MUSIC

The Café is well known for hosting musicians of Latin America once a week. Almost every Wednesday a variety of talented musicians from several countries (including the U.S.) gather to make music. For several hours, music from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador and others is played spontaneously and joyously. For many of us, devotees of Latin American traditions, this has been the opening of a great door into a lovely new world in the heart of Squirrel Hill. Several bands have spun off” from these sessions. The Colombian music band “Bésame” has performed at multiple museums, folk festivals, Latin American community events, health fairs, elementary schools and universities, at private functions and on radio stations well over a hundred times in this short period, all right in the Pittsburgh area. We in Bésame have formed fast and lifelong friendships, with each other and also with a large group of Latin Americans and other fans of the culture. The band Musuhalpa formed from this same Wednesday night “seed” to spread the cultural experiences of the haunting music from the Andes. Other spin-offs present fiesta music from Mexico, Brazilian music, and tangos of Argentina at many settings and especially at schools. Meanwhile the Wednesday night musical tradition continues. The ripples of cultural outreach and good feelings from this tiny outpost through the medium of music have traveled far and wide.