos Library, a visual offering that can be heard.

The Mixtec painter, born in 1980 in Abasolo del Valle, Veracruz, but originally from San Juan Mixtepec, in the Ñuu Savi region, avoids idyllic landscapes and memories to cultivate symbols.

Since I was a child, my parents taught me that corn was sacred , he recalled in an interview with La Jornada .

If the chickens didn't eat all the grains, my mother told us that we had to collect them, clean them, and store them, because otherwise, the corn would get angry with us and wouldn't give a good harvest the next time.

That loving gesture of preserving food from the indifference of the earth is repeated now, but with pigments.

Slow germination, rather than immediacy

At the opening, among hundreds of people who moved through the colors and stopped in front of the star-studded mural The Universe of the Milpa —5 meters wide by 2.5 meters high—to read it with their eyes, curator Esteban Soto whispered a phrase that sought to have roots rather than impact.

Here, as in fertile soil, the important thing is slow germination, not immediacy . The public seemed to understand. No one walked past. The visitors' pace was that of walkers between furrows: look, linger, look again.

The exhibition includes 54 pieces: oil paintings, acrylics on canvas, natural inks, ceramics, embroidered textiles, and illustrated textbooks. They all share one quality: none are limited to their medium. Even the frames and the floor where the sculptures rest seem to be part of the work.

I no longer cultivate the cornfield, but I continue to paint it , the artist added.

In Nahual Pensador, a powerful vision is concentrated: a human figure with animal features, gazed in a trance in front of a copal bonfire, while a jaguar listens in silence.

“Since I was a child, I heard that some people were nahuales, capable of transformation, possessing ancestral wisdom: they healed, knew plants, performed cleansings… That's why I represent them with profound respect,” the painter shared.

These silent presences are shown in constant dialogue, metamorphosis and ritual, communicating in Tu'un Savi, a Mixtec language that reflects their close relationship with the land and tradition.

In another work, the deer, the eagle, the snake and the jaguar coexist, symbols that create the universe according to the Ñuu Savi worldview, as the Mixtecs call themselves: people of the rain .

Savi explained that he was able to read a centuries-old document kept in the Palafoxiana Library that describes how our first fathers and mothers were these same entities.

This story is captured in cochineal ink, tones that keep ancestral memory alive.

Curator Esteban Soto emphasized that this pictorial initiative was not mounted, it was sown, and like all sowing, it awaits the rains that sprout from the heart .

The exhibition includes books from the SEP illustrated by Savi, along with poems by Celerina Sánchez and José Luis Feliciano, both Mixtecs from the Rain Village and close collaborators, which underscores the collective nature of the project.

Ceramics, embroidered textiles, and pieces evoking reinvented pre-Hispanic codices complete the offering. There are no touristy recreations; rawness, intensity, and uncontrived love predominate.

In my community, gourds are still carved, ceramics are made, and textiles are woven on a backstrap loom, with a level of detail and color that inspires me , said the artist, who has a background in agronomy and combines that technical knowledge with his ancestral wisdom.

That's why it also represents the invisible: mycorrhizae, insects and microorganisms that sustain life.

My work recovers a root that still throbs in the furrows and blood of my people. It's not nostalgia or a return to the past; it's a collective sowing, a pact with living memory. There are no tragedies or folklore here, but rather a genealogy that seeks to flourish again , he concluded.

Rain Village can be visited Monday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Vasconcelos Library (Eje ​​1 Norte s/n, Buenavista neighborhood, Cuauhtémoc City). Admission is free and closes on July 6.

▲ Cmet has opted not to hold a permanent position in his native Córdoba, instead accepting invitations to direct outside his country. Photo by Cristina Rodríguez

Eirinet Gómez

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, June 14, 2025, p. 3

The symphonic repertoire isn't boring for children; it all depends on how you teach it , said Argentine conductor Laura Cmet, who will make her debut this weekend leading the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra (OFCM). Trained as a pianist and composer, Cmet has dedicated the past 10 years to directing an educational project that now brings together more than 200 children and young musicians.

When my children were young, I realized how important it was for them to experience music not just as a discipline, but as a shared passion , he said in an interview with La Jornada. This is how the school-orchestra initiative was born, which seeks to transform traditional academic music teaching and open accessible, collective spaces for new generations.

