"In Performance at the White House: Fiesta Latina"

This past weekend I watched the “Latina Fiesta at the White House”. In case you didn't have the chance to watch it you missed a beautifully orchestrated concert. President Barack Obama opened up the celebration with a very enlightening and enthusiastic speech. He commended our culture and acknowledged the importance and value that the ‘Latino Race’ contributes to the United States. He wrapped up his introduction with a quote from Gloria Estefan that I will use in the future, “The most beautiful things in this country are that it has flavor of other countries.”

The program was created to celebrate Hispanic musical heritage and it included performances by Marc Anthony, Jimmy Smits, Gloria Estefan, Jose Feliciano, George Lopez, Thalia, Tito "El Bambino", the Bachata music group Aventura, and the Chicano rock band Los Lobos, with Sheila E. as the musical director. As I watched the show tears began to come down. I was overwhelmed with a sense of bitter sweet feeling of both “proud of where we have reached” and “yearning, to be there one day”.
The performances were great! My favorite has to be Gloria Estefan’s performance. She has such class and sings like a bird. I do feel that we could have “represented” more as I am a huge fan of “Salsa”. There wasn’t any “Guaguanco” and that is a true representation of where we come from. I loved the balance of music genres that they had, Bachata, Reggaeton, Salsa and Pop with Ballads were truly a nice mix of passion and “Felicidad”.

If you would like to see the show you can visit, pbs.org. Or visit this URL: http://video.pbs.org/video/1296778877/program/1073769600#

As I watched, it was a feeling of, “I can do anything I want”. Each and everyone one of the people in attendance at the Latina Fiesta is an influential person in today’s society and for that I will continue to strive for my dreams! I hope you will too.