By: CHRISTINA CLARK
Editor-in-Chief
EditorPreface@gmail.com
According to a press release from IU South Bend, Juan-Carlos Alarcon and Salvador Perez Lopez “contributed spoken word pieces and played instruments on the studio album ‘American Dreamers: Voices of Hope Music of Freedom,’ by the John Daversa Big Band.”
The album was nominated for three categories at the Grammy awards including: Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, Best Improvised Jazz Solo and Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Capella. The album won all three categories.
The album features 50 DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival) recipients, where they play iconic American songs such as “Stars and Stripes Forever.” Spoken monologue is woven through the album, as the Dreamers (DACA recipients) tell their stories.
“In addition to their monologues, Juan-Carlos, who was born in Mexico and grew up in Elkhart, played percussion, piano and pipe organ for the album, and Salvador, who came from Mexico and grew up in Bremen, played Clarinet and percussion,” the release, written by Allison Smith, read.
Lopez is a 2018 graduate who earned his Bachelor of Music in Clarinet and went on to study at the Jacob School of Music in IU Bloomington, and Perez is a current senior at IU South Bend, working towards a major in Music Education.
