SPANISH CLASS MINNESOTA

Advanced / Tertulia Kahlo, Chavela y más

Frida Kahlo (1907 - 1954) and Violeta Parra (1917 - 1967), the first a Mexican; the second, a Chilean, are two giant Latin American cultural icons.

The wife of the famous Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo —Frida— was a well known artist on her own and also a noticeable iconoclastic troublemaker.

Violeta Parra was a composer, songwriter, folklorist, ethnomusicologist and visual artist. For a reference, some people have compared her with Bob Dylan. She pioneered a renewal of Chilean folk music —The Chilean new song— in the sixties, expanding her still lasting influence throught all Latin America and Spain.

Both women had to struggle against patriarchal, gender and social class obstacles; not to mention a terrible accident in the case of Kahlo; poverty and disease, in the case of Parra. Their stories are examples of endurance, courage and strength.

Both were affected by the roaring times in which they lived and, at the same time, they deeply contribute to shaping and changing them.

In this Tertulia / Class, we will explore the times of Kahlo and Parra, listen to some of Parra's most famous songs, and talk about some of Kahlo's paintings. We will watch two movies about their lives —Frida (2002) by Julie Taymor and Violeta Went to Heaven (2011) by Andrés Wood— and we will read and discuss several articles about them.

It will be fun.

Entre otras cosas tendremos:

• Una bellamente ilustrada, irreverente y desenfadada biografía de Kahlo de la mano de María Hesse que ya ha llegado a su décima cuarta edición.

• Tina Modotti, una visita a la fotografía de Modotti y una conversación sobre su apasionante vida.

• La bella película Frida de Julie Taymor, basada en la biografía de Hayden Herrera, con Salma Hayek y Alfred Molina como protagonistas.

Además de su tormentuosa relación con el muralista Diego Rivera, Kahlo compatió su vida en México con otras extraordinarias mujeres en diferentes ámbitos de la vida cultural, política y artística... entre ellas la fotógrafa y activista itaiana afincada en México Tina Modotti, la fotógrafa mexicana Lola Álvarez Bravo... y la popular cantante Chavela Vargas...

Gramatica:
Los contenidos de gramática de los cursos avanzados varían según la temporada y los intereses o necesidades de los participantes.