Brian Yoo’s voice flowed like a roller coaster ride—a steep crescendo one moment, then a downward fall into a near drone, only to rise again. His words spoke of similar ups and downs—those of his love life. Finally, his head bobbed in front of him as his final words, uttered with a tone of surrender, summed up all that preceded. “What is love, but another four letter word.”
Brian Yoo, a junior at Stanford University, was one of two featured poets at Galeria de la Raza’s Lunadas event held on the evening of March 29.
The event, held at 7:30 p.m. every full moon, was an evening filled with poetry, music and emotion from both featured performers and anyone from the audience who wishes to grace the stage. While its focus is on poetry, other entertainment is not excluded.
“Last month we had a couple of musical groups,” said Marc David Pinate, the Galeria’s program manager and creator of Lunadas. Dancing is also not uncommon, Pinate said, referring to last month’s performance by the all female dance and percussion troupe, Bomberas de la Bahia.
Pinate opened and closed the evening with a song–accompanied by two guitars played by himself and Mark Gonzalez–but in between it was all about the poetry. The audience reacted with occasional bouts of laughter and thoughtful silences. Each poet opened with personal topics that ran the gamut from Typhoon Ondoy and racial prejudice to growing up in a small mountain town and a day in Golden Gate Park.
As Lunadas events typically go, Pinate found the evening quite mellow. “The big ones with music and dance are fun, but these…people really connect more.”
Pinate got the idea for Lunadas from Teresa Sanchez owner of San Jose-based restaurant, Chacho’s, where Pinate held Lunadas for the four years before making his move north.
“She used to go to them as a kid in Mexico,” he said. According to Pinate, Lunadas have been a ritual event in Mexico for hundreds of years. The event at Galeria de la Raza is now in its sixth year.
Yoo opened with the aforementioned poem entitled ironically “My Last Poem” and followed with a piece that characterized his reaction to Congresswoman Betty Brown’s insensitive remark about hard to pronounce Asian surnames. Yoo closed with an edgy and highly energetic poem about his fjirst hip-hop concert. His arms flailing, Yoo jumped up and down from behind the microphone stand. His words and actions captured the spirit of the Wu-Tang concert of which he spoke.
Yoo started writing during his high school years in Chicago and then joined a poetry group after starting school at Stanford University.
“We do shows on campus,” Yoo said, adding that his group also holds group-writing sessions and does outreach to local high schools.
Matt Blesse—the second of the two featured poets—stirred up a round of moderate laughter with his opening haiku. He followed with a pair of poems that hit close to home for the Korean-American poet—one aimed at Typhoon Ondoy and the other a poem about his hometown of Truckee.
Blesse, a recent graduate of University of California, Berkeley, has made his passion for poetry into a career. He is a lyrical instructor with Lyrical Minded 415, a San Francisco-based art program that teaches troubled youth to express themselves through creative forms such as dance, beat box, theatre, spoken-word poetry and more.
“Its bringing creative expression where it’s needed most,” Blesse said.
Even after the evening’s official program ended people were still reluctant to leave. While pulsating music played over a loud speaker people milled around and chatted for more than a half-hour after the show’s close, catching up with acquaintances and munching offerings at a small buffet table. According to Pinate the event regularly brings in a good crowd.
“It’s going pretty strong and I’m really satisfied with the sense of community that it’s created,” Pinate said.
The Lunadas event is just one offering at Galeria de la Raza. The Galeria is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.
“Its one of the oldest Chicano art spaces in the country,” Pinate said. It was started by Rene Yanez, a local artist and one of the galeria’s first directors, and a group of Chicano artists who were having trouble getting their work shown at regular galleries. Some of the founding artists still exhibit their work at the gallery
Along with visual arts exhibitions, Galeria de la Raza also puts on various events such as film screenings for local filmmakers, music concerts, fundraisers and events for book releases.
Galeria de la Raza exhibits work for many local and up-and-coming artists. While the gallery exhibits all classic art types they distinguish themselves with their focus on newer art forms emerging from the digital age.
“We have a lot of video instillations and what we call ‘new media’ which is the use of sound recordings and video and computer graphics all sort of mixed in together,” Pinate said. According to Pinate They also put much focus on exhibiting work that holds a socio-political message.
Their current exhibition is “Hollywoodpedia”—a video display consisting of Hollywood film clips.
For more information visit the Galeria’s website at www.galeriadelaraza.org or stop by the galleria, 2857 24th Street, for the full experience. Lunadas begin at 7:30 and two more are scheduled for this season–one April 28 and the final show on May 27. Admission is $5 or a food dish to share.