Sonic Trace

L.A. is a profoundly Latin American city, with countless historical and cultural ties to the Spanish-speaking world. Those ties include a common language. Spanish is spoken by over 40 percent of L.A. residents, making it the second-most spoken language in L.A. after English.
Remember, even saying the words “Los Angeles” (or if you want to get fancy and historical about it, El Pueblo de Nuestra …

KCRW’s Sonic Trace is a story-telling project that begins in the heart of Los Angeles and crosses into Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The project gathers stories from immigrants across Los Angeles in a portable soundbooth, La Burbuja (The Bubble) to create an oral history mosaic of Los Angeles.
Some of these are collected below. The stories range from the challenges of adapting to a new …

Today is the day of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Across Mexico – and the world – devotees flock to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the heart Mexico City to celebrate and pay tribute to the patron saint that Catholics call the Queen of Mexico and the Empress of the Americas.
Los Angeles is the second city with the largest of population of …

 
Los Angeles is home to one of the most diverse populations in the world. The largest number of people in the city is of Latino origin. But there are many ethnic groups within Latin-American culture. Like the enclave of Zapotec villagers from Southern Mexico who have migrated to LA’s Koreatown. KCRW’s Sonic Trace series has been focusing on Zapotecs who come from the tiny village …

Los Angeles is home to one of the most diverse populations in the world. The largest number of people in the city is of Latino origin.  But there are a lot of different ethnic groups within Latin-American culture.  Like the enclave of Zapotec villagers from Southern Mexico who have migrated to LA’s Koreatown.  We’ve been focusing on migrants, who come from the tiny village of Santa Maria Tavehua.
This is Nico’s …

Santa Maria Tavehua is a tiny village in the hillsides of southern Mexico.  They are known for their ceramic arts made from an indigenous orange clay.  For centuries, the people of Tavehua made pots and plates, cups and bowls to barter and trade among themselves.  In the modern economy, their work shifted to decorative pieces, specifically these little bunnies playing instruments.  In recent decades, …

Since the 1970s, Los Angeles has become a hub for Mexico’s indigenous Zapotecs – a culture that predates the Spanish conquest of the Americas. All week, Sonic Trace is exploring the connection between Santa Maria Tavehua, a tiny village in the hillsides of southern Mexico, and L.A.’s Koreatown – where more than half the village now lives. This is a story is about putting down roots. …

Since the 1970s, Los Angeles has become a hub for Mexico’s indigenous Zapotecs – a culture that predates the Spanish conquest of the Americas. Sonic Trace has launched a five-part series that explores the connection between Santa Maria Tavehua, a tiny village in the hillsides of southern Mexico, and L.A.’s Koreatown – where more than half the village now lives. In this story, we hear from …

Sonic Trace, KCRW’s independent producer project featuring the stories of Mexican and Central Americans around Los Angeles, launched a Kickstarter campaign for “La Burbuja” or “The Bubble,” a sleek portable sound booth. The designers of the booth, Hugo Martinez with Christin To, are both immigrants to the United States.
Searching for a portable sound booth design, Sonic Trace challenged architects back in May to submit …

One of the goals of Sonic Trace is to find stories that are local to both Los Angeles and Mexico. The recent Mexican presidential election was one such story. As producers, we wanted to explore the election in a way that was timely, relevant and not boring for KCRW’s LA audience. We wanted to explain Mexican democracy, and the importance of being invested in …

Yesterday was election day in Mexico and as expected, the party that had ruled the country for 71 years, was reinstated and PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto will be the next president.
Sonic Trace producer Anayansi Diaz Cortes was in Santa Maria Tavehua, Oaxaca, Mexico on voting day. There are about 236 residents currently living there, yet only 70 of them are eligible voters. On …

We met Luis earlier this month when he began his journey to figure out why the Mexican election should matter to him — an undocumented teenager living in Los Angeles. Luis was born in Mexico, but came to LA as a baby and feels more American than Mexican. On today’s “To the Point” we heard Luis’ story.
The election is this weekend in Mexico and …

If you aren’t busy standing under LACMA’s levitated mass this weekend, check out KCRW’s booth at Dwell on Design, a program at the L.A. Convention Center from June 22-24.
KCRW’s booth (#270) will feature the edgy and imaginative illustrations from a recent contest to design a sound booth for KCRW’s new series Sonic Trace, which was created by Anayansi Diaz-Cortes and Eric Pearse-Chavez and features …

This past Sunday,  Mexican Presidential candidates engaged in their second and final debate before the July 1 election. With three weeks to go, Enrique Peña Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) is the front-runner by a comfortable margin.
Sonic Trace teen reporter Luis Carlos sat down with his family and a friend to watch the second Mexican Presidential debate. Two weeks ago, he didn’t …

Sonic Trace– part of KCRW’s Independent Producer Project– is a multimedia project and radio series  bringing you stories that explore the three age-old questions about community and immigration in Los Angeles.
¿Por qué te fuiste? ¿Por qué te quedaste? ¿Por qué regresaste?
Why do people leave? Why do others stay? And, what makes people go back (in either direction)?
Sonic Trace is a story-telling and documentary experiment produced …