[logo sonoro] [música dinámica] PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Hola, soy Patricia Gómez.

Hoy en Adelante, en septiembre, mes de la hispanidad, celebramos nuestra cultura y recursos comunitarios.

[música] PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Hablaremos con Rafael Hernández sobre la tradición Lowrider.

Carlos Herrada nos presenta su libro para colorear y Ale Jimenez de Ometochtli compartirá la pasión de la danza folklorica y azteca.

[logo sonoro] PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Nos acompaña Rafael Hernández para hablar de la cultura Lowrider en Milwaukee, un movimiento de arte, identidad y orgullo comunitario sobre ruedas.

Bienvenido, Rafael.

[music] RAFAEL HERNANDEZ: I think lowriding started in Milwaukee like in the early 70s, 80s from Los Bajitos car club, and where I grew up right across the street were neighbors of relatives of Los Bajitos, so my brother and I uh, Ricardo Hernandez and I, we, at that age we were about eight or nine, and we always seen a lot of cool cars right around our neighborhood, and I think that's just something that caught our interest.

We just knew one day that we were going to have our own lowriders.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: What is this about?

Why you modify a car, and what kind of modifications you do?

RAFAEL HERNANDEZ: So it all depends on each person of what kind of car they like.

My brother, he has a 1962 Chevy Impala, and I have a '85 Buick Regal.

Two different style cars, I guess, depending on personal interest, it definitely cost a lot of money to modify each car, so it's just depending on how much time and money you have to do it.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Is your family unhappy, you know wives who need the money for other things are unhappy are always fighting against?

How, what kind of culture is that?

RAFAEL HERNANDEZ: Well, I think the lowrider culture, it's definitely family oriented.

So it's um, like my wife at times loves it and definitely times hates it.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Then what happens when you all get together and bring those very special cars?

RAFAEL HERNANDEZ: Yeah, I guess a lot of our especially our Milwaukee lowrider community events, they're definitely family oriented, and most of the time just because we all have our families and kids with us, but it's more of a family get together.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Tell me about your car.

What kind of modifications have you done with it, and how that happened that you picked that specific one?

RAFAEL HERNANDEZ: So the Buick Regal happened where it was uh, three different cars' G bodies that got modified into one car.

It was a lot of help from family and friends.

The majority was my brother.

We ended up doing a full frame off from every nut and bolt came off the car.

We did the chrome suspension Full rep suspension on the frame, just a lot of modifications -- a lot of a time and effort got put into that car.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Do you get like the favorite car of all in certain events?

RAFAEL HERNANDEZ: There's certain events that you do get awards for it, but uh, a lot of us, we just do it just because that's, we like to show off our cars.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: How do you feel, you know, when you ride those cars?

// How is the feelings?

// RAFAEL HERNANDEZ: Oh, you get it's a great feeling because a lot of kids uh, like younger kids, they see it, and they just give you that smile like "Hey, can you hit the switch or you know make it jump?"

And uh, it just reminds me of when my brother and I when we used to tell our neighbors like, you know, to have their car jump and stuff.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: So you what happens is that you get a lot of people interacting with you?

RAFAEL HERNANDEZ: Yes, a lot of thumbs up from like the older crowd and stuff.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: When this movement, because maybe there is a movement in there, started?

Do you have an idea if it started earlier in the country or in certain regions of United States?

RAFAEL HERNANDEZ: A lot of it was like in Texas and California.

It was definitely like before the 70s just from looking at lowrider magazines and videos and stuff.

It was definitely earlier, but just for my brother's and our age, it was definitely like in the 90s where we definitely started working on it.

We started with the lowrider bike with my father getting us a bike, and we started modifying our bikes, and then we just kind of // [laughter] PATRICIA GÓMEZ: I didn't know about the bikes!

RAFAEL HERNANDEZ: Yes.

Yeah, we started with bikes and then get a little older and start driving, so then we started working with cars.

Chicago has a big following, too, with lowriders, but you know, I was born and raised in Milwaukee, so I definitely wanted, this is something that I do, you know, something that I enjoy doing, so a lot of the events that we do, a lot of it's from Milwaukee because before they didn't want to set certain events, and now it seems like it's a given.

