David Romo, adriana lopez
Historian, Musician
El Paso, TX
11/2/22
While in El Paso, Texas, for our writing workshop with Victoria Blanco, the Westies met with acclaimed local historian David Dorado Romo. Romo is the author of Ringside Seat to a Revolution, which tells the story of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez’s role during the events of the Mexican Revolution of 1911. He has also been interviewed often in recent years about issues of development and historic preservation in El Paso. David was joined by his bandmate, the vocalist and poet Adriana Lopez. Together, they took us on a tour of the historic Segundo Barrio of southern El Paso, explaining murals, telling stories, and performing music to accentuate the tour.
David and Adriana’s band, Los Liminals, draws on a mix of history, music, and spoken-word poetry, exploring the liminal space of the border and its residents over time. They recreate the past using the voices of those who lived it; at turns in our tour they performed from perspectives as diverse as legendary mystic Teresa Urrea, ancient footsteps in the White Sands of New Mexico, and the daughter of Pancho Villa’s bandleader. (If you’re interested in learning more, you can follow them on Instagram at @losliminals)
Part of the tour included a visit to the contested neighborhood of Durangito. For a decade, the city of El Paso has been trying to demolish this neighborhood to build a new sports arena, creating conflict with the local historical community and the residents, who are mainly Hispanic.The Westies met with Antonia Morales, the last remaining resident of Durangito, who, at 94 years old, remains the face of resistance to the city’s development plans.
Adriana expressed that she and her bandmates don’t make music to impart any particular lesson or view on their listeners, but rather to inspire audiences to learn about their local history and draw their own meaning from it. Asked about her music, she says “If we can create music that creates curiosity, more than anything, from anyone, to try to go on their own journey … that's really where all these ideas came from.” The Westies were certainly inspired by their time with David and Adriana, and have carried that inspiration as we walk, write, and sing our way into the last leg of our field program.
By Sam Allen