On Oct. 19, Buffalo Toronto Public Media held its American Historia Heritage Celebration, an event meant to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. A multitude of organizations were in attendance to support the event.
The event held other purposes as well, like attempting to educate the community here in Western New York on Latin culture, while also exhibiting that culture through live performances held by partnered organizations. They all provided a wide range of opportunities and offerings to those who attended the event, such as the Center for Elder Law and Justice, who held a booth educating people on available legal assistance in the Buffalo area.
Another group in attendance was CINQCARE, who’s mission is to provide families with proper and comprehensive healthcare. You can learn more about their offerings on their website.
Additionally, there was also La Artistas Del Barrio. An organization based here in Buffalo, their mission is to serve as an arts collective that showcases the abilities and inventiveness of Latino/a/x and Hispanic artists in the community across all mediums. They are situated in the Asbury Arts Center in downtown Buffalo. Their next event can be found on Eventbrite.
Also in attendance of the festivities was BTPM’s CEO Tom Calderone, who is a Buffalo State University alumni. He was present to advertise a brand new 24/7 radio channel BPTM is hosting called “Radio Bilingüe.” It is a channel dedicated to providing vibrant Latin music, news and information, and forums for Latino voices. It allows for Latino culture to be exposed to an audience in ways previously unavailable in Western New York. Listeners can tune in on BTPM’s app/website, or by tuning their HD radio to 88.7 WBFO HD3.
As the celebration began, Calderone gave a speech highlighting the significance of the event, and giving his thanks to all organizations involved.
“Buffalo Toronto Public Media was one of 5 stations awarded the ‘Content and Engagement Grant’ to support this program. Thank you to all the funders of American Historia and especially to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. I would also like to thank Casimiro Rodriguez and the Hispanic Heritage Council for their help on coordinating this event. And a HUGE thank you to all our performers here for donating their time and talent today.”
Following Calderone’s speech, the main event began as Latino artists began to take to the stage and showcase Hispanic culture in their own way.
The first was Raíces Theatre Company, a group dedicated to giving Latino voices in Buffalo a way to express themselves and their art on the stage. Representing the group was cofounder Rolando Martín Gómez and his son Alejandro Gabriel Gómez. Both are Buffalo State University alumni. Both read aloud pieces of poetry, ranging from an original piece by Gabriel Gómez describing his personal journey to find what it means to “feel Latino,” to Martín Gómez reading pieces by notable authors whose work illustrate the diversity of Latin culture.
Following Raíces Theatre Company was Amor and Heritage, a dance collective based in Buffalo. Their mission is described as “a nonprofit dedicated to the promotion of Diversity, Multiculturalism and Kindness, through DANCE!” Their showcase began with an alquinaldo, which is a traditional song in Puerto Rico usually sang during the Christmas season. They joked about the timing, stating “in Latin America, we start feeling Christmas in September.”
After this, dancers began to take the stage and began to dance along to the music played by the band. One song of note played during their performance was “Cielito Lindo”, a famous Mexican folk song. Before playing the song, they gave it the following description. “If you translate to English, the name of the song could be something like ‘my beautiful heaven,’ but it also translates to ‘You, My Darling, My Sweetie,’ ‘The Love of My Life,’ it is a very romantic song.”
Similar to Amor and Heritage, the next group on stage was Salsa for the Soul, headed by Sarah Hykel, and the Buffalo Rueda group, another dance ensemble. Founded in 2023, this local community group brings together salsa dancers from throughout the globe who dance in the Cuban style. Together, they study, practice, and perform Rueda de Casino, a sort of casino salsa dancing reminiscent of Cuba that is performed in a circle with a caller, much like square dancing is done in the United States. After their performance, Hykel expressed her gratitude for the group’s success.
“It was just a year ago that we were just starting this in Buffalo,” Hykel said. “This is how far we have come in just once single year, through the dedication and commitment of people in the audience, and the people here on the stage. Andre Pits and Melanie Asido have started their own practice group and through all of our joint efforts, we have co-created this community. It’s so beautiful to see how amazing if you just start, you just try something because your heart is into it.
It’s amazing what we can do with love. So keep creating and keep following your heart’s impulse.”
Next was Saranaide, an artist from Western New York. Drawing from her roots and the rhythms of Latin America, she creates a unique blend of soul and jazz, inspired by legendary artists and infused with global influences. She took to the stage and sang her own original songs, gaining thunderous applause from the audience.
