La Familia Peña-Govea
Songs and Activism Can Start in the Kitchen
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Photos, L to R: Miguel Govea and Susan Peña promoting the SOC: Bayview concert at community radio station KPOO (Credit: Lily Kharrazi/ACTA); Miguel Govea and Susan Peña teaching students at Abraham Lincoln High School their repertoire for the concert (Credit: Lily Kharrazi/ACTA); three images of La Familia Peña-Govea and students at the concert (Credit: Sonia Narang/ACTA).
La Familia Peña-Govea is a family of musicians who perform traditional Mexican songs with a Chicano activist perspective. Parents Miguel Govea and Susan Peña raised their two daughters Cecilia and René in a household of music and activism in San Francisco’s Mission District, historically a hub of Latino culture. Their music reflects evolving Latino identities and the changing cultural landscape of California. The musicians accompanying the family are Miguel Govea’s students from San Francisco’s Abraham Lincoln High School. They are primarily newcomers from Central America whose participation in the band also affords them camaraderie.
Filmed by Jon and Joanne Ching on April 29, 2018.
“I was asked to teach a band at Lincoln High School… What I wanted to bring was something the students would feel in their heart.”
- Miguel Govea