Nicaraguan Singer Katia Cardenal in Concert
March 23, 2019, 8 pm
Palenke Arts
1713 Broadway Ave., Seaside, CA 93955
For more info: 831-333-6612
General: Advance $20 ($25 at the door)
Senior/Youth $10 ($15 at the door)
Singer songwriter Katia Cardenal is making her Central Coast return after months of touring and performing throughout 15 countries in forced exile from her native Nicaragua. Katia is a member of the famed Nicaraguan Duo Guardabarranco, whose music was discovered and produced by Jackson Browne in the 1980’s. Her poetry-filled music, rooted in the Latin American Nueva Trova (New Song Movement) has been admired and praised by thousands throughout the world, who love her gorgeous vocals, and themes of love and environmentalism.
As it has been widely reported in the news, Protests against the government of President Daniel Ortega have been ongoing in Nicaragua since April. Police and armed militia have arrested and aggressively repressed demonstrators. Thus, many Nicaraguan musicians, poets and artists such as Carlos Mejía Godoy and Katia Cardenal have decided to leave the country, because, as she mentioned in an interview to the German publication Der Standard, “As a Trova singer, I mainly deal with social and environmental issues, and this is currently undesirable in Nicaragua, such activities are persecuted as “terrorism.” I currently have no way to make a living, I would have to be underground.”
In her recent European tour, Katia Cardenal has collected donations for Nicaraguan refugees, because “Contrary to allegations that we are collecting money to arm the demonstrators, the proceeds from our solidarity events go to organizations like the Red Cross, which help Nicaraguan refugees. In Costa Rica alone, there are more than 20,000 compatriots who have fled Nicaragua”
Cardenal will be accompanied in this concert by her daughter Nina Cardenal on guitar and vocals.
Biographical notes:
Katia Cardenal was born in Nicaragua in 1963. She became a fan of popular music at an early age, singing in the chorus at Managua’s El Colegio Teresianochorus. She began to perform in public with her brother, Salvador, when they were just 16. They called themselves the Duo Guardabarranco, after the national bird of Nicaragua. It did not take long for her fresh harmonies, original poetry, and melodic songs to gain popularity.
She was not only recognized by people in her country, but also internationally by the supporters of Movimiento de la Nueva Canción Latinoamericana. With only a few years of experience, she began to tour the Americas and Europe. Amidst her other work, Katia also graduated as a musical educator from the Escuela de Música de Managua in 1984. From 1984-94 she worked as a flute and solfege teacher for kids and adolescents in different schools. Since January 1997, she has strengthened her solo career and moved to Europe. She has released nine solo albums, which represented different stages of her career.
She has explored new topics and rhythms with musicians from Norway, Nicaragua, Sweden, but has always remained faithful to the songs that inspired her two decades ago. In 2004, she started her own record label called Moka Discos in Nicaragua. Currently, she gives concerts and continues doing her songs, her brother Salvador Cardenals songs, and those of other Hispanic and Scandinavian composers. She luces in Nicaragua.
During her career she has performed in the United States, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Cuba, Russia, Panama, Ecuador, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Switzerland, Canada, Chile, Luxemburgo, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, England, Panama, Austria, Colombia, and is constantly touring with her daughter Nina Cardenal who plays The Guitar with Katia since 2008.
