Latest news with #AfroMundo
CBS News
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Meet the newly crowned Queen of Carnaval San Francisco, Zoel Mendoza
SAN FRANCISCO — For Zoel Mendoza, the newly crowned 2025 Queen of Carnaval San Francisco, this is no ordinary crown — it's a symbol of renewal, identity, and cultural celebration. As she rehearses at Casa de Carnaval ahead of the city's iconic Mission District parade, Mendoza said Carnaval represents far more than music and dance. "Carnaval is a celebration. It is, what we say in Portuguese, 'Uma limpeza' — it cleans energy. It brings in new things. It opens doors. It's almost like the beginning of a new year. It's a renewal," she said. That sense of renewal is deeply personal for Mendoza. As an Afro-Mexicana, she said this year's theme, Afro-Mundo, resonates with her own story — one shaped by a layered and evolving relationship with race and identity. "Afro-Mundo really, really resonates with me. Especially because I'm Afro-Latina. And it's something that I kind of struggled with when I was younger," Mendoza said. "I felt I didn't really land in one camp or the other. So, I had a bit of an identity crisis." Through dance — and with training in Brazil and other cultural centers — Mendoza found clarity and confidence in her identity, as well as a calling to uplift others on similar journeys. In her new role as queen, she hopes to shine a light on fellow artists and deepen the impact of Carnaval's vibrant legacy. "I really believe in community, and I really want to bring on as many artists as I possibly can," she said. "Platform them, work with them, collaborate with them. Because that's how culture grows, and that's how it's passed — by sharing the space." Mendoza currently shares her passion for samba while building spaces where others in the diaspora can also feel seen and celebrated. "Being crowned this year means so much to me because not only have I found my own identity in something that is 100 percent me," she said, "but I'm crowned in a year that really feels like a year that celebrates people like us — who are part of the diaspora, those who are very aware of who they are in the diaspora, and those that are lost, like I was. So it feels like I'm coming home with a win, and I'm very grateful." It's that gratitude, rooted in rhythm and joy, that Mendoza now brings to every step of her Carnaval reign.
San Francisco Chronicle
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
‘This is us': Carnaval San Francisco showcases Latin American heritage and pride
Thousands of people turned out to celebrate the cultural heritage of Latin America and beyond during Carnaval San Francisco's parade Sunday, transforming the streets of the Mission District into a vibrant party. Participants and spectators alike waved flags from Colombia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Bolivia and other countries, as salsa, merengue and other types of Latin music blasted in the streets during the four-hour parade, which covered 20 blocks in the historic neighborhood. This year's Carnaval theme, 'AfroMundo: African Diaspora in the Americas,' recognized cultural creativity rooted in the Americas. Bay Area percussionist and producer John Santos and Brazilian dancer and vocalist Dandha Da Hora served as grand marshals of the parade. 'AfroMundo is a celebration of the heartbeat that connects continents,' Rodrigo Durán, executive director of Carnaval San Francisco, said in a statement. 'In John Santos and Dandha Da Hora, we have two artists whose lives and legacies embody this very rhythm — local and global, historic and contemporary, spiritual and joyful.' The parade, which started at 24th and Bryant streets and traveled west to Mission Street, then north to 15th Street, featured more than 3,000 artists in 60 contingents. The parade showcased all sorts of dances, from Mexican folkloric dances and Afro-Brazilian styles, including samba and capoeira. Even nontraditional dancers showed off their skills: A Recology contingent featured workers in yellow vests who danced around with blue recycling bins and green compost bins as props, with 'La vida es un carnaval' by Celia Cruz blasting in the background. Angeles Gabriela Avila Lopez, a member of Communidad Maya Yucateca's folklorico dance group, said the parade was an opportunity to showcase her cultural heritage — and her pride. 'We want everyone to know about our culture and our traditions,' she said, dressed in a traditional garment, with a shawl over her shoulders and flowers and a ribbon in her hair. 'Although we're far from our country, from our state, we carry our country and our state in our hearts.' She and the rest of her group performed the jarana, a typical dance from Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. Brianna Smith's group, Beautiful Beginnings Art Collective, showcased the multicultural background of the group, including the heritage of Colombia, West Africa and Haiti. 'I feel like it's such a great way to show solidarity and unity in a city that's ever changing,' Smith said of the parade. And, she added, 'to show we're still here.' Her contingent stood out, in part, for its massive prop: the crafted head and upper body of a woman, propped up by three members of the collective. Smith said the woman, named Moura, represented Mother Earth and the Indigenous communities that make up many heritages. Spectators on the sidelines were just as eager to show their pride. 