As a celebration of the start of Hispanic and Latine Heritage Month in September, singer-songwriter Javier Jara ’09 took the stage at Austin’s iconic Long Center for the Performing Arts and led the Austin Unconducted orchestra in a stirring rendition of his “Our Rhythm, Our Voices” musical experience.

Together with lyricist Yahir Durán, photographer Alejanrdo Moreno-Alanis, and interviewer Jane O’Brien, Jara set out to celebrate the diversity, cultural heritage, and contributions of Latin American immigrants across the United States by blending oral history with music experimentation.

Nearly a decade in the making, the project began with O’Brien interviewing immigrants from all walks of life and from every corner of Latin America to capture their stories. Durán transformed those stories into poems, then Jara added music using rhythms and styles from each country and culture, and thus “Our Rhythms, Our Voices” was born.

The group began touring in 2022, sharing the incredible stories across the state of Texas. The culmination of the project came on September 8, when Jara was joined by the 18-piece Austin Unconducted orchestra to perform at the Long Center.

(Photo courtesy Guillermo Alfonso Patino)“That concert was the pinnacle of my career,” Jara said. “Because of the venue, the ensemble that joined me, and the significance of the music, I just felt amazingly comfortable. There were almost 700 people [in attendance] and they were very excited listening to the music. Everything flowed through the energy of the crowd. With the backing of that orchestra, it was like being in a cloud of music.”

The idea for “Our Rhythm, Our Voices” was spurred by the negativity surrounding how Latin Americans were portrayed by politicians and in the media during the 2016 U.S. election cycle.

“What inspired me was how to counter the negative stereotypes of Latin Americans in the media, not only from the political side of it, but also in movies and TV shows,” Jara said. “I know using music to counter the oversimplification and vilification of Latin America was a political act itself, but not in the sense of creating more polarization or more divisiveness. It was using poetry, storytelling, and music composition, and inviting musicians in our community to come together to counter this horrible stereotyping.”

Originally from Ecuador, Jara emigrated to the United States in 2003. After settling in Austin, he discovered Southwestern and applied to the University to pursue a bachelor’s degree in classical guitar. As part of his application, Jara was invited to audition at Southwestern in front of Professor Emeritus of Music Kiyoshi Tamagawa and Associate Professors of Music David Asbury and Jason Hoogerhyde.

As a 25-year-old applying to undergraduate college for the first time, Jara was already nervous to perform for the group of distinguished professors, but one other major factor further elevated his nerves – despite being a talented, self-taught guitarist, he didn’t know how to read music.

“After I played for them, they said they wanted to see the scores and the music notation of what I had just played,” Jara recalled. “I told them that I learned it by ear because I don’t know how to read music. [Dr. Tamagawa] and Dr. Asbury looked at each other and said, ‘we ought to find out what he can do once he learns how to read musical notation.’ That was my foot in the door.”

After earning a scholarship to pursue his music studies, Jara began working with Assistant Professor of Applied Music Steve Kostelnik, applying the education he was receiving in the classroom to his natural talent.

“Javier was my first guitar major and he set the bar really high,” Kostelnik said. “The first thing that we did was work on reading music. That was just the beginning of seeing how hard he could work, and he sustained that level of work all four years he was here. Coming from not being able to read any music to being able to play Bach and all the other music that he did in his repertoire is very impressive.”

“A very important foundational aspect of my musical career was going to Southwestern University, and I’m forever thankful for that.” – Javier Jara ’09

During his time at Southwestern, Jara not only learned how to read music, but also mastered classical guitar technique, took voice lessons, and studied music composition. His composition skills played a major role in the development of the “Our Rhythm, Our Voices” project, especially as Jara learned how to translate music to different ensembles, from string to brass and everything in between.

“I didn’t know how to read or compose music. It was like Egyptian hieroglyphics for me, but then I started learning how to read it and how to apply it to my own music,” Jara said. “I became very fond of the string quartet sounds and it eventually evolved into collaborating with Austin Unconducted.”

Made up of accomplished composers and arrangers, Austin Unconducted was able to take Jara’s original score of songs for “Our Rhythm, Our Voices,” which was written for two violins, an upright bass guitar, and a vocalist, and add their own twist to incorporate the larger 18-piece ensemble, including cellos and violas.

