Happy Lunar New Year! (Note: if you care to know how different East Asian countries celebrate Lunar New Year, check out the first article in this week's Cultural Tidings!)
Today (Friday), the 3-day San Diego Tet Festival (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) gets underway in Mira Mesa. We have attended in years past, and it was illuminating and fun! Several of us will be there Saturday morning. The HeART and Soul of Ukraine exhibition at the historic Montezuma Villa will feature works by a number of Ukrainian artists. The exhibit will be on display until early March. Beyond King Tut: The Immersive Experience will open at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. At Sparks Gallery, there will be an opening reception for their new Paisanos Mexico exhibit which will run through February 19th. Acclaimed Mexican singer Paquita la del Barrio will perform at Viejas Arena. Twiggs Coffee House will host a Mexican Poetry Night featuring four different fronterizos/border writers.
Saturday and Sunday, at Art on 30th they will have a Workshop Inspired by German Abstractionism. The House of China will hold its annual Chinese New Year Celebration in Balboa Park.
Saturday, there will be a Crafting Culture: Traditions of the Chinese Lunar New Year workshop at the College/Rolando Library. Miss Helene's Lunar New Year Storytime & Craft at University Heights Library will feature Chinese stories, movement, and crafts for children. The Splendors of the Guelaguetza program at the Museum of Art will celebrate indigenous Oaxacan arts and culture. The House of China will hold a Year of the Rabbit Banquet at the Diamond Palace Restaurant. You can enjoy dinner and a concert at Kusina: A Taste of the Pacific restaurant with Filipino-American singer Nievera performing. At St Paul's Episcopal Cathedral Church, Tommy and Saundra O’Sullivan will perform both traditional and new Irish music.
Sunday, at the Digital Gym there will be a live-streaming rendition of Much Ado About Nothing by the National Theater. At Vien Dong 4 Supermarket, there will be a Lion Dance and Firecracker Show. The San Diego International Jewish Film Festival will hold a Preview Day for their upcoming festival. The San Diego Buddhist Association will host a Lunar New Year Festival. At All Saints Episcopal Church, the Scandinavian Winter concert will feature music by Sibelius, Grieg, Gade, and Roman. At Saffrono, there will be a Bellydance Showcase with music by the Middle-Earth Ensemble. Iraqi singer and songwriter Saif Nabeel will perform at the St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Cathedral in El Cajon.
Monday, at Mesa College, the Africa in Context art exhibition will have its opening. At the Mingei Museum, the House of Ukraine will hold a Fundraising Concert featuring the Balaklava Blues group.
Wednesday, Francois Truffaut's classic film Day for Night will be shown at the Coronado Library.
Next Thursday, the film Donde Los Vientos se Cruzan (Where the Winds Cross), a documentary about an impoverished border encampment will be shown at the Sherman Heights Community Center. Warwick's will host Joseph Sassoon as he discusses and signs his new book, The Sassoons: The Great Global Merchants and the Making of an Empire. Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole will perform at The Loft at UC San Diego.
Next Friday and Saturday, the frantic, mind-bending, and downright fun film Everything Everywhere All at Once (which received 11 Oscar nominations and countless other film awards) will screen at Cinema Under the Stars and other local movie houses.
Next Friday, the Heavy Metal/Mariachi band Metalachi will perform at the Holding Company. The San Diego French American School will screen Les Magnetiques (Magnetic Beats).
Next Saturday and Sunday, the 40th Annual Chinese New Year Fair will take place downtown.
Saturday, at "The Conrad" in La Jolla, Camarada will present The Taste of Tango. At the Laugh Factory, there will be a Brazilian Comedy Show.
Next Sunday, all the events we have listed are continuing or ongoing events!
Local theatrical offerings include the musical Blues in the Night at North Coast Rep, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci at the Old Globe, The Ferryman at New Village Arts Theater in Carlsbad, and El Huracán at the Old Town Theatre.
And if you are an avid and adventuresome reader, visit our www.multiculturalbooks.org site to browse our compendious collection and buy something that you can curl up on the couch with!
Everyone here at the San Diego Participant Observer and the Worldview Project wish you fulfilling, illuminating, and culturally-rich experiences in the days ahead. See you next week!
