I am proud and honored to know Chunky for over 20 years. Congratulations Brother on this well deserved reconigntion. Thank you for your contributions to the Mexican-American community in San Diego. SI SE PUED...VIVA LA RAZA, HERMANO CHUNKY SANCHEZ WINS NEA HONOR ‘TREASURE’ HONORED Leader of San Diego band Los Alacranes joins B.B. King, Bill Monroe in earning prestigious award S.D. music institution awarded NEA fellowship, the highest recognition for folk artsRamon “Chunky” Sanchez, a vital San Diego music institution for nearly 40 years, is one of nine recipients of this year’s National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Fellowships, the nation’s highest honor in folk and traditional arts. The veteran singer, songwriter, music educator and community activist is the first San Diegan in any artistic medium to receive the prestigious NEA fellowship and the only California-based honoree this year. He is also one of only a few Chicano artists in any medium selected in the fellowships’ 32-year history. Previous NEA fellowship honorees include such legends as blues giant B.B. King, gospel music great Mavis Staples and bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe. Visual artists, poets and storytellers are among this year’s recipients.Sanchez, 60, will be honored by the NEA this fall in Washington, D.C. He and this year’s other fellowship recipients will be feted at a Sept. 25 ceremony and luncheon in the Library of Congress. Sanchez will also appear at Lisner Auditorium, near the Capitol, at a Sept. 27 honorees’ concert that is free and open to the public. He will perform there with Los Alacranes (The Scorpions), the socially inspired band he and his younger brother, Ricardo, cofounded in San Diego in 1975. The group has provided music for San Diego gang intervention programs and has counseled and worked, formally and informally, with hundreds of at-risk San Diego youth. “I’m extremely flattered. It’s an honor to be in this company,” he said from his Encanto home. “This fellowship gives me more energy to continue what I’m doing. And I’m very proud to represent, not just myself, but my family — my wife, Isabel, my six kids, my 12 grandkids — as well as the United Farm Workers and everyone in the neighborhood.” UFW founder Cesar Chavez was a major fan and had Los Alacranes appear with him at numerous UFW-related events throughout California. Sanchez, the son of Mexican immigrants, grew up in the agricultural community of Blythe and later attended San Diego State University. Sanchez was nominated for the NEA fellowship by Josie Talamantez, an independent public history consultant, cultural resource manager and guest lecturer in Chicano studies at UC Davis. She is the former chief of programs and legislative liaison for the California State Arts Council and a founding member of Chicano Park in Barrio Logan.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 07:34:31 +0000
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