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Erik Barajas Interviews Javier Ferrer | PRC Festival
Erik Barajas, Channel 13 Houston, interviews Javier Ferrer, the Producer & President of The Annual Puerto Rican & Cuban ...
About Javier Ferrer-fernández
In a 2012 interview with Erik Barajas of Channel 13 Houston, Javier Ferrer discussed his role as organizer of the Annual Puerto Rican & Cuban Festival. He stated that the event was created to "celebrate our cultures and teach other Houstonians and people from other countries about our culture, our music, our food." Ferrer noted that the festival would pay homage to Celia Cruz, describing her as "an artist who opened a lot of doors in the music industry." He also mentioned that children eight and under would be admitted free, and that the event would feature music, professional dancers, and traditional foods such as lechon, tostones, and rice with pigeon peas. Ferrer explained that the festival was inspired by his upbringing in Puerto Rico and Pennsylvania, and that its purpose was to "provide something to the Puerto Rican, Cuban and Dominican community that they can identify with." He emphasized the importance of exposing future generations to their heritage through music and food. The event was scheduled for October 22nd in downtown Houston in front of City Hall.
Transcript (25 segments)
H
Host0:00
Welcome back to Bayou Houston. The Puerto Rican Cuban Festival is an exciting musical happening this year. The festival pays homage to the great Celia Cruz with a very famous salsa orchestra from Puerto Rico. So I want to welcome festival organizer Javier. Thank you very much for joining us this morning, Javier.
J
Javier Ferrer-fernández0:16
Thank you for having me here.
H
Host0:20
Hey, let's talk about the festival itself. I mean, Puerto Rican, Cuban, a little bit of Dominican Republic mixed in as well.
J
Javier Ferrer-fernández0:25
Absolutely. Well, we decided to have something to celebrate our cultures and teach other Houstonians and people from other countries about our culture, our music, our food. There's going to be a lot of elements to entertain the kids, so if you're eight years old or younger, you come in for free. It's going to be from 12 noon to 10 PM all day long with music and professional dancers all day long.
H
Host0:49
Okay, let's talk about some of the dancers and music as well. I mean, you have some big headlines here. First of all, I want to say, like we were saying, it's going to pay homage to Celia. Tell us about her and why do you guys want to pay homage to her?
J
Javier Ferrer-fernández1:02
Well, Celia Cruz is an artist who opened a lot of doors in the music industry, not only to the music industry, singers or musicians, but also to Latin America to be heard not only in the United States but around the world. She sang also with Tito Puente and the Fania All-Stars from New York. Well known, absolutely. They're living legends. They are co-pioneers of salsa music, like jazz.
H
Host1:39
All right, now we're going to have other groups performing as well. I mean, there's going to be a lot of groups playing.
J
Javier Ferrer-fernández1:43
Yes, we have a lot of local groups, and I'm going to mention a few of them. We're going to have DJ Jojo, Puerto Rican Flop from Florida Dance coming all the way from Austin. We're going to have the Society of Puerto Ricans from Dallas who's also going to be coming. I'm here in San Antonio. Okay, someone's going to show up. And again, it's a great location there in front of City Hall, centrally located there on Bagby, center of downtown for the most part.
H
Host2:11
And now when someone shows up, say you know, wife and kids, family, everything, they can hear the great music, see the great costumes of the dancers and everything. But you guys are also going to have a lot of food there as well.
J
Javier Ferrer-fernández2:22
Absolutely, that's the best part. You know, when you have a party in Puerto Rico or Cuba or Dominican Republic, you have to have a lot of food. So we're going to have lechón asado, which is roasted pork, not from a restaurant, it's the one that you put on the stick and you stir over charcoal. We also have tostones, which is mashed fried plantains, maduros, which is ripe plantains, arroz con gandules, rice with pigeon peas, and the list goes on.
H
Host2:55
Okay, now I can just imagine there's going to be great food, some great drinks, lots of great music, and at some point I can see some salsa break out probably on the side of the stage and the grass and on sidewalks as well.
J
Javier Ferrer-fernández3:09
Absolutely. One of the great things about this event is that the Spanish Caribbean people are very festive and they always like to celebrate everything and anything. So they bring their instruments, the audience brings the instruments like the congas, the bell, the maracas, and the guiros. So it's going to be a lot of music all day long.
H
Host3:29
Yeah, it's also, I think, got a pretty nice fan base here in the Houston area versus a lot of people who like to dance as well, as a lot of salsa clubs that have popped up around Houston as well.
J
Javier Ferrer-fernández3:40
Absolutely. That's one thing that we're very grateful for. Ten, twenty years ago, there was only one place, and I think everybody the salseros out there know that that was LVS. Today we have many salsa clubs and many salsa instructors.
H
Host3:56
Have you taken salsa classes? Long, long time ago. I need to do it again. All I remember is quick, quick, one, quick, quick, two. So I need to brush up, we need to polish it up a little bit. Yeah, and one thing I wanted to touch on real quick is, I mean, as an organizer, you created this event. It did not exist until you brought it about a few years back.
J
Javier Ferrer-fernández4:14
That's correct.
H
Host4:14
And what brought you to that point?
J
Javier Ferrer-fernández4:16
Well, it was something that was instilled in me, I guess, when I was being brought up in Puerto Rico and partly in Pennsylvania after 10 years old. We wanted to provide something to the Puerto Rican, Cuban community and the Dominican community that they can identify with, that didn't exist before. Fortunately, we have that now. We also want to teach our future generations about the heritage, and the only way that you can do it is by exposing them to our roots, and that's music and food.
H
Host4:48
Okay, well, you're bringing that to downtown Houston, October 22nd, in front of City Hall. Kids eight and under get in free.
J
Javier Ferrer-fernández4:54
Yes.
H
Host4:55
And it's going to be a good time.
J
Javier Ferrer-fernández4:56
That's right.
H
Host4:56
All right, Javier, thanks for joining us this morning.
J
Javier Ferrer-fernández4:57
Thank you very much, everybody. I appreciate it. Thank you.
H
Host5:01
Okay, we'll be back in just a moment.