San Cha
(Los Angeles, CA)
San Cha - TBA:22 Opening Night
DESCRIPTION
Celebrate the start of TBA:22 at our Opening Night with a headlining performance by renowned Los Angeles-based musician San Cha. This visual and musical performance will highlight original compositions and interpretations of Mexican mariachi and bolero standards in San Cha’s signature style that blends and queers a multitude of forms while showcasing her captivating costumes and stunning stage presence. The party doesn’t stop there; San Cha’s kick-off performance will be followed by a DJ sets by Dez Ramirez aka La Cosmica and Diana Suarez aka Buena Suerte (of Portland’s Noche Libre, a Latine femme DJ collective). Gather at PICA with artists, curators, guest scholars, and new friends and old to embrace the Festival. With indoor and outdoor spaces, make a night of it with our on-site bar, limited-edition merch, and late summer dance party vibes. Opening Night of TBA is where it all begins—don’t miss out!
$20K for TBA
Donations made on Opening Night will be matched dollar for dollar, doubling your impact on PICA’s programming and access to contemporary art. Suggested donation of $0–$20+. Donations can be made on the reservations page via the "Get Tickets" button on the left.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
San Cha is an experience and exploration in sound and musical genres. Interweaving through decades of music as smoothly and beautifully as the turn of a kaleidoscope, each song a new and refreshing mix, nearly irrelatable to the last but somehow irrevocably San Cha. This is what has catapulted San Cha in the music world and has made her an undeniable force.
Using her Mexican American upbringing, San Cha channels a wave of cultures to beautifully collide in a mix of genres. As eclectic in sound as she is in emotion and storytelling, at times haunting and full of ache and quickly thereafter an unstoppable dance force, her music is a soundtrack for your heart and club nights with friends. Because of this her music has been featured on shows such as the Starz TV show Vida and Growing Fangs on Disney+.
San Cha first put out her demos under the title Me Demandó in 2016, followed by the cumbia-flavored Capricho del Diablo EP. It was during this time that Red Bull took notice and approached San Cha to participate in Red Bull Music Academy’s Bass Camp at Bonnaroo Music Festival, choosing her as one of the up-and-coming producers and musicians from around the country. Her follow-up album La Luz de la Esperanza was released with much critical acclaim, with Pitchfork writing “It’s a work of art that took her entire life to make, the synthesis of years of struggle and growth, a style forged on the ranches of Jalisco and in the queer clubs of San Francisco.”
San Cha’s unique sound and powerful onstage performance is guided by her devotion to her artistry. Using theater, fashion, and music, she has created a following of devoted fans that show up at all of her shows. This has allowed her to collaborate with other celebrated artists such as La Doña and Lido Pimienta.
San Cha has also been recognized by publications such as L.A. Times (“Trust your ears when you hear San Cha sing. Enlightenment begins from a divine place”), and The Advocate, where she was named a woman of the year (“San Cha is Breaking Ground For Queer Latinx Artists”).
Dez Ramirez is a writer, filmmaker, artist and DJ. Known as DJ La Cosmica, Dez has been a member of the Noche Libre DJ Collective since 2018, and has hosted, recorded and produced episodes of Radio Noche Libre! on XRAY FM. Currently living between the Mojave Desert, Los Angeles, and Portland - La Cosmica's style and musical curation ranges widely as she draws from the influences of dramatic wilderness, urban vibrancy, and the pulse of collective and radical liberation in the communities in which she lives and creates. Recent flavors consist of electrocumbia, electronica, house, synth, R&B, bass, reggaeton, norteno, salsa, and disco.
Artist Diana Suarez has been building a DJpractice since 2011, working to highlight the art and music of artists who have messages to share about liberation, self-determination, and collective activism. She has been a member of the Noche Libre DJ Collective since 2017, and has hosted radio programs on XRAY.fm in Portland OR as well as KALX Berkeley in Berkeley, CA. She has gone by the monikers June Gloom, Tita, No Manches, Tia Bruja, Cuan the DJ and most recently, Buena Suerta. She often mixes classic cumbias, hip hop gems, international psych, chichas and more.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PICA thanks Libby Werbel and the lumber room for introducing us to San Cha and her work, and Sarah Miller Meigs and lumber room for their support of this program.