ACTA
But that didn’t stop them. Las Damas del Valle kept playing the music that connects them to their families in Mexico and to grandparents they never met. What encourages them most is what happens at their shows. They often notice little girls watching the accordion, the bass guitar, and the microphone with quiet focus. For these girls, seeing Las Damas perform is a living example that this tradition can belong to them, too.
Listening to Las Damas del Valle, we hear care as recognition, the sound of young women claiming their place in the Central Valley’s story and opening the door for others to follow.
Canciones del San Joaquín Album
Stories like Las Damas del Valle shaped ACTA’s work on our Sounds of California: San Joaquin Valley project. Their song “Valle Firme” joins nine others on Canciones del San Joaquín, a new vinyl album created over a year of listening and fieldwork throughout the Central Valley. Each commission reflects the voices of artists who know the region from the inside, offering music rooted in memory, place, and everyday life.
The album includes a son jarocho calling for environmental care, a mariachi huapango honoring a cultural leader, a norteño anthem affirming working-class pride, and a trilingual hip-hop track mapping the Valley in Mixteco, Spanish, and English. Each commission honors the everyday soundscape of the region and the people who give it life.
Check out the lyric video for “Valle Firme,” an original composition written and performed by Las Damas del Valle, featured on ACTA’s upcoming Canciones del San Joaquín vinyl album.
For ACTA, this is what Listening as Care means: listening with intention and creating space where voices can be heard, remembered, and celebrated.
Give Today
As we close 2025, we invite you to join us in our circle of care. Your support helps ACTA continue listening to the artists, families, and communities who give shape to California’s cultural life. Each contribution strengthens the relationships that make this work possible.
To celebrate this shared commitment, we’re offering a limited-edition Canciones del San Joaquín vinyl record as a gift of gratitude for contributions of $300 or more. Each record carries the sounds and stories of the Valley, a reminder that listening is a form of care.
Click the “Give Today” button below to make a tax-deductible contribution.
Or you can send a check to:
Alliance for California Traditional Arts
744 P Street, Suite 307
Fresno, CA 93721
Contact:
Amy Kitchener, Executive Director
[email protected]
Join ACTA in listening, transforming, and learning as care
To celebrate this shared commitment, we’re offering a limited-edition Canciones del San Joaquín vinyl record as a gift of gratitude for contributions of $300 or more.
