For the last two years, Ecos de Puerto Rico, a 12-person ensemble comprised of stringed and percussion instruments native to Puerto Rico, has been actively representing Puerto Rican traditional music in San Antonio.

The name Ecos de Puerto Rico is significant for various reasons:

—group members are all originally from Puerto Rico, but live outside the island, so they are, in a sense, echoes of Puerto Rico in the San Antonio community,
—because they play Puerto Rican music (and the kind of Latin American music popular on the island),
—and because the music they play is the music of years gone by, not only music from their folkloric tradition, but also music that was popular with earlier generations, their own and those of their parents and grandparents.

Ecos de Puerto Rico has been a resounding success in the relatively short time the group has been working. A list of their accomplishments includes:

—a Hispanic Heritage Month program for the employees of the Citibank Customer Service Center in San Antonio,

—a sold-out concert at the International Folk Culture Center of Our Lady of the Lake University,

—a “pre-concert concert” at Trinity University’s Laurie Auditorium when José Feliciano performed a benefit concert for the San Antonio Opera,

—ECOS was featured in the special Christmas 2009 edition of Univision’s “Desde San Antonio” TV program, hosted by Amparo Ortiz,

—The group provided the music for the Three Kings Day celebration of Sociedad Herencia Puertorriqueña (Puerto Rican Heritage Society).

—A Hispanic Heritage Month concert of Music from Puerto Rico and Latin America at Jackson Auditorium, Texas Lutheran University in Seguin. The concert was huge success, with an audience of around 300 persons, most of whom had traveled the 40 miles between San Antonio and Seguin to attend.

Comments from audience members:
“I’ve just returned from the ECOS concert in Seguin, which I attended with my wife and my mother. All of us enjoyed the concert tremendously and I must tell you that I was impressed with the musical talent, the professionalism and the sense of rhythm of your group. Mother nearly lost her voice from singing along with your music. (She used to be a member of the renowned chorus of the University of Puerto Rico under Augusto Rodriguez!)”

“WOW! It’s hard to believe you could outdo your performance at Our Lady of the Lake University, but you did!”

“I thought I had a good grasp of our Puerto Rican musical tradition, but was completely unaware of many facts presented at your concert. Outstanding musical achievement with excellent historical and entertaining facts.”

“I had two friends with me and we all agreed that the evening was wonderful. You certainly know how to motivate the crowd. You constantly smile and show the world that you’re having a wonderful time – and it is so contagious!”

From the Texas Lutheran University faculty member in charge of video-taping the concert:
“The concert was amazing. Such energy! Thanks for a great experience.”

—“Festival del Cuatro Puertorriqueño” of the Hispanic Cultural Society of Killeen, Texas at the Killeen Conference and Convention Center, with an attendance of some 450 persons.

Message from the president of the sponsoring organization:
“We, the executive board and members of the Hispanic Cultural Society of Killeen, feel privileged to have shared an afternoon full of tradition and culture with the performance of ECOS DE PUERTO RICO at our Puerto Rican Cuatro Festival. The emotion you brought forth in us at remembering the beauty of our music and the admirable way you presented it will remain in our hearts for a long time.”

—November 16, 2010: ECOS appeared on KENS-TV’s morning program “Great Day San Antonio” to help promote the upcoming Festival de Puerto Rico of the Puerto Rican Heritage Society.

http://www.kens5.com/great-day-sa/Celebration-of-a-culture-108443544.html

—November 21, 2010: ECOS opened the Festival de Puerto Rico of the Sociedad Herencia Puertorriqueña (Puerto Rican Heritage Society) at the Live Oak Civic Center in San Antonio, an event with an attendance of some 3,000 during the course of the day. The theme of the festival this year was “Our Music Through the Years.”

Ecos de Puerto Rico was featured in the July/August 2010 issue of Making Music Magazine, “Better Living Through Recreational Music Making.”

Their activities have been featured in the Texas Public Radio arts blog at www.tprarts.org.

The group is also featured in the blog of the National Center for Creative Aging, a national organization based in Washington, D.C., whose purpose is to encourage older Americans to develop their artistic talents. The URL for that article is:
http://www.creativeaging.org/creativity-and-aging-blog/2010/9/16/ecos-de...

For additional information about the group or photos of their activities, please contact:

Luis Torres, Director
ECOS DE PUERTO RICO
3003 Whisper Lark
San Antonio, TX 78230

210-493-5805

ECOS DE PUERTO RICO is registered with the State of Texas as a Non-Profit Cultural and Educational Organization and we are in the process of securing our 501(c)(3) classification with the IRS.