About Cantico de la Mujer Latina

Cántico de la Mujer Latina
is a wonderful and talented group of women.
Our ministry is not only creative and artistic.
It is thought provoking.

Many of our songs speak to the reality
of those living on the margins,
those often forgotten by society.
We use our creative ministry to challenge.

All of our members
have a special devotion to and love for our Blessed Mother.
Our music moves beyond traditional marian songs and hymns
with Santa Maria de América Latina, Nican Mopohua,
and Canto a Mi Mamita, which was written Marcy,
one of our members.

We use oral readings in some of presentations.
This includes the poetry of Gloria Anzaldua
as well as some of the great works of Ana Castillo.
We've also used some of the writings
of Cuban American Theologian, Dr. Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz.

Our voice is musical.
Our voice is poetic and, dare I say, prophetic.
We've often collaborated with others
and have used dance as a creative element in our ministry.
We have also made creative use of LCD projectors with our music,
using images that speak more
than any word sung or spoken.

Our ministry includes original works of music
written by Marcy, our guitarist.
Our ministry also includes original poetry
written by Rubi, the group's director.

We are available to server for prayer services,
special masses, and retreats.
We are also available for concerts.
Our songs and our readings
are in both Spanish and English,
though primarily in Spanish.
Most of our music and oral reading is written by Latin women,
including some original works by some of our members.

We do not belong to any one parish,
but hail from several different parishes.
Nor are we a nonprofit 501c3.
We are, very simply, a group of women
who have decidely made it our mission
to evangelize via creative means.

We do hope you enjoy your visit here at our blog.
We are El Cántico de la Mujer Latina.

Upcoming Events

A list of upcoming events for Cantico de la Mujer Latina:

Mass of Remembrance - Misa de los Angelitos
Oct. 26, 2010 - 3:00p.m.
Ste. Anne Parish
Detroit, MI


Advent by Candle Light
Nov. 30, 2010 - 7:00 p.m.
St. Francis Xavier Parish
4250 W. Jefferson
Ecorse, MI

Rosa Martha Zarate

As the founder and director
of Cantico de la Mujer Latina,
I must honestly say that one of the composers
who has most inspired me
is Rosa Martha Zarate.

She is the composer of "Cantico de Mujer,"
which has sort of become our theme song.
We sing several other of her works:
Por Nada Me Devuelvo, Antorcha de la Fe,
Profetiza.

Playing around on Google this morning
I found her website.
I'm not sure when this site went online,
but I'm going to assume it was recently
as I'm online a lot and surely would have found it before.

Anyhow,
here's a link to her site.
RosaMartha.com

Without a doubt,
Rosa Martha Zarate is the inspiration
behind our creative ministry
that challenges.

Gracias, Rosa Martha.
Cantico de la Mujer Latina
appreciates you and your minstry
more than you may ever know!

Gracias, Padre Jaime

Cantico de la Mujer Latina had another great rehearsal last night.
I’m pleased to say that we welcomed yet another new member!
This puts our membership from the following parishes:
- Ste. Anne; Detroit, MI
- St. Elizabeth; Wyandotte, MI
- Our Lady of the Woods; Woodhaven. MI
- St. Francis Xavier; Ecorse, MI
- St. Alfred, Taylor; MI

But. . . as of yesterday,
it would seem we need to add more parish to the list:
-St. Gabriel, Detroit.

Well. . .OK. . .
. . . we don’t have any women in the group
from St. Gabriel. .. . yet.
But I’m certain that will come in time.
In any event,
we truly need to add St. Gabriel
to the list of parishes that support us.

You see,
Cantico was looking for a rehearsal venue in the city.
And so I asked Padre Jaime,
Pastor of St. Gabriel,
if it would be possible for Cantico de la Mujer Latina
to have a little bit of space.
Padre Jaime was kind and gracious
and welcomed us to St. Gabriel!

In fact, he joined us
for a part of our rehearsal last night with his Ukelele.
He prayed with us and blessed us.

Cantico de la Mujer Latina
has two events scheduled for September.
More on that when details become available.
One of those events will be held at St. Gabriel Parish in Detroit.

For now, we just want to say Gracias, Padre Jaime.
Thank you for welcoming us to St. Gabriel.
But even more, thank you for your commitment
to making music a primary tool of Evangelization.

.. ..so...when are we going to write a Cumbia mass setting,
complete with sung presider’s part???... :)

Nican Mopohua

The Cantico Ladies are in rare form and are ready.
We outlined a summer rehearsal schedule
and even welcomed a new member last night.

We are currently working on a new, as-yet-unpublished,
mass setting.

We are also working on a wonderful song
that we found, of all places,
on Youtube!
I've often said that we need to evangelize by use of internet.

Here's a slideshow video
that features a song we are currently learning.
The song is called "Nican Mopohua,"
and is performed in this slideshow video by a group called "Exaudi."

I bet you can't wait to hear it prayerfully perfomed
by El Cantico de la Mujer Latina!




This songs goes back and forth between two langauges:
Spanish and Nahautl.
Nahautl is the indigenous language of St. Juan Diego.

The words, "Nican Mopohua."
are the first words of the document relating the story
of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The document was originally written in Nahuatl.
Nican Mopohua - Aqui se Narra. . . / Here is narrated. . .