Every Friday morning at Sunrise Restaurant on 24th Street, Carlos Disdier, Yeiber Cano, Mareni Orduña and Alejandra Maciel, can be found having breakfast and discussing their unique take on the business of music production.
“When we sit down to think about what concerts to produce, we think about our favorite musicians and the sound we want to bring to San Francisco,” said Carlos Disdier, director of La Bohemia Productions. “The economic criteria are secondary.”
Since 2008 they’ve been dedicated to bringing and promoting artists from diverse corners of Latin America to perform in the Mission District and beyond. They’ve played a role in bringing artists such as Susana Baca, Sargento Garcia, Jorge Drexler and Silvio Rodriguez, and have collaborated with others to promote musical events like the Son Jarocho Festival in August.
And not all the musicians come from afar. Many of La Bohemia’s favorites are right here in the Bay Area, such as Diana Gameros, Johanna “YeYe” Suárez and La Candelaria.
“It’s not something that started on its own,” explained Disdier. “It’s an inheritance of many other cultural projects and efforts—La Peña del Sur, Mission Cultural Center, KPOO Radio, Acción Latina and the initial project: Noches Bohemias.”
“I am the biggest fan of all the artists we bring; if you look now at my iPod, they’re all there,” said Disdier. “We have to take the risk and bet that other people will also like to listen.”
Evidence suggests that Disdier’s taste in music is widely appreciated. The clearest example of this being the promotion that created a following for previously unheard of artist Mijo de la Palma, a jíbaro singer songwriter from Disdier’s home country, Puerto Rico.
“The first time Mijo played here, he played at the icTus Gallery, and 50 people took a chance, and trusted our criteria and showed up,” said Yeiber Cano, a media and design coordinator from La Guaira, Venezuela. “The next time he played, he filled the theater of Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, and this year he filled the Brava Theater. So that’s going from 50 people, to 150, to 350.”
“We trust the sound above the machinery of publicity that some musicians have. Our job is to develop the audience to receive that new sound,” said Disdier.
How do they do it? Growing while keeping finances on the back burner is not an easy feat, and without any outside funding or grants, it’s even harder.
“Our relationship to our community is the foundation,” explained Disdier. “Our ‘offices’ are our houses and the businesses that know and love us, and we love them—like L’s Cafe where we had our debut presentation of Pepo Saavedra in 2008.”
But being part of La Bohemia clearly is rewarding enough to engage its staff without the promise of high income; Disdier himself holds a doctorate in psychology and is working on his license. All of the supporting staff hold separate jobs to pay their bills, or are in school.
“I love the work I do here,” said Mareni Orduña, a promotion associate from Cuernavaca, Mexico. “In fact, to cite a prestigious San Franciscan percussionist, John Santos: ‘La Bohemia is more than a team of workers, it’s a family.”
In a fundraising collaboration for the Instituto Familiar de la Raza, La Bohemia Productions will be presenting Brazil’s revered Bebel Gilberto and special local guest Diana Gameros at the Herbst Theater on Sept. 30.
To follow La Bohemia’s upcoming events, “like” their Facebook page and visit labohemiaproductions.com
To buy tickets for the Sept. 30 Bebel Gilberto Concert at Herbst Theater with Diana Gameros, visit cityboxoffice.com or call (415) 392-4400.