CHICANO! 500 Years of Struggle
Patricia Wells Solorzano
Biography
"A dazzling
voice with an inner strength that warms the hearts of her listeners."
Juan
Gonzalez
El Tecolote, San Francisco
"...a
pure, powerful voice..."
Susan Drake
La Oferta, San Jose
Patricia Wells Solorzano was born in Brawley, CA, a small town next to the U.S.-Mexico border where she played various instruments in elementary school. As a teenager, she performed throughout the community with a ballet folklorico group.
 |
| Patricia at the Latin American New Song Festival - 1984. Photo by Ruben Rodriguez. |
As a college student at CSU Northridge, she volunteered in the Los Angeles Boycott orchestrated by the United Farm Workers Union. This contact with the UFW profoundly changed her perspective of the world. In 1975, she joined El Teatro de la Tierra, a non-profit theatrical group employing the arts as a catalyst for social change. Patricia taught English and Spanish classes to members of the Fresno community while studying drama with Teatro members. In 1976 she took a leave of absence to attend the University of Mexico (U.N.A.M.) where she studied Mexican and world history. Returning from Mexico in 1979 she studied singing and lead guitar playing with Lira.
She and Lira formed musical group Alma and other musicians joined them performing locally and statewide. Together they created "The Story of the Chicano", a program chronicling the Mexican American experience through music and narrative. Around this time Patricia recorded her first album "Agustin Lira",’From the Fields to a New Beginning’ in which her lead guitar playing was featured as well as her singing. A year later, she was invited to the First International Festival of La Raza on the Mexico-USA border.
 |
| Agustin, Patricia, and Bobby Ojeda at the Forty Acres in Delano, California- 1988 |
With musical group Alma, Patricia has performed at national and international festivals. One of the most memorable took place in Havana -- the USA-Cuba Friendship Concert in 1994. She has recorded several albums co-writing the material, and has recently scored the music for the film "The Fight in the Fields",’Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Struggle’. Her latest musical production is a CD titled "I Have Been Here Forever" in which she sings several solos and plays lead guitar. The CD is playing nationally on FM radio stations. Currently she is touring two new programs: Chicano! 500 Years of Struggle and Cesar Chavez: His Life and Times.
Cable Television performance by students, Fresno, California - 1986.
Photo by Agustin Lira.
Patricia was chosen Woman of the Year in 1998 by the Latin American Club of Fresno for her work in music and her community activism. She continues teaching and raising consciousness through her performances. She has formed several children’s choirs and adult groups such as Rondalla de las Americas which features the music of Latin American authors and songs of struggle in the Fresno area. These programs were made possible by the City of Fresno and the California Arts Council.
Cinco de Mayo at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco - 1982. Photo by
Maria Piņeda
Additionally, Patricia has managed and booked musical group Alma and has also been the administrator of El Teatro de la Tierra Inc. since 1985. She is on the performing rosters of the California Arts Council and the American Programs Bureau for the season 1999-2000.For a more detailed list of information regarding Patricia’s performances, recordings and films, please see Lira Bio Part II.
EL TEATRO DE LA TIERRA
414 North Park
Fresno California 93701
(559) 237-3016
Email: almas2@earthlink.net