PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Jesse Bermudez lived by the words “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
For him, it was about using music to change people’s perception of Philadelphia’s Latino community.
“His vision was to take the culture that he knew so well and share it with the rest of the greater community,” said Phil Sumpter, senior program manager of community engagement at the Kimmel Center, who worked with Bermudez for many years.
The salsa musician and community leader died last month at 79. Over the weekend, at the Manos en la Obra event at Taller Puertorriqueño, Bermudez received a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award for the work he did pioneering the city’s Latino music scene. Local community arts nonprofit La Guagua 47 hosted the event, in celebration of Philadelphia-area Latino musicians.
In the 1980s, Bermudez organized a strike of 125 musicians to advocate for better working conditions and wages. The strikers created the Asociación de Músicos Latinoamericano to continue this work and counter what it saw as the misrepresentation of Latino culture.
The association later founded the Latin School for the Performing Arts to foster artistic and musical talent and provide presentations and festivals for the community. By 2006, Bermudez had partnered with Esperanza Inc. to turn LSPA into Artistas y Musicos Latino Americanos, to further promote the development and talent of the community.
Related
Thinking back to the days when Bermudez started AMLA, his daughter Sara Evans remembers the personal sacrifices he made for the Latino community to help build pride in their music and heritage.
“His legacy allowed people to see the best of themselves while making sure that they remember where they come from,” Evans said.
Notable AMLA alumni include Crystal Torres, who played trumpet in Beyoncé's all-woman band; Luis Figueroa, the first artist signed to Mark Anthony’s label Magnus Media; and Pablo Batista an Oscar- and Grammy-winning artist who worked with the artist H.E.R. on the "Judas and the Black Messiah" soundtrack.
Related
After graduating from Temple University in 1981, Batista met Bermudez through a mutual friend and started teaching Afro-Caribbean percussion at AMLA. They became good friends and, throughout the years, Batista admired Bermudez’s ambition.
“He was always trying to figure out ways to make things better and to represent musicians and make things better for us,” Batista said. “He was like an ambassador.”
Through all of his work, Bermudez never compromised the community, said his wife, Daisy Bermudez. She hopes that others will be inspired by her husband’s legacy and continue the work he’s done.
Related
“Whatever the community can do to better the conditions for our children — because that's the most important thing to him was the children and the musicians, and to better the community as a whole,” Daisy added.
Rob Bernberg, Jesse Bermudez’s partner at Siempre Salsa Philly, hopes to continue his legacy by promoting the music and advocating for the interests of the community.
“We all know that we have a challenge in front of us, but we're joyful warriors,” Bernberg said. “Jesse taught us that you can be a fierce cultural warrior and be loved by everybody at the same time.”
CORRECTION: The article has been updated to reflect that Crystal Torres played trumpet in Beyoncé's band.