The final performance on the night was a salsa dance segment headed by Fanny Olaya, who is also a professor here at Buffalo State University. She held the crowds attention as she danced on stage, effortlessly illustrating the beauty of salsa to the crowd.
Following all of the performances came a showing of the third episode of “American Historia: The Untold Story of Latinos.” American Historia is a 3-part series hosted by famed actor John Leguizamo, where viewers learn of the impact Latinos have had on America’s history and the role they played in shaping the country into how it is today, despite not being mentioned in any sort of textbook. The third episode covered the actions of notable figures such as Guy Gabaldon, Emma Tenayuca, and the Borinqueneers, among many other figures and groups. The series is available in full on the WNED PBS website, Apple TV, and various other streaming services.
There was also a compilation of videos shown after the episode called “Buffalo Historia,” with 3 short videos produced by BTPM that showcase Latin culture intertwined with Buffalo life. All 3 are available to watch on the Buffalo Toronto Public Media YouTube channel.
Once the showings came to a close, the celebration closed with a panel discussion held by Rolando Martín Gómez, President of the Hispanic Heritage Council Casimiro Rodriguez, and BTPM Producer Lorenzo Rodriguez. The panel lasted around 50 minutes, where they explored topics pertaining to Latin culture and the importance of acknowledging it. Gómez began by stating how important it is to establish a way for the people of America to bear witness to Latin culture, whether they have a Hispanic background or not.
“It’s very important for me to establish some kind of game plan to bring some of these cultural aspects of our people,” Gómez said. “If we don’t know where we’re from, we’re not going to know where we’re going. So it’s very important for me to start bringing some of that culture.”
Gómez proceeded to provide an anecdote illustrating the power theater can have in portraying the Latin experience.
“We had a play called La Gringa,” Gómez said. “It is this story of this Puerto Rican youngster that goes to Puerto Rico and finds herself in a cultural shock. Because one of the things that I love about it is that she goes there with all this paraphernalia about Puerto Rico, and once she goes to Puerto Rico, her cousins look at her and say, ‘why are you dressed like that? I’m Puerto Rican.’ And they say ‘ah we’re all Puerto Ricans here.’ So that cultural shock, I think it was very interesting for us to do. When we played La Gringa, there was a youngster next to her mom in the audience, and when she saw the play, she turned to her mom and said ‘that’s me.’ We all started crying. We all started crying because that’s why we do this.”
Lorenzo Rodriguez applauded Gómez’s efforts, stating how grateful he is for the foundation that has been laid here in Buffalo.
“I have to say, one of the unifying ties and themes I’ve heard today is heritage, passing down and awareness, being seen,” Rodriguez said. “Casimiro, you said it in your piece. If you don’t see people that look like you or speak like you, you’re almost lost. I came to Buffalo about three years ago , and I was afraid at first, not knowing that there was a vibrant and rich Hispanic community out here in western New York. So I applaud you for showcasing those voices, that talent that we have here in our backyard and putting them literally on stage for our community to see.”
Casimiro Rodriguez also shared his thoughts on the importance of representation of all cultures, not just Latino culture, and how everyone has stories that they are willing to share.
“It goes back to the stories,” Rodriguez said. “The stories, everyone, regardless of what ethnicity you are from or what country you are from, everyone has a story to tell. It’s like Rolando said, or you said in the beginning, you know, the real Americans are the Native American that was here. Everybody else migrated to this great country called USA, okay? And everyone has to tell. You know, during the summers and when it’s warm out, you’ll find me in a lot of events and activities, whether it be the Italian festival, whether it be Juneteenth, whether it be the Irish, whether it be the Polish, you find me there because, you know, that’s where the rubber meets the road. You’re able, okay, to experience other cultures, other languages. It goes back to my upbringing. I was able to accept different cultures, and today as it relates to our own heritage, our history, our culture, our customs, and our traditions, that’s very important. That’s who we are. That’s who we are as people. So, we have to share that, not only with our own community, but with the community at large. And that’s the reason why you see these exhibits.”
Once the panel discussion came to a close, and with it the festivities, BTPM shut its doors for the day. You can learn more about the organizations involved with the event and the American Historia documentary with the links provided.