Global Folksong Workshop - Portland FolkMusic Society

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Global Folksong Workshop

Mariachi bandleader Francisco Aguirre leads the next PFS Global Folksong Workshop.

7 p.m. Nov 25
Eastside Jewish Commons
2420 NE Sandy Blvd.

A native of El Salvador, Aguirre is a singer, guitarist and songwriter who plays a variety of Latin American styles. He leads Mariachi Chapala, a group that has been together since 2008 and is considered the Pacific Northwest’s premier practitioners of that Mexican musical style. And recent events have inspired him to write songs about the situation of immigrants in the United States.

Aguirre knows of what he sings. The 46-year-old first moved to this country in 1995, then was deported in 2000 after a drug conviction. He returned and became an immigrant-rights activist and the coordinator of a nonprofit that runs a day-labor center. He married and raised two children here. In 2014 Aguirre was threatened again with deportation, and was given sanctuary by Augustana Lutheran Church. He lived in the church building for 81 days, until the justice department finally dropped the illegal re-entry charge.

Facing deportation once again -- he has an immigration hearing scheduled for Dec. 1 -- Aguirre is being helped again by the congregation at Augustana (where he leads a weekly Spanish-language service )and other concerned Portlanders. Aguirre does not want to be sent back to El Salvador because of his family here, and because he believes he would be in grave danger in that country. Aguirre’s son was killed in 2016 after returning to El Salvador to escape DHS harassment.

The Nov. 25 workshop will be all about the music. As in PFS’ other global folksong workshops, participants will learn a few songs, in the original language, and sing them together with guidance from the leader.

“It will be a honor for me to teach mariachi or any other Latin American song,” Aguirre said, smiling broadly despite his cloudy future.

Admission is $10 in advance or $12 at the door, with a discount for PFS members.

Click here for tickets