Early 90s, we would always get pulled over by the police department, and now it just, it's an open invitation to when they have open house at their districts, they always invite us to, you know, be part of their events.

It's times have changed.

So, you know, wherever they want lowriders, most likely we'll be there.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: So Rafael, is there something that you would like to tell our audience regarding why they should come and participate and learn more about it?

RAFAEL HERNANDEZ: It keeps uh like the younger generation like especially like my kids and nieces and founding members and uh kids' family of the kids and stuff keeps us out of trouble just because it's uh, there's always a lot of work to be put onto these cars, so it's you know, why be in the street if we could be in the garage working on cars?

Definitely helped out with my brother and I. The early 90s was definitely a little rough in the streets, but I think the cars just definitely kept us away from certain situations.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Gracias a Rafael por mostrarnos el arte detrás del lowrider.

Más detalles en sus redes sociales.

[música] PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Damos la bienvenida a Carlos Herrada, creador de un libro para colorear, basado en la Vida Cotidiana y la identidad latina de Milwaukee.

Bienvenido, Carlos.

[music] PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Would like to know more about how this happened.

You were a little kid when these ideas start coming to you?

CARLOS HERRADA: Yeah, so the original homie figurines, you know, were very popular when I was a little kid.

I remember going to the store with my parents, and we always wanted those.

I think I grew up in a part of Milwaukee, where I got to see a lot of people that looked like these figurines, and I think that's why I was so attracted to this, you know.

So going to the store and seeing these was something that I, that really inspired this project, you know.

Growing up, I couldn't get them.

My parents weren't big fans of the figurines, so now as an adult, to be able to color them and make my own, it's surreal.

It's a cool new thing for me.

I think, you know, that having my own collection was really cool.

And I think that it's something that really takes me back to my childhood, and being able to have these is something cool.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Were your parents worried about the influence of those characters in you, and it became the opposite, they were good for you?

CARLOS HERRADA: Definitely.

I think my parents didn't really like the image, the influence that these figurines came from.

So I think that was one part of the reason why we couldn't buy them.

My parents are alive.

They love my project, and they both support it.

I think it's really cool now that I tell them why I do it.

It's a different feeling, like I said, you know.

But they really like it.

They're not part of the book yet.

I have a lot of people, but I haven't had the chance to add them yet.

But maybe in the future, you know, they'll be homies one day, too.

I think one of the reasons, or one of the excuses they would give us is that they were too expensive, and it's three of us.

I have two other siblings, so buying one for one of us, it meant getting some for them too.

So I think one of their big excuses was the money situation at the time.

But I think that once I draw them, you know, I'll just probably make them happy.

I want everybody to look good in this project.

I want everybody to, you know, resemble who they are.

I know maybe they didn't like it at the time, you know, but now they enjoy it.

So I'd like to draw everybody happy, you know.

And so they liked it when they see themselves in this project.

I've been an artist my whole life.

And I think that, it's not just this art, something that hangs.

With creating something like this, something interactive for people to use, I think that, you know, I like creating stuff that is functional, stuff that people can use every day.

I think that creating a coloring book where people are in it, it makes it very special.

It's not just coloring, you know, some random cartoon book.

It's, you know, coloring your neighbor, coloring your friend.

I'm creating the concept, and I'm getting the community to come and help me and, you know, kind of put a different spin to the each person that's in this book.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: At the beginning, it was just the characters and what they meant.

// Yeah.

// And then you expand to a specific city and a specific neighborhood.

CARLOS HERRADA: Yeah, so I mean, I grew up in Milwaukee in the south side of Milwaukee.

So for me, growing up, I have a lot of like beautiful memories, some that have to do with, you know, with the figurines, some that just, they're just like my childhood.

So like the cover, for example, has the Milwaukee Domes.

It's somewhere where, you know, I grew up with, this is where we had our Mexican Independence parade.

You know, this is where we went sledding.

This is where we went on school field trips.

