SF Mission’s ‘Encuentro’ Celebrates Community with the Sound of Cuba

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As pulsating Afro-Cuban rhythms drummed up a crowd in the Chapel’s auditorium, Juan Fuentes looked on from the music venue’s balcony on Sunday evening.

“Here at the Chapel is where it all began,” said Fuentes about Encuentro Del Canto Popular, an annual concert that has celebrated Latino culture, art and music with a focus on social justice for three decades.

It was in 1982, said the prominent Mission-based visual artist, that he was first tasked with designing a poster for what started as a two-day festival in the auditorium of the New College of California, which now the houses the Chapel, a live music venue at 777 Valencia St.

“Art, music, community, family, social justice – Encuentro always gave me the license to do something creative that reflects my ideals,” said the 65-year-old, who over the years has designed a majority of the event’s art posters, some of which he turned into majestic backdrops that were exhibited during Sunday’s concert. “In the process, I got to listen to some really incredible music.”

And with a roster of local and national artists whose music recalls the roots of Latino song, culture, and identity, Encuentro’s values remain the same. As tribute to the revival of the political relationship between Cuba and the U.S., Sunday’s line-up was dedicated to varied interpretations of Cuban and Caribbean sounds and celebrating the region’s rich artistic culture.

La Mecanica Popular, a Brooklyn-based group, offered a new take on Latin dance music dubbed “psychedelic salsa,” a layering of traditional salsa beats with electronic synthesizers that prompted the crowd to erupt in dance.  Also performing was the John Santos Sextet– the renowned group of Latin Jazz performers delivered an intimate performance alongside special guest Roberto Hernandez.

The night was kicked off by local talent Soltrón, a 12-piece ensemble of young San Francisco natives who represent the Mission’s “new” sound– a creative blend of Latin-Jazz, Chicano rock and Batucada Samba with elements of contemporary Hip-Hop and electronic music.

Lyrics from their song “Stand Up,” Soltron’s Anthony Sierra explained, address the displacement and gentrification in the Mission’s Latino community.

“In the Mission, it’s money versus tradition,” said Sierra. With a Cuban father and family roots in the Mission, Sierra said he grew up with Encuentro. He compared the event to a “big ol’ family party.”

“What is going on in this neighborhood right now is shaping our sound, and may be a reason why we are together as a band in the first place,” said Sierra. “It’s a response.”

The intergenerational line-up and dance-friendly venue drew a crowd of all ages, easily filling the Chapel’s auditorium throughout the evening.

“This music reminds us of when we were younger, at family parties. But now we are putting our own twist on it,” said Marcelo Vega, who attended the Encuentro for the first time. “The chapel always had this hipster image to it, but now, after seeing this, I think its perfect for this type of event.”

In an effort to reclaim its footing in the Mission and open its doors to a multigenerational crowd, organizers decided to move the Encuentro from its previous location at the Brava Theater back to its original venue at the Chapel on Valencia Street.

“Valencia is changing, and a lot of people don’t even go there because they don’t identify with it anymore,” said Georgiana Hernandez, executive director of Acción Latina, the organization behind Encuentro.

Hernandez hoped that moving the concert would would give it more visibility and revive a Latino presence in the gentrified area.

“Our feeling was to bring this important culture back to Valencia street. It’s a way to make sure we have a presence here,” she said.

The move did not come without some resistance.  Jesus Varela, who is on the Encuentro organizing committee, explained that he anticipated some of the push back that he received from community members concerned that organizers were “selling out” by moving the event out of the 24th Street corridor, fearing that it could lose some of its cultural significance.

“A generation ago, Valencia street was also Latino,” said Varela. “This street still belongs to us as much as anybody else, and we also deserve to have a presence here.”

Fuentes, the artist, echoed this sentiment.  “At a time when the Mission is going through so many changes, we need to be vocal and vibrant. With Encuentro, we are showing that we are here.”