Often, if the space isn't there, it has to be created , said the conductor, who explained that her teaching strategy consists of introducing students to the orchestral repertoire from their first classes, connecting them with professional orchestras, and touring throughout Argentina.

In recent years, Cmet explained, the concerns of children and young people have changed with the advancement of technology. They learn through digital applications. Teachers and schools must consider how to integrate them into the teaching-learning process and give them added value .

One of her greatest satisfactions has been seeing several of her first students, now of university age and continuing their musical instruction, become guides for the little ones.

Beyond the musical aspect, in the orchestra, children learn values: teamwork, discipline, respect, and listening to others. These lessons last a lifetime , he noted.

Although her career has been deeply connected to Córdoba—where she has conducted or assisted in professional and university orchestras—Cmet has chosen not to hold a permanent position, instead accepting invitations to conduct outside her country, such as her visit to Mexico City, where she will lead the OFCM for two weekends.

The first program she will headline includes two pieces: Max Bruch's Scottish Fantasia, Op. 46, and Felix Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56, which, according to the conductor, allow an orchestra to shine in all its colors .

The second program includes two works that Cmet is passionate about: Concertone in C major for two violins and orchestra in C major, K. 190, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Symphony No. 3 in G minor, Op. 36, by French composer Louise Farrenc; and Dances from the ballet Estancia, Op. 8a, by Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera.

Farrenc's music has only recently been rediscovered and revalued. Symphony No. 3 is a fantastic work that surprises me and makes me wonder: who was this woman who wrote such well-crafted works?

Regarding Ginastera, he noted: "The dances we included belong to a nationalist period, in which he sought to reflect Argentine identity through music. There's a very bucolic movement, evoking the Argentina of the great plains and open nature. That atmosphere is very well captured ."

Regarding the final dance , Malambo, he emphasized: "It's a very unusual piece of music danced by Argentine gauchos, a kind of duel between men with complex steps, vigorous footwork, and a lot of power. In the orchestral version, that power is clearly reflected in the brass and the rhythmic intensity ."

After the second rehearsal with the OFCM, the conductor anticipates a great collaborative effort. At first, it's like picking up an instrument for the first time; you don't know how it's going to sound. Every orchestra has its own sound. In this case, everything went very well; it's a pleasure to work with professional musicians, almost all of whom are soloists. It's a great chamber group .

Cmet, who has led groups such as the Syracuse University Wind Ensemble in New York and the Sonora Philharmonic Orchestra in Mexico, believes that conducting goes far beyond music. It's about energy management: you have to make sure people are comfortable playing, that everything flows. It's a very living art .

She recalled that early in her career, she had teachers who told her that because she was a woman, she would never conduct an orchestra. But I persisted, because, beyond gender, I was convinced I was born for this. I knew it was the place where I would perform best .

Still missing opening

Although 15 years ago she knew virtually no other female directors, she gradually began to identify and contact them, including Brazilian Ligia Amadio. Starting in 2018, she joined the symposium for female directors that Amadio organizes every two years.

She stated that she's seen some progress for women in the last couple of years: Musicians no longer question whether they can play a certain instrument or study conducting. This is very positive, but there needs to be more openness in more professional orchestras, since only 2 percent of those appearing in the conducting section of their programs are women .

Cmet will conduct the OFCM today and June 21 at 6:00 p.m., and on Sundays the 15th and 22nd at 12:30 p.m., in the Silvestre Revueltas Hall of the Ollin Yoliztli Cultural Center (Periférico Sur 5141, Mexico City).

Speaking about the concert experience, he reflected: “In addition to the energy of the orchestra on stage, there's also the energy of the audience. Sometimes those silences are in complicity with the musicians. It's very nice to see how they engage and share—with whatever understanding they have—what we're doing.”

In a message to the audience, Cmet urged: "Don't be afraid of this type of repertoire. Take advantage of the opportunity to hear live music. I know we're used to electronic devices, and they're fantastic, but there's nothing like hearing live music, like seeing these incredible artists. Music, as Beethoven said, comes from the heart and reaches the heart ."