It's an iconic place to Milwaukee, and it's also an iconic place in my childhood memory.

My wife Taylor has been such a big support system for me.

I'm just I'm so grateful because this project, a lot of it, it took a lot of time.

I created all this art based on like real people in Milwaukee.

Every character in this book is an actual person, an actual friend that I've met throughout the years.

I have a couple of friends that are really big supporters of my art.

I have a few shirts that I designed that are being sold at Envisions on the south side of Milwaukee.

I do designs for big companies, and so, some of my designs sometimes end up in the city and it's cool to have them.

They go to the store and they buy them there, so I wanted to, you know, also support them.

They're fans of the store, they're fans of my work, so I like to create stuff like that.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: What about the shirt that you are wearing today?

CARLOS HERRADA: Yes, it's a design that my wife and I came up with.

We're storytellers.

We have a project called Hecho en Milwaukee.

It's been, you know, an interesting journey, but we've been meeting a lot of people and the concept behind this is like, we love makers.

We love people that are out there, you know, creating stuff.

And we want to one day showcase, you know, all the all the awesome people that are out here in Milwaukee.

We want to tell the stories because not everybody's a celebrity.

Not everybody's, you know, doing something, you know, that that is getting them to a TV, maybe, but there's so many great people in Milwaukee.

So with Hecho en Milwaukee, you know, we're creating this project where we're storytelling.

And the idea behind this, you know, it's like the iconic Hecho en Mexico logo, except we kind of had a little fun, and we put a deer for the Bucks.

[laughter] So it's supposed to be a deer.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: But it's an Aztec deer // Yeah.

// or something Mexican kind of cultural.

CARLOS HERRADA: Yeah.

Yeah.

So the idea is that hopefully we can get a bunch of products one day and everything, you know, everything be everything that's Milwaukee made have a stamp of the Hecho en Mexico or Hecho en Milwaukee on there.

So yeah, it's just it's a project for us to be able to storytell, and you know, share people's people stories.

My project has one hundred and thirty like thirty seven people.

And, you know, that's, it doesn't seem like a lot, but 137 people to me, it's been a lot.

It's 137 people that I've that I've met throughout these years.

A lot of really like really cool people, really talented people, you know, people of all of all walks.

It's been really interesting to see them all a part of this project.

And, you know, in growing up and seeing, you know, the homies, you know, one thing that I loved about them, the original project was, you know, seeing like the big wall with everybody on there, you know, all the all the characters on there.

And so now, some of the people that were in his music video were actually part of this project already.

So when creating this specific drawing, it was cool because I was able to incorporate El Rey, which is iconic for me, but also I was able to create his music video.

So this drawing, you know, it illustrates a couple of different things.

But I have a few different places in here that, you know, that to me, they're I don't know, they're kind of cool.

The Fiserv Forum, you know, I mean, I know that's a newer a newer place, but, you know, it's like I think with everything with the way that, you know, then the basketball team has influenced our city and has, you know, helped grow, I think that it's something to really consider and to really add to like the new Landmarks of Milwaukee, you know, something that makes the city really special and its, I don't know, architecture.

I love architecture too.

So it's just a little bit of everything.

// Of everything.

// I wanted to add a little bit of the old stuff and a little bit of the new stuff, stuff that really like, you know, connects with me.

You know, there's so many cool activities, and when I was creating this, I wanted to do something that it wasn't just coloring in, you know, it's I have like 60 pages in here and I wanted to do something fun, something that the kids can like kind of like mess around with.

Not just the kids, you know, this book is for everyone.

But since I already have so many friends that are already completely drawn, I kind of wanted to include something like this one where people can really have like the freedom to create, you know, I gave them a little a little guidelines with the feet and the head.

I don't know, I feel like that was like something popular in coloring books, you know, like something that I remember that I really liked finding all the stuff that was missing in the other picture.

// Exactly.

// So like creating this also like, you know, choosing things that I remember from my childhood that I really enjoyed and that I that I hope that, you know, whoever gets this book can hopefully enjoy one day too.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: And making a lot of calls.

They help me to paint a community mural.

