Discover Miami
Neighborhoods Open Their Doors in Order to Teach Culture

By Leoncio J. Alvarez

	Joe Zeytoonian and wife Myriam Eli of Harmonic Motion, a Middle Eastern duo who will perform at Discover Miami

Tina Lopez has never been intrigued with learning about different cultures, even when she began taking history classes in school. Living in Miami, she believed diverse cultures were non-existent.

“I moved to Miami when I was five, and I’ve always just hung around those who share similarities to me—Hispanics,” Lopez said. “I never really thought about other cultures and what each offers, but now that I am getting older, I have a feeling I’ve been missing out.”

Lopez, 36, will now have the opportunity to “discover” exactly what many locals had no idea was living in their beloved city—an assortment of individuals willing to teach about their eclectic cultures and past.

On March 25, Discover Miami, an official event of Dade Heritage Days 2006, will bring together six South Florida locations—Little Havana, Overtown, Downtown Cultural Center, Little Haiti, Downtown Miami and Temple Israel—to share traditions, history, music, dances, art and written forms of communication.

“I’ve never traveled to some of the areas in the festival, now I won’t have an excuse,” Lopez said.

Festival-goers are given the opportunity to explore multi-cultural areas, meet new people and of course, visit areas which they had no intention of ever visiting in the past, according to Suzanne Mosher, executive director of Music Fest Inc, the organization planning the festival.

“The whole idea of Discover Miami is cultural exchange. Music Fest Inc strives to teach cultural diversity through music and education,” Mosher said.

A narrated bus tour, developed in collaboration with Dr. Paul George of Miami Dade College and the Historical Museum of South Florida, will be traveling throughout the locations. The tours will be narrated by well known local names; including Celeste Fraser Delgado, writer and columnist for the Sun-Post and Ed Ponder, Miami and Liberty City native, and past president of the South Florida Concierge Association.

“The guided bus tours are one of the most notable aspects of Discover Miami and a convenient way for event-goers to experience each venue, while learning about the area’s history and architecture along the way,” said Robert Rosenberg, producer of Discover Miami.

The buses will travel to all locations and those leaving from Little Havana and Little Haiti will be bilingual in Spanish and Creole, respectively.

“I will definitely take advantage of the tours since they will be narrated by people who know what they’re talking about,” Lopez said.

Those who plan to attend don’t necessarily have to use the bus tours. Free Miami-Dade shuttle buses will be traveling from location to location and parking will be available near the various sites.

Artistic and musical genres will be represented at the festival; showcasing Latin, Native, European, African American, Caribbean, Haitian and Jewish cultures.

Both local and more popular musicians, theater and dance artists will be featured, as well as visual art exhibits, craft artisans and traditional food vendors.

One specific group performing, the musical band Hermanos Mora-Arriaga, come from Mexico. The band is made up of 15 brothers and sisters and will perform Latin and international music.

“We mostly perform meringue and salsa music, but we also will be performing German type music,” said Tete Mora-Arriaga, a percussionist for the band. “We toured internationally with Shakira and work very close with Emilio Estefan. If he’s ever missing a musical instrument for something, he would call and ask one of us to play.”

Joe Zeytoonian and wife Myriam Eli of the Middle-Eastern music/dance troupe Harmonic Motion will be performing “Sephardic Journey” at the Temple Israel. Zeytoonian plays the ud, a string instrument he learned from his father and currently teaches to other students, and Eli is a dancer/percussionist and has worked as a choreographer.

Zeytoonian has been invited to take part in Discover Miami in the past, but this will be the first year he performs.

“When friends who don’t live in Miami call me, they stereotype Miami as being mostly Cuban populated, but they forget everyone else,” Zeytoonian said. “Arab, Jewish and Turkish cultures all add to the great things Miami has to offer.”

Harmonic Motion performs Fridays at A la Turca Restaurant in Hollywood, FL.

Due to the positive response from attendants last year and county officials wanting to bring free events into their neighborhoods, this year’s fifth annual event is expected to surpass its predecessors.

According to Mosher, plans are underway to expand the neighborhood sites for next year’s festival and to develop street fairs dealing with sub-cultures.

“I look forward to learning about Native-American culture a lot,” Lopez said. “It’s the culture that should interest all Miamians because it’s their land were all residing on.

Discover Miami Schedule

Discover Miami will take place March 25 at 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. The narrated bus tours will depart from their locations at 12 p.m., returning to their initial spot at 5 p.m. The tours are free, but work under a first come, first served method. To set up reservations, call 305-373-0011.

The free shuttle buses will be circulating between 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. throughout the six mini-festivals.

The Little Havana mini-festival will be located on Calle Ocho between SW 14 and 17 Avenues and will be presented by the Latin Quarter Cultural Center.

African-American and Caribbean cultures will be showcased at the newly renovated Lyric Theater, 819 N.W. Second Avenue and is presented by the Black Archives, History & Research Foundation of South Florida.

Jewish culture will be found at Miami’s oldest synagogue Temple Israel 137 N.E. 19th Street, off of Biscayne Boulevard. This mini- festival is presented by Temple Israel.

The Caribbean Marketplace, N.E. 59 Street & N.E. 2 Avenue will embrace Haitian culture. This festival is presented by Sosyete Koukouy.

Native-American culture will be found at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, 101 West Flagler Street and presented by the Historical Museum of Southern Florida in collaboration with Miccosukee and Seminole families.

The steps of the Dade County Courthouse, 73 West Flagler Street will demonstrate European-American culture. This mini-festival is presented by the Downtown Miami Partnership and The Folk Club of South Florida.