Page 31 - ARUBA TODAY

PEOPLE/ARTS Tuesday 19 sepTember 2017
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The 11 sisters of Siervas are a rock band like ‘nun’ other

By AMY TAXIN Sister Andrea Garcia, 47,
Associated Press remembers listening to Mi-
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. chael Jackson when she
(AP) — Eleven nuns take was a college student. She
the stage wearing tradi- thought she’d pursue a ca-
tional black-and white reer in biology, but found
habits but are anything faith instead.
but old school as they belt “We think this music, or
out songs to the ringing of this genre, resonates with
electric guitar and a rock young people today,” said
‘n’ roll beat. Garcia, a composer and
Known as “Siervas,” the vocalist from Argentina.
band was born in a Peru- “Our goal is that through
vian convent three years the melodies, our lyrics will
ago and now travels far reach people.”
and wide to perform. They sing in Spanish and
Of all the extraordinary their themes are Christian,
things about Siervas the but fans post messages to
most remarkable may be them on social media from
they are not just a novelty. Asia and Europe as well as
They have a genuine inter- Latin America.
national following. And while many fans are
Their songs of love and In this Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017, photo members of “Siervas,” a Peruvian-based rock ‘n’ roll band devout Catholics, others
faith have earned over a comprised entirely of Catholic nuns rehearse a day ahead of their performance at performance are from different denomi-
million YouTube views, led at the Christ Cathedral Campus in Garden Grove, Calif. nations or even atheists,
to the release of two CDs Associated Press Garcia said.
and now they are waiting piled a CD. ranging from cello to elec- called millennial genera- Milagros Izagara, a
to see if they are among That led to a concert per- tric guitar. tion, more than a third 53-year-old real estate
the honorees when Latin formance that attracted A YouTube video of the reported no religious affili- agent in Simi Valley, Cali-
Grammy nominations are local media attention in group standing on a roof- ation and only 16 percent fornia, said she isn’t par-
announced Wednesday. Peru and then invitations to top helipad overlooking identified as Catholic, ac- ticularly religious but was
Siervas recently traveled perform in nearby Colom- Lima, Peru, and belting out cording to a 2014 study drawn to the band’s songs
to Southern California and bia and Ecuador. Interest their song “Confía en Dios” by the Washington-based encouraging unity.
drew 4,000 people when skyrocketed on the internet — or “Trust in God” — has Pew Research Center. “I am not a churchgoer,
they headlined a Spanish- and the group released a more than 1 million views. “Modern times have mod- but I love this music,” said
language Catholic music second CD. The band’s popularity ern music,” said Sister Mon- Izagara, who helped start
festival. Now, they rehearse togeth- comes at a time when the ica Nobl, a 40-year-old vo- a Peruvian community or-
“Everyone was calling our er twice a week, melding Catholic Church and other calist. “Pop-rock music is a ganization in Southern Cal-
office saying we want to upbeat lyrics with Latin pop religious organizations are kind of music we’ve heard ifornia.
see these nuns, when are and rock. Each nun also seeking to draw younger all or lives. We grew up with “I love it because they are
they singing?” said Ryan practices daily on her own, people. that kind of music, so it’s breaking a paradigm. They
Lilyengren, spokesman honing skills on instruments Among America’s so- also just natural to use it.” are out of the box.”q
for the Roman Catholic
Diocese of Orange, which Street art museum opens in
organized the event.
“They’re sharing their mes- Berlin, a hub for the scene
sage in a way people are
willing to hear it.” By GEIR MOULSON portraits, pop art and ac-
The nuns, who come from Associated Press tivism.
eight countries and range BERLIN (AP) — Street art has The scene so far has lacked
in age from 20s to 40s, in- a new, permanent home in an “informative hub,”
sist they aren’t rock stars. Berlin. Young said Monday. She
But they certainly act the Works by artists from said that part of the idea
part when on stage per- around the world have is “teaching people a new
forming to the electric gui- gone on show at the Urban language, which is the lan-
tar, steady drumbeat and Nation Museum for Urban guage of street art, graffiti
catchy lyrics, uniformly smil- Contemporary Art in the and urban contemporary
ing as silver crosses dangle German capital, located art.” General view inside the exhibition of the new Urban Nation Mu-
from their necks. at one end of a street that A staircase decked out in seum for Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin, Germany, Monday,
Their name Siervas — is already something of a British artist Ben Eine’s col- Sept. 18, 2017 Associated Press
Spanish for “the servants” giant art gallery. ored lettering links the two ers — some of whose works seum — four years in the
— comes from the con- The opening exhibition, floors of the new museum, grace or have graced fa- making — as “an archive
vent where the band was which will last for around which features work by art- cades on the street outside and a hub” in a city that is
formed and still lives. nine months, aims to intro- ists familiar from the streets and elsewhere in the city. itself an urban art hub.
At first, they composed duce visitors to the culture of Berlin and beyond. One of Banksy’s “Gangsta “There’s so many people
and played music together of urban art. There’s a wall by Portu- Rats” is also present. here from all over the world
as a hobby after spending Yasha Young, the mu- guese artist Vhils, works The museum also hosts a li- living here because Berlin is
days praying with incarcer- seum’s creative director, by New York-based Ira- brary that centers on street still in the spirit of, maybe,
ated women and the poor worked with eight cura- nian duo Icy and Sot, Sao art photographer Martha old New York,” she said.
in Peruvian shantytowns. tors from various countries Paulo-based Marina Zumi Cooper’s archive of books “It is affordable, it is good
When Siervas had enough to produce a show that and France’s Mademoi- and magazines. for an artist to be here, the
original music they com- explores strands including selle Maurice, among oth- Young envisions the mu- networks are great.”q