// Yeah.// And this other one.

CARLOS HERRADA: Yes, I like to, I like to be able to, you know, make make this interactive, you know, so it's not just coloring in.

I know that it could be fun to color in, but if you give you a little activity, a little something to do, especially now, like I said, with a toddler, I know that sometimes, you know, we parents want to want to have our kids, you know, doing something to keep them entertained.

So, you know, having them, you know, doing something and just coloring hopefully helps out a parent here or there.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Do you have something in mind besides creating that a wall with all your characters on it?

CARLOS HERRADA: Yeah, it kind of just started as a drawing, you know, and as it kind of progressed and I got more and more people involved in this, it became a bigger project.

So my vision got bigger.

Initially, all I wanted was to just create a mural somewhere on the south side of Milwaukee and paint it.

But now, you know, with the project kind of growing, you know, I've kind of got more ideas of where I want to take this project and the things I want to do, and one of those is, you know, I want to I design a lot of like merchandise, a lot of t-shirts and stuff like that, just a collection of designs that are related to El Barrio Milwaukee.

And it's just, you know, creating stuff like that that people that people would want to one day maybe, you know, collect.

I made this as a collector's like edition, so I'm hoping that people really love it, and one day they want to they want to collect everything that has to do with this project.

And, you know, obviously the wall, I think everyone, everyone's been very excited about it here today, you know, even 20 years later.

So I hope that this mural that that that I create one day is one of those iconic Milwaukee murals that will be here for 30, 50 years, you know.

So that's that's that's one of the one of the visions for this project.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Gracias a Carlos por rescatar la esencia de nuestros barrios en sus ilustraciones.

[música] PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Nos acompaña Ale Jiménez, con quien conversamos sobre el fortalecimiento de las raíces culturales a través de la danza, la historia y las regiones de México.

Bienvenida, Ale.

[tambores aztecas] ALEJANDRA JIMÉNEZ: Es un grupo de danza mexicana, folklorica y también danza Azteca, se llama Ometochtli Mexican Folk Dance.

Y de hecho, Ometochtli es una palabra náhuatl, que es un dialecto de México, nativo.

Significa Ome (dos) tochtli (conejos) y bueno, el significado va mucho más allá.

En resumen significa conejo es fertilidad en la cultura mexica, azteca, y es la fertilidad que estamos sembrando para las siguientes generaciones, es esa cultura que queremos regar, esparcir y florecer para ellos.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Sabemos que muy diferente la colección de danzas aztecas de la colección de danzas folkloricas.

¿Podrías hablarnos de ello?

ALEJANDRA JIMÉNEZ: México es súper diverso en lo que es culturalmente, si hablamos, y tenemos cada pueblo, cada región, cada Estado tiene su folklore, su tipo de música y también hay como áreas, que son muy parecidas unas a otras, pero en cuanto a lo cronológico, pues empieza la danza desde los prehispánicos más de 500 años atrás.

Empezó esto de la danza prehispánica antes de la colonia, de la conquista española y pues es descalzo, se danza descalzo, es todo conectado con la naturaleza, se usan semillas como sonajas y como parte de tu atuendo y estamos reflejando toda la conexión con la naturaleza de los cuatro elementos, así como pues las deidades con las que estaban conectados la cultura mexica o azteca.

[música] ALEJANDRA JIMÉNEZ: Y después empiezan las danzas indígenas que ya es como la transición entre lo prehispánico y lo poscolonial.

Lógicamente tenemos influencia de la conquista española y adoptamos ciertas características de los españoles, pues somos multiculturales en México y ahí nace lo que es la danza folklorica mexicana con vestidos más amplios, sombreros, zapateados, etcétera PATRICIA GÓMEZ: ¿Por qué es importante, Ale, que los niños y las niñas y las familias enteras vivan esta experiencia en una ciudad como Milwaukee que está tan lejos de nuestra frontera con México y mucho más lejos del centro de la cultura nacional que es la Ciudad de México y todas las demás regiones que mencionaste?

