Gina Chavez To Perform At Kean Stage

Take a journey through the Americas when 10-time Austin Music Award winner Gina Chavez performs her passionate, bilingual songs at Kean Stage's Enlow Recital Hall at 3 p.m. on Sunday, October 21.

"Most striking is Chavez's ease as she moves between social and love songs, between North American and Latin genres, and even between languages," wrote the Boston Globe. "When she passes mid-song from English to Spanish and back, it's the most natural thing in the world."

Chavez's collection of songs traverses cumbia, bossa nova, vintage pop, reggaeton and folk. Her latest release, a five-song EP, is a compilation of love songs written for her wife, Jodi Granado.

"I'm very excited about this record," Chavez said. "I love how it has a cohesive message. These songs were born of the 12 years with my wife and the love we have for one another. I took some time off to write and they just kind of bubbled up. They have a bit more of a chill vibe."

For a while, Chavez, a Catholic Latina in Texas, wasn't sure the couple would ever be able to walk down the aisle.

"We had to hide our relationship a lot of the time," she said. "But now people are coming out of the shadows and into the light, and we are living as our best selves."

In July, Billboard magazine premiered Chavez's latest music video, Heaven Knows, which consists of footage from the couple's marriage ceremony in September 2017.

"We are two people who love each other just like anybody else, and I think it shows," she said. "And selfishly, I just wanted to get my wife in a music video. I knew she probably wouldn't go for it any other way."

When the couple is not on tour (Granado is her manager), Chavez works for a public policy institute that advocates for lower income Texans, and Granado is a high school algebra teacher. They also spent eight months doing mission work, teaching English to girls in a gang-infested area of El Salvador.

"It was definitely a life-changing experience," said Chavez. "These girls became like our sisters."

The impact inspired Chavez and Granado to start The Niñas Arriba College Fund for young Latinas. Chavez hosts benefit concerts each year for the cause. So far, they have seen four of the students graduate from a private Catholic university in El Salvador.

"It's really cool to see the Austin community come together to hear incredible music and support a great cause," she said. "It's one of the best things to come of my music."

Gina Chavez will perform at 3 p.m. Sunday, October 21 at Enlow Recital Hall, 215 North Ave., Hillside, on Kean University's east campus. Tickets are $25 to $40 and can be purchased at the Kean Stage Box Office in Wilkins Theatre, 1000 Morris Ave., Union, by phone at 908-737-7469 or at www.keanstage.com

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