Javier Mendoza will be The featured Guest Performer headlining the 3rd Annual West County Talent Bash.

This will be a full band performance.

Saturday, May 18 @ 7:30 PM

Third Annual West County Talent Bash to be held in Chesterfield. Featuring some of the area’s finest talent, award winning barbeque, craft beer, and culminating in an evening filled with the incredible sounds of Javier Mendoza.

Chesterfield is proud to be the host of the Third Annual West County Talent Bash. Produced by St. Louis Bash Productions and presented by West Newsmagazine, the event will be held on Saturday, May 18 at the beautiful Chesterfield Amphitheater, just west of Chesterfield Mall. All ages are welcome. Auditions will be screened and selected to perform at the event on May 18. The auditions can demonstrate any type of talent in any genre or category i.e. dance troupe, church choir, solo singer, juggler, comedian, solo musician, variety acts etc. If you would like to participate, go to www.stlbashproductions.com for more information or email questions to info@stlbashproductions.com. You also can submit an audition DVD to West Newsmagazine at 754 Spirit 40 Park Drive, Chesterfield, MO 63005.

Maddie Sanden

South American culture held their religious beliefs in high esteem, with many temples built in honor of their various gods.  The town of Pachacamaq was one of the most important religious centers of the Incan empire.  When the Incans took over the Pachacamaq empire, they left the city in place as a religious center until the Spaniards took conquested the Andes region.  In the Lurín Valley, Pachacamaq was visited often by pilgrims coming to consult the creator god, Pacha Kamaq who, according to Andean tradition, was the god of balance.  However, the myths behind Pacha Kamaq vary because when the Spanish came to the New World they destroyed most of the writings concerning the native peoples’ religion.

However, amongst nearly all the religions circulating the ancient Andean region, the generally accepted belief concerned the beings of the underworld (Urin Pacha), the living world of reality (Kay Pacha), and the upper world (Hana Pacha).  Each of these worlds was represented by an animal: a snake for the underworld, a puma for the current world, and a condor for the upper world.  In the underworld, Andean believed the spirits of their ancestors and the dead resided, while in the upper world, the deities lived.  They believed the current world was inhabited by humans like themselves; however, all three worlds were important to understand and recognize.

The shaman, the most religiously elite in the land, were the only ones who could travel to each level by their use of a Chakana—a three tiered cross with an axis in the center.  Through the axis, a shaman could travel to the other worlds.  A chakana had twelve points which represented a world, its animal, an affirmation and an encouraged behavior from each world. So, the underworld and snake affirmed “I live” and encouraged people not to lie.  The puma and the current world meant “I work” and told people not to steal.  The condor of the upper world said “I love” and said not to be lazy.

Javier Mendoza’s song “Pacha Kamaq” encompasses the many aspects of Andean culture concerning finding a balance in life.  Since Pacha Kamaq was the god of balance, he encouraged a balance amongst the worlds which would then transfer into a balance among the lives of the people.  Mendoza’s song suggests how even in life today, one must find a harmonic balance to juggle the craziness that often is our lives.

In the first stanza, the snake asks the puma to stop “walking on [his] ceiling” because “people are trying to sleep.”  Essentially, the snake encourages a basic facet of life which is that people require sleep in order to function throughout the day.  In response, the puma declares that “there is no time for sleep” because there is work that must be done in the morning.  Here, the puma represents his point on the Chakana by showing how labor is necessary for the harvest.  Yet, after the brief argument, the condor resolves the conflict by noting that laboring is quite necessary, but so is rest because “the soul must rest” in order that it may dream.  Dreams, he says, “bring you life” and “awaken” love.  The condor uphold his point, which is love, because he encourages people to dream which can bring life.

The condor resolves the conflict because, being a supreme diety in the upper world, he knows more about life than the other animals and can show the balance they must attain.  Calling on the wisdom of the god of balance, Mendoza shows that for a balanced life we must live, labor and love.  The condor suggests that in order for us to live, we must strike a balance between resting and working in order to appreciate love and life.  The refrain of “Vive, trabaja, ama/Pacha Kamaq” continually calls for a balance in life where we live, work and love; like the people of the Andean tribes, we should recognize the importance of each facet of our lives, not focusing too much on any one goal.  We shouldn’t work too hard, but we also shouldn’t be lazy and forget to get our work done.  With the balance of Pacha Kamaq, we should go about our lives appreciating every individual facet.

Like the snake, we must provide for the basic necessities of life—food, water, shelter, rest—in order to attain a healthy life.  However, too much of relaxation disrupts the work we need to do; while in Javier’s song he mentions a harvest, in reality, any part of our lives where we must work is also important.  Whether it is as a student going to school, a teacher teaching or a farmer tending his field, the work we do plays an important role in helping us to appreciate the love the condor represents.  If we had all our time to do things we loved, we would begin to lose an appreciation for the activities we truly love in life.  By attaining a balance, we have time to value the moments where we can truly enjoy ourselves.

As the wise Andeans taught, let us find the delicate balance of living, laboring and love—of Pacha Kamaq.

Mendoza’s plan was to then to take some of the best material written for the subscription series and release it as a CD this fall. In a way, it was Mendoza’s variation on the “greatest hits” concept: taking what he considered the best songs he’d written to date for the subscription series and compiling them onto a single CD.

But somehow, “If You Dare” may end up being one of his most thematic recordings since he first began releasing music back in 1999. ]]> http://javiermendoza.com/?feed=rss2&p=951 0 http://javiermendoza.com/?p=948 http://javiermendoza.com/?p=948#comments Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:59:07 +0000 admin http://javiermendoza.com/?p=948 Javier Mendoza was interviewed was featured on KDHX Local Music Spotlight.

Click on Image to listen to interview

peace
Javier