ALEJANDRA JIMÉNEZ: Sí, bueno, la danza folklorica y la danza prehispánica es un tipo de cómo expresar o es un canal, es un vehículo de cómo expresar y cómo contar nuestra historia de todos los años que hemos pasado los mexicanos.

Es una forma de identidad, una forma de conexión con nuestras raíces.

Cuando escuchamos la música, cuando escuchamos el tambor, es algo que sientes por dentro, que no puedes explicarlo con palabras, simplemente te sientes conectada.

Y entonces, como mexicano es importante saber de tu cultura, ya sea que hayas nacido en México o aquí, porque necesitamos esa identidad, esa conexión, esa forma de saber que perteneces a alguna cultura, a algún país.

Y sí, estamos lejos, pero traemos un poquito de México para acá.

Simplemente nos sentimos completos, ¿no?

o sea, sí pertenecemos, tal vez, a la cultura americana en cierto aspecto, pero también necesitamos esa otra parte de nuestro México, que es simplemente viene de nuestras raíces, de nuestros ancestros PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Se dice que el arte nos sana.

Nosotros las vemos que pasan por tanto a las niñas que bailan sus danzas folkloricas, las danzas aztecas.

Requiere tanto pero luego, cuando las vemos bailando, están transportadas a otro mundo.

¿Qué sientes tú cuando ves a las niñas así o qué sabes de ellas y de los niños cuando están yendo a través de este especie de trance?

ALEJANDRA JIMÉNEZ: Para mí la danza folklorica y la danza azteca es más allá que una arte.

Es una arte, pero es tan integral, porque integral lo que es lo físico, lo mental y lo espiritual.

Que es lo que todo humano necesita.

Entonces, lo físico, pues las tenemos, los y las tenemos haciendo ejercicio constantemente.

Los ensayos son largos durante la semana.

Pues eso es lo físico.

Lo mental, pues simplemente estar enfocado en lo que es el movimiento, al estar razonando las secuencias, al memorizar las coreografías, ellas están, ellas y ellos están trabajando en eso.

Su mente está concentrada.

Y lo espiritual es algo como lo que te digo.

Sientes algo que no sabes qué es.

Simplemente sabes que perteneces a eso y es toda una arte integral.

Y bueno, la danza integra tanto las artes plásticas, la música, el teatro, muchas más actividades artísticas que complementa todo eso.

Y precisamente en este mes los niños están haciendo sus propias máscaras para hacer una danza xantolo que es para el Día de los muertos o de los santos difuntos.

Y bueno, en lo que es la parte azteca también es el simbolismo, cuando portan su traje es algo que lo representa ellos mismos.

No solamente es un traje porque es bonito.

Hay un significado detrás y eso es lo especial que hace la danza, el conocer el significado de los pasos, el significado del movimiento, las letras de la música, el ritmo, la historia, los atuendos, el costo de los atuendos, quién trabajó en los atuendos, los artesanos.

Entonces es todo más allá de un simple movimiento.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: ¿Cuándo hay clases?

¿Para quién hay clases?

¿Dónde están?

ALEJANDRA JIMÉNEZ: Sí, estamos en CORE/El Centro, en el tercer piso en Bruce Street.

Todos los lunes de 5 a 6 para niños, tanto la danza azteca como el folklore, de 6 a 7 para jóvenes y adultos, danza folklorica, y de 7 a 8 tenemos danza azteca.

Los jueves son añadidos y vamos complementándolos con diferentes técnicas o diferentes coreografías o lo que se tenga que añadir.

Igual complementamos algunos sábados.

Pues nos pueden buscar en las redes sociales como Ometochtli Mexican Folk Dance, también nuestra página web, ahí tenemos toda la información.

[tambores aztecas] PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Gracias por guiar a nuestra comunidad hacia los confines de nuestra herencia cultural.

Más detalles en sus redes sociales.

[tambores aztecas] PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Y con un hasta pronto nos despedimos invitándolos a que nos dejen saber sus comentarios por el teléfono (414) 297-7544 o en milwaukeepbs.org.

Soy Patricia Gómez deseándoles paz y bendiciones.

[música]