,
Celebrate life and move your hips to music from New Orleans to Brazil during Carnaval in Albuquerque this year. On March 1, the National Hispanic Cultural Center’s Albuquerque Journal Theatre (1701 Fourth St. SW) will be transformed into an unforgettable masquerade during Carnaval 2025: Veinte Anos. The party will feature live performances from prolific Albuquerque percussionist and music teacher Frank Leto with his band PANdemonium and, of course, lots of dancing from the Odara Dance Ensemble. And as the title suggests, this is Leto’s 20th year fronting the global musical event.
“We take the audience to four different Carnaval locations,” Leto says. “Brazil, where, of course, they celebrate using Samba; Trinidad and Tobago where they play pans, steel drums and calypso music; Cuba, where the Comparsa or the Congo rhythm is the Carnaval music; and also New Orleans. The audience gets a chance to not only hear different musical styles and rhythms, but see the costumes and original choreographies.”
Similar to Mardi Gras, Carnaval is an elaborate and often raucous festival that immediately precedes the season of Lent — a 40 day pre-Easter period of prayer and fasting for Catholics. But Carnaval 2025 will also be a celebration of Leto’s late wife Pilar’s legacy. He invites everyone to hit the dance floor in her honor.
“Even though we will have the Odara dancers performing on stage during several pieces, we want the audience to celebrate and have a good time as well,” Leto says. “This Carnaval is dedicated to my wife who passed away last year.”
Last Year Mayor Keller proclaimed Feb. 18 Pilar Leto Day. Pilar was the founder, artistic director, choreographer, producer, teacher and performer with Albuquerque’s Odara Dance Ensemble, with whom she worked for over 30 years. She also served as an administrator at Montessori Schools, brought music education to countless children by participating in workshops and presentations with her husband Frank, and literally danced across the world. Frank asks everyone in Albuquerque to take a moment to dance today and say out loud, “This is for you, Pilar.”
Frank says he “wears a lot of hats throughout the day.” He plays Brazilian percussion, Afro-Cuban percussion, Trinidadian Steel Drums and sings for PANdemonium, a band that blends musical styles like reggae, ska, soca, calypso, samba, salsa and zouk. He’s also taught at Montessori schools in Albuquerque and Corrales for 52 years, taught overseas in countries as far as China, and his books have been translated into Vietnamese and Korean.
“Every year I come up with some new songs or new arrangements or for old ones, and that’s only because of the NHCC,” he says. “I probably would never have written most of these songs if I didn’t have the opportunity to perform them for people. If you’re a songwriter the most important thing is you want people to hear your music. I’ve been lucky. It’s been a beautiful life that I’ve had so far.”
For tickets click here, visit nhccnm.org or call the box office at 505-724-4711.
Carnaval 2025: Veinte Anos
March 1, 7:30 p.m.
National Hispanic Cultural Center Albuquerque Journal Theatre
1701 Fourth St. SW
$28