Miguel-Angel Soria
Encyclopedia
Miguel-Angel Soria is a Chicano
community artist–activist from San Diego, California. He sometimes goes by the pen-name osokodiako. Raised a few blocks from Tijuana's Avenida Revolucion, he and his family eventually arrived on the U.S. side and settled in the San Ysidro–Nestor area of San Diego.
Soria was performing his poetry since the mid to late 1980s. He participated in the San Diego peace movement with the help of such groups as The Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD), and its Youth Activism Task Force (YATF). He penned work for journals such as The Non-Violent Actvist and a number of local zines. Miguel-Angel read poetry at punk shows and at peace rallies. He was later known as a strong part of the MEChA poetry circles. He read in a number of regional, state, and eventually national MEChA conferences. He was very active in the Straight-Edge punk movement and helped organize a number of Unity Benefit concerts where acts from a different musical genres would come together.
While a student at the University of San Diego
, he created an alternative poetry venue in the early 1990s to higlight the work of Xicana and Xicano artist, it was called "Noche de Atole". He always echoed the Xicana and Xicano activist of the first part of the Xicana/o movement in his belief that Xicana and Xicano poetry needed to pay tribute to its lineage. Thus, the use of the name atole. He invited many local theater, danza, music and poetry groups to the event. One highlight was the debut of a young poet then known to the world only for his journalism, Adolfo Guzman-Lopez. In addition to starting "Noche De Atole" he also proposed and founded "United Front" the University of San Diego's Multicultural student center.
Originally a participant in a poetry series called Taco Shop Poetry held at the Centro Cultural de la Raza
, he formed the core of the spoken word/performance group Taco Shop Poets
along with Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, Tomas Riley, and Adrian Arancibia
. Soria was the group's Artistic Director, organizing rehearsals and leading their weekly meetings. Soria was also a consistent part of the TSP's line-up. He also acted as Executive Producer of Chorizo TongueFire, the TSP's first CD. Soria was a founding member of Voz Alta, a San Diego Chicana/ Chicano art space.
Soria is currently involved in writing, directing and producing video projects such as KIOSKO!, a children's show he created (www.kioskomusic.com). He is also a member of Loko Artz Collective, a video production company based out of San Diego. (www.lokoartz.com)
Chicano
The terms "Chicano" and "Chicana" are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, those terms have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly among Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's...
community artist–activist from San Diego, California. He sometimes goes by the pen-name osokodiako. Raised a few blocks from Tijuana's Avenida Revolucion, he and his family eventually arrived on the U.S. side and settled in the San Ysidro–Nestor area of San Diego.
Soria was performing his poetry since the mid to late 1980s. He participated in the San Diego peace movement with the help of such groups as The Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD), and its Youth Activism Task Force (YATF). He penned work for journals such as The Non-Violent Actvist and a number of local zines. Miguel-Angel read poetry at punk shows and at peace rallies. He was later known as a strong part of the MEChA poetry circles. He read in a number of regional, state, and eventually national MEChA conferences. He was very active in the Straight-Edge punk movement and helped organize a number of Unity Benefit concerts where acts from a different musical genres would come together.
While a student at the University of San Diego
University of San Diego
The University of San Diego is a Roman Catholic university in San Diego, California. USD offers more than sixty bachelor's, master’s, and doctoral programs...
, he created an alternative poetry venue in the early 1990s to higlight the work of Xicana and Xicano artist, it was called "Noche de Atole". He always echoed the Xicana and Xicano activist of the first part of the Xicana/o movement in his belief that Xicana and Xicano poetry needed to pay tribute to its lineage. Thus, the use of the name atole. He invited many local theater, danza, music and poetry groups to the event. One highlight was the debut of a young poet then known to the world only for his journalism, Adolfo Guzman-Lopez. In addition to starting "Noche De Atole" he also proposed and founded "United Front" the University of San Diego's Multicultural student center.
Originally a participant in a poetry series called Taco Shop Poetry held at the Centro Cultural de la Raza
Centro Cultural de la Raza
The Centro Cultural de la Raza is a non-profit organization with the specific mission to create, preserve, promote and educate about Chicano, Mexicano, Indigenous and Latino art and culture...
, he formed the core of the spoken word/performance group Taco Shop Poets
Taco Shop Poets
Taco Shop Poets is the name of a poetry and spoken word collective formed in 1994 at a Poetry Series, Taco Shop Poetry',' hosted by Adolfo Guzman-Lopez at the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park, San Diego. It grew to a collective of over 30 poets, band members and performance artists based...
along with Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, Tomas Riley, and Adrian Arancibia
Adrian Arancibia
Adrián Arancibia is a poet, writer, educator and, along with Adolfo Guzman-Lopez and Miguel-Angel Soria, a founding veteran of the seminal Chicano spoken-word collective the Taco Shop Poets....
. Soria was the group's Artistic Director, organizing rehearsals and leading their weekly meetings. Soria was also a consistent part of the TSP's line-up. He also acted as Executive Producer of Chorizo TongueFire, the TSP's first CD. Soria was a founding member of Voz Alta, a San Diego Chicana/ Chicano art space.
Soria is currently involved in writing, directing and producing video projects such as KIOSKO!, a children's show he created (www.kioskomusic.com). He is also a member of Loko Artz Collective, a video production company based out of San Diego. (www.lokoartz.com)
External links
- An interview at UCSB featuring the Taco Shop Poets (Includes Migual-Angel Soria): http://www.uctv.ucsb.edu/more/voices/m3815arancibia.html