Sonic Trace: Tavehua, Los Angeles & Tavehua, Oaxaca
Los Angeles is home to one of the most diverse populations in the world. The largest number of people in the city is of Latino origin. But there are…
By Caitlin Shamberg • • 1 min readJulian Gonzalez in Santa María Tavehua, Oaxaca jamming on tuba. Photo by Carmen Vidal
Los Angeles is home to one of the most diverse populations in the world. The largest number of people in the city is of Latino origin. But there are many ethnic groups within Latin-American culture. Like the enclave of Zapotec villagers from Southern Mexico who have migrated to LA’s Koreatown. KCRW’s Sonic Trace series has been focusing on Zapotecs who come from the tiny village of Santa Maria Tavehua in Oaxaca, Mexico. For the final story of our five-part series, Zapotecs in LA, we follow Julian Gonzalez. Julian is a teenage tuba player from LA that heads back to Santa María Tavehua to celebrate his musical heritage… and to search for his mom.
Hear Julian’s story:
This story was produced by Anayansi Diaz-Cortes and Eric Pearse Chavez. Sonic Trace is part of Localore and the Association of Independents in Radio (AIR). It’s funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.