People Group: MA 2023

Fitzgerald DeFreitas, Mas Costume Maker. El Mirage, AZ  |  2023 Fitzgerald DeFreitas creates carnival-type costumes called “mas” (from masquerade) in Caribbean carnival celebrations. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, DeFreitas grew up in Belmont, a suburb of Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago. At age seven, DeFreitas’s mother, Beryl DeFreitas, taught him to … Read more

Andrea Gallegos, Mariachi Director. Tucson, AZ  |  2023 Andrea Gallegos, one of the first female mariachi directors in the Southwest, has been playing and singing mariachi music for 29 years. “In Mexico, Mariachi was predominantly a male genre, but in the United States, females of all ages now participate in Mariachi,” she says “At age … Read more

Ken Koshio, Taiko Player. Phoenix, AZ  |  2023 Ken Koshio is a taiko player who also plays the Shamisen (three-stringed instrument) and Shinobue (bamboo flute). Born in Japan, Koshio grew up surrounded by traditional Japanese culture. He began learning music at a young age and was exposed to traditional, ceremonial drumming practiced under Shintoism and … Read more

Rhonda Coleman, Capoeirista. Tucson, AZ  |  2023 Rhonda Coleman (Contramestra Onda Mansa) is part of the capoeira community that springs from Grupo Capoeira Angola Guerreiro de Palmares, led by her teacher, Mestre Lazaro, a capoeira arts master in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil.  Coleman’s movement background includes West African, Honduran, and Afro-Brazilian dance. She has studied and … Read more

Maximiliano Larrea, Argentine Mestizon Guitarist. Tucson, AZ  |  2023 Maximiliano Larrea is a master Argentine Mestizon guitarist. “This [term Metstizon] is significant,” Larrea says, “because Argentine tango has always been associated with European white immigrants, rendering invisible the many contributions of mestizo performers like myself. He has been playing, composing, and teaching tango and other styles … Read more

Kathleen Vance, Tohono O’odham Potter.  Sells, AZ  | 2023 Kathleen Vance, of Tohono O’odham and San Carlos Apache descent, specializes in Tohono O’odham utilitarian pottery creating clay cooking vessels, water ollas, seed jars, effigy pots, and whistles. She first learned to gather and process clay twenty three years ago with her first mentor, Alicia Bustamonte, … Read more

J. Javier Enríquez, Mariachi Composer & Director. Tucson, AZ  |  2023 J. Javier Enríquez is a mariachi composer and director of Mexican-American/Chicano and Tohono O’odham ancestry. He has played guitar since age four, and began learning mariachi music at Tucson High School and studied voice in the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus. He now directs his … Read more

Jing Xia, Guzheng Player. Tucson, AZ  |  2023 Jing Xia is a master of the guzheng (plucked 21-string Chinese zither), an instrument played as both court and folk music and traces its roots back to the sixth century. Jing started learning the zither at age four in China and was guided by various teachers in … Read more

Ansel Joseph, Steel Pan Maker/Performer. Goodyear, AZ  |  2020 & 2023 Ancliff “Ansel” Joseph was born in Couva in Trinidad and Tobago in 1942, where from a young age he observed the islands’ earliest steel bands. When his older brother started a steel band, Joseph imitated him by making his own pans out of milk … Read more