Calling all Vintage Band Festival Volunteers
By Dan Bergeson on Jul 04, 2023 10:35 pm

Vintage Band Festival relies heavily on volunteers to stage its annual events. Without our loyal donors and helpers, we couldn’t do what we do. If you’re interested in joining us on July 29 and you have a couple hours to help out, we’d love to meet you and give you a set of tasks. You could help us with set up on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, you could work in the information tent recording donations and answering questions or you could help us on Saturday evening as we close out the show and put stuff away.

Our work shift signup is on a site called SignUp Genius and you can follow this link to see what’s still available: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0e48afa92ea6ff2-vintage3#/.

We’d really appreciate the help! Thanks in advance for your consideration.

Vintage Band Festival 2023 will take place on July 29, 2023.

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Latin Rhythms will once again be heard in Bridge Square
By Dan Bergeson on Jul 04, 2023 05:54 pm

Minnesotans are fortunate to have a number of bands that focus on Mexican and other south of the border musical traditions. Two of the best (in our opinion!) are veteran performers at Vintage Band Festival and we’re excited to welcome them back to Northfield in 2023.

Banda La Verdadera

This high-energy Minneapolis band is a favorite Vintage Band Festival performer. Banda La Verdadera plays a type of traditional Mexican music that features brass instruments, woodwinds, drums and singing. The band performs a variety of musical forms, including rancheras, boleros and cumbias. They are in high demand in Minnesota and we’re lucky to have them back in Northfield in 2023.

Mariachi Mi Tierra

The mariachi ensemble is the only ensemble that requires the vihuela and the bass (guitarrón mexicano). These two instruments are the rhythm section. There’s no other ensemble in the world that uses them, except mariachi. If you go to a festival or a party and they say they have mariachi and they don’t have a vihuela and a bass, it’s not really Mariachi. The rest of the instrumentation is pretty straightforward. They include trumpets, violins, and vocal singers.

Mariachi Mi Tierra is the oldest Mariachi ensemble in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan area. Rosalio Castro (trumpet), who formed the group in 2003, has played various Mexican styles of music since he was in his teens. Eduardo Castro (also trumpet) is the group’s director. Together, the Castros have brought together a group that produces the full sound of authentic mariachi in Minnesota.

Mariachi Mi Tierra will perform at 5:00 pm on July 29, 2023 and Banda La Verdadera will take the stage at 6:00 pm. View the complete schedule for VBF 2023 here: https://vintagebandfestival.org/vbf-2023/ and check back for any updates.

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