Artcore: Calle Sur at Restoration Church

Panamanian-Colombian duo Calle Sur (kuh-yeh SOOR) brings to life the rich diversity of Latin American music, challenges cultural preconceptions, and lifts spirits with the energy and beauty of its performances.

Musicians Karin Stein and Ed East take audiences of all ages on a rich and diverse musical journey through many Latin American cultures. The duo tours nationwide presenting concerts and a diversity of workshops.

Ed’s upbringing in Panama City meant noise, hustle, bustle, and those chaotic smells and sights so characteristic of any Third World metropolis. Karin grew up on a rice and cattle farm in the eastern plains of Colombia, home schooled until her family moved to Costa Rica when she was 12. While he rode buses and watched TV, she rode horses and watched red ibisses stalk across emerald green rice fields. There was no TV in her neck of the woods. No electricity for that matter. Only a small transistor radio which sometimes worked, and from which she gleaned tidbits of an outer world. His veins were filled with the fusion of world beats converging in a big city. Her soul harbored haunting cowboy tunes from her traditional Llanero culture, a fascinating people whose music remains one of Latin America’s best kept secrets.

In 1996 they met in Iowa, of all places. They discovered that they had each moved to Iowa on student scholarships, had stayed, and had built a life in a foreign but welcoming land. They were artistic pioneers in a state that had back then only seen a mild influx of Latinos. Calle Sur performs mostly outside of Iowa, however: New York, Colorado, Costa Rica, Malaysia. Wherever their music takes them. They have composed the film score for three documentaries, and Karin’s compositions have been featured in two feature films.

One minute, Ed’s drumming makes you jump to your feet. Next, you sway to the samba he plays on his guitar. Karin strums a mean 6/8 beat on her Venezuelan cuatro, then effortlessly switches to Bolivian panpipes. And when they sing one of their boleros together, you will experience the perfect vocal blend that characterizes Calle Sur.

This duo has charisma. It has class. And it has talent to boot. Seeing Calle Sur is living proof that the terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” can’t be summarized. Calle Sur’s concerts are a treat for all ages and cultures!