Midwest Canto Al Pueblo Dos by Gustavo Lira & Victor Yepez
This 1999 mural by artists Gustavo Lira and Victor Yepez and youth from Teens Networking Together adorns the side of a building on the corner of Cesar Chavez and Robert Street in the heart of the District Del Sol in St. Paul’s West Side. It’s an area full of culture and art, as this mural exemplifies.
The title refers to the original “Midwest Canto Al Pueblo” mural painted by Pablo Basques in 1979 on Concord Drug Store that is now gone.
I always like driving by this mural because it jumps out at you. It’s painted on the side of a building facing another building directly across a short driveway. So as you come down the street it just suddenly comes into to view — there it is. And just as quickly you drive by and it’s gone and your head whips around — did you see that?
June 16th, 2010 at 1:49 am
We will be starting the restoration of the ” Midwest Canto Al Pueblo Mural that once existed on the building which once housed the Concord drugstore and which is presently the home of the Riverview Development Association ( Reda ). The begining of the restoration begins in early July 2010, and the new “Midwest Canto Al Pueblo ” iconography will be a glass tile mosaic instead of the painted mural. A Mini – Midwest Canto Al Pueblo Dedication and Celebraion of the arts is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 2010 when the mosaic should be completed. Danzantes, Music, Poetry, Song , and the Possible appearance of Dr. Jesus “Chuy” Negrete , who Studs Terkal once called chuy the “Arlo Guthrie” of the Chicano community . He once performed at the Landmark in st. Paul, Jesus Chuy Negrete sings corridos , ballads , he gives us the history of the Chicano people from pre – Columbian times to the present , an Anthropological Musicoligist, Song writer , Activist , was active in the Farmworkers Movement for many decades, with ” Ceasar Chavez , has performed in many colleges all over the United States, and has performed many times in Europe, Coming soon. Contact me for further information and updates.