'I like coming here because I get to show who I am. I get to shout out my heritage,' said Jasmine Garcia, 24, of Sacramento, who was decked out in a Puerto Rico baseball jersey, Pittsburgh Pirate Roberto Clemente's 21 on the back. She made the trip to San Francisco for the parade with her 18-year-old sister, Angela Garcia, who had a Puerto Rican flag wrapped around her torso. 'It's something I'm very proud of, and I'm glad I'm Puerto Rican,' Angela Garcia said. San Francisco resident Donald Riggan, who was born and raised in Jamaica, said it was fun to see different backgrounds represented in the parade. He attended with his wife and daughters, ages 3 and 9. As the floats electrified the crowd, his oldest daughter shouted in excitement when she spotted a flag she recognized: 'Dad, Jamaica right there!' 'It brings a lot of joy to my heart,' Riggan said in an interview moments later. 'She's getting excited because she's seeing the Jamaican flag and she's represented.' The parade was bittersweet for Amparo Vigil, whose family owns Puerto Alegre. The Mexican restaurant's second location shuttered Friday on 25th Street, just a block away from the start of the parade's route. The rising costs of the business and the death of her parents in recent years led her family to decide to sell the building, Vigil said. Sunday marked the last time Vigil handed out Mexican hot chocolate and pan dulce to participants and spectators outside the restaurant. 'This is our way of connecting and giving back to the community,' Vigil said of the tradition, recalling her late father standing at the restaurant's door in past years as the contingents geared up to participate in the parade. Vigil said she believes events like Carnaval empower the community, especially in the face of racism, classism and 'all of the atrocities' in the U.S. and around the world. 'This is us. This is Latinoamerica. This is in our blood, this is in our culture. This is us getting to show us,' Vigil said. 'We get to be in the streets and get to show us — what we look like, what we talk like, what we feel like, what we dance like. I love it.'
San Francisco Chronicle
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
It's samba time! At Carnaval San Francisco, AfroMundo takes over the Mission
The 47th edition of Carnaval San Francisco is gearing up to hit the streets of the city's Mission District during the weekend of May 24-25. This year's theme, AfroMundo: African Diaspora in the Americas, pays tribute to the global impact of the African diaspora. And 'from samba and tango to jazz, hip-hop, salsa and beyond, it honors this legacy with a lineup of live music, dance and art that connects communities across the Americas,' organizers said. The vibrant, admission-free celebration, with an eye-popping, toe-tapping grand parade as its main event, is expected to draw as many as 500,000 attendees. Cheer and people-watch during Sunday's parade, which is set to include vivacious dancers in flashy Carnaval costumes with live samba, bomba and other marching music, floats and more. And there's good news from the event's parent organization, Cultura y Arte Nativa de las Américas. It has a fresh space — Casa de Carnaval — on Florida Street in San Francisco, which will serve as a cultural hub, offering year-round events, classes and activities. The vibe This high-energy, inclusive event set in the heart of the Mission District offers family-friendly activities, live entertainment, cultural arts, locally made global cuisine, a vending marketplace, and a full lineup of live music and dancing. The festival Saturday and Sunday's open-air celebration will take place along Harrison Street, between 16th and 24th streets, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Attendees can enjoy performance arts live on multiple stages. The lineup The live entertainment roster includes mariachi groups and multicultural music and dance ensembles. Enjoy headlining performances from the youthful Cuban reparto artist, Wampi and Mexico City-based DJ-producer Camilo Lara's Mexican Institute of Sound on the event's two main stages at 5 p.m. The parade Sunday's Grand Parade — with Bay Area-based, Afro-Latin percussionist John Santos and renowned Brazilian dancer-vocalist Dandha Da Hora set to serve as grand marshals — starts at 9:30 a.m. at Bryant and 24th streets. From there, more than 70 parade contingents will strut their stuff along 20 blocks in San Francisco's historic Latino Cultural District — including the recently crowned king and queen of Carnaval, Germán Tike and Zoel Esperanza, comparsa dance and drum troupes, impressive floats, and thousands of artists representing the cultural heritages of Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Bolivia, Cuba, Peru, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador and more. The parade route heads west to Mission Street and then east on 15th Street before ending at South Van Ness Avenue. How do I get there? With the road closures necessary to host this massive celebration, your best bet is to avoid driving and use public transportation. If you're riding Muni, the following routes will get you to where the action is: 9-San Bruno, 12-Folsom/Pacific, 14-Mission/14R-Mission Rapid, 22-Fillmore, 27-Bryant, 33-Ashbury/18th Street, 48-Quintara/24th Street, 49-Van Ness/Mission, 55-16th Street and 67-Bernal Heights. Be aware that some bus lines will be rerouted on Sunday to accommodate the parade route. If you're riding BART in from around the Bay Area, either the 24th Street or 16th Street stations will place you along the parade route. And for the Saturday-Sunday street festival, each station is just a short walk away from the Harrison Street festivities.
