Latin spirit lit up the stage as five performers of the ensemble Grupo Bella performed on stage in the Dvorak Concert Hall last Saturday night.  

The rich songs of the three vocalists roared across the stage, prompting people to get up and dance, sing and clap to the rhythm of the music.  

The band was founded back in 2011 in Los Angeles. Their music, while mildly mariachi based, focused primarily on bringing bits and pieces of Mexican folklore to the United States.  

Group founder Vanessa Ramirez is a Grammy award-winning vocalist and a nominated composer. Along with Ramirez, musicians Michael Tejada, Maya Arce, Maria Reyes and Diana McConnell all brought their art to the stage. 

The group played many instruments including violin, guitar, melodica, drums, chimes and ukulele, accompanied with a type of Spanish dance called zapateado.  

The arrangement of pieces was vast and whimsical, from popular titles such as “Stand by Me” and “Tennessee Whiskey,” to more culturally themed songs such as “Arriba,” “Ofrenda” and “Ay Caramba.”  

Some songs were centered around themes of death for the Mexican celebration of the dead, Dia de Muertos, on Nov. 1. 

“We do not fear death,” Ramirez said. “We think of it as something that is beautiful and can bring us together to honor those that have passed.” 

Ramirez described the day as similar to the Disney movie “Coco.”

“You create an altar and give offerings to it, something that reminds us of that person or something that the person liked,” she said. “When my dad passed, we put up a picture of him and put coffee and foods that he liked on it.”  

For Ramirez said, music has been with her for her whole life, with her mother being a painter and her father a poet, she said.  

“I went to Mexico for a lot of inspiration for music. I got my degree as a musicologist, exploring and studying folklore music of Mexico,” Ramirez said. “Originally, we just started off as a trio of three girls, and from then on, we slowly expanded.”

For Trejada, this trip to Charleston was his first time seeing part of his family who lives in Chicago.

Ramirez said she had envisioned the wealth of Mexican folklore to inspire the younger generation of people of Latin heritage and to explore their roots.

“Music is a way of life, and you don’t have to be Hispanic to be taught it,” she said. 

The group opened musical workshops, teaching those who wanted to learn music of Latin heritage.  

“We wanted to develop a sense of community, and the people there don’t even consider themselves musicians. It’s just what they do, it’s their lifestyle,” Ramirez said. “The whole town will get together and sing and dance. Community is the most important thing, to unite people and to play from the heart.” 

The Grupo Bella ensemble group sported red outfits.  

The women had red dresses with red flower patterns sewn in with red flower crowns, and the man had on a red suit.  

The outfits were indigenous to the Chiapas, the people from the areas had personally hand made them, the band said.  

With such a unique experience given to the audience, a man shouted in the back for the group to play one more time as the performance came to a close.  

Asha Hoak can be reached at at 581-2812 or at ahoak@eiu.edu.