“It became a collaboration from every single angle that you could look at it,” Jara said. “From collaborating with a Mexican poet to write poems based on interviews with Latin Americans and setting music to it, to expanding the original arrangement that I wrote to an orchestra setting with musicians and composers from Austin Unconducted.”

At the conclusion of the performance, Jara was surprised to see a familiar face among the crowd, that of his former mentor and one of the most influential people during his time at Southwestern.

“Dr. Kostelnik surprised me and showed up to this very, very important cause,” Jara said. “I hadn’t seen him in over a decade and he hadn’t seen me play guitar since my senior recital in 2008. He approached the stage as soon as the concert was finished and I was happy that I saw him after the show because I would have been very nervous to see him sitting right there. It was a very nice thing to see him there.”

The experience was a powerful one for Kostelnik, who had recently been thinking about Jara and was planning to reach out to his former student when he received an email about the performance out of the blue.

“It felt like kismet. I had been thinking about him and wanting to reach out, then here comes this email,” he said. “It was important for me to be there. I wanted to be there, to see how he was doing and what he was doing. And it blew me away. I was so happy. I was so proud of him and impressed by his ability to pull together all of these different strands to make something powerful. I was very moved by the entire experience.”

“Our Rhythm, Our Voices” features the stories of 12 diverse Latin Americans, all from different backgrounds and home nations, including that of Delia, an Ecuadorian who now works as a technology and information systems professional, Hilda, a Guatemalan who traveled to the United States to provide a better life for her son, and Reina, the Executive Chef and Owner of the Buenos Aires Café, one of Austin’s top Argentinian restaurants.

“We found all kinds of stories, from successes and happy endings, to the not so happy endings,” Jara said. “One of the songs was written about a father and a daughter that drowned while crossing the Rio Grande. We could never interview them, but that was not going to stop us from telling their story. We read articles in the media and wrote a song about this tragedy in a poetic and artistic way.”

“It blew me away. […] I was so proud of him and impressed by his ability to pull together all of these different strands to make something powerful. I was very moved by the entire experience.” – Assistant Professor of Applied Music Steve Kostelnik

O’Brien and Jara met several of the subjects for these songs through Casa Marianella, an Austin-based shelter and support organization that assists displaced immigrants arriving in the United States. Many of the individuals were able to attend Jara’s performance at the Long Center to see their stories come to life in person.

“It was amazing to see them [in the audience,]” Jara said. “It was also inspiring because I was singing to them too. I was storytelling through music and poetry and the beautiful sounds of the orchestra. Being able to acknowledge and recognize their struggle and show them how their inspirational stories mean something to so many people.”

In the audience, Kostelnik counts himself among the many attendees who were moved by hearing the stories through the music that Jara created.

“As the performance was going on and I was reading the stories in the program, I remember thinking how ‘Southwestern’ it was,” Kostelnik said. “When we do our jobs right, that’s exactly the kind of thing that we get. I could see the culmination of all of his experiences with us – not just the music, but his other classes too, because there’s a great social justice component to what he’s doing.”

As Jara and Kostelnik reflect on their relationship that began 20 years ago, one that helped prepare Jara for his current success, both individuals are thankful for the bonds that were born out of a unique Southwestern Experience.

“Before going to Southwestern, I was dealing with something that I thought I couldn’t learn,” Jara said. “Who learns music notation after they turn 25? Southwestern showed me that it was possible. I had so many inspiring mentors and teachers, including Steve. I had the right training there to develop my musical language through the tools that they gave me. A very important foundational aspect of my musical career was going to Southwestern University, and I’m forever thankful for that.”

“Javier was always a joy to teach,” Kostelnik said. “He came to me as a young man with big ambitions who wanted to be pushed. I pushed him as hard as I could and it is truly gratifying to witness the artist he has become. Even as rewarding as it is to see Javier’s artistic achievements, it’s perhaps even more rewarding and soul satisfying to see the man he has become – a devoted husband, loving father, and my very dear friend.”

(Photo courtesy Guillermo Alfonso Patino)