Patricia Vergara’s journey to Merced wasn’t the typical path most take to get here.
Her musical odyssey began in her hometown of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, where by age 17 she was a professional musician. She came to the U.S. to pursue music at the Berklee College of Music, and has traveled across nations and continents, playing everything from classical to jazz and rock.
Vergara went on to earn a doctorate in ethnomusicology from University of Maryland, College Park. Today, she works as an assistant professor of music at UC Merced. Aside from a life in academia, Vergara continues to perform publicly as a musician.
She plays locally, too, with bands such as Rumba 32 and G Street Revolution – a group composed of UC Merced faculty.
Now, Vergara is reaching new sonic and musical horizons. She curated “Soundscapes of Merced” – a new exhibit set to premiere May 14 at the Merced County Courthouse Museum.
The exhibit is a collection of stories, oral histories, interviews and environmental sound recordings that serve as an audio postcard of Merced County, plus photos and other important archival materials.
The exhibit will debut with an opening program 6 p.m. Thursday, May 14 at the Courthouse Museum, located at 21st and N streets in Merced. It runs until Nov. 30. Admission to the program is free.
In an interview with The Merced FOCUS, Vergara discussed her journey to Merced and the new exhibit. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Merced FOCUS: Tell me a bit about yourself. And how long have you been in Merced?
Patricia Vergara: “I’ve been in Merced for eight years, and I came from Washington D.C. I lived in D.C. for several years as a full-time musician. Then, I did my graduate studies.
But I had a career as a full-time musician for decades. I have been a professional musician since I was 17, back in Brazil, and I came to the U.S. to go to Berklee College of Music in Boston. I was already playing professionally in Brazil, and my plan was to go back right away. I ended up staying in the U.S. for much longer.
Moving to Merced, the first thing I wanted to do when I moved here was to get out and meet the musicians on campus. And I wanted to (know), ‘Where’s folks I can play with?’ And I did that, and that was great, because that has been a way for me to get out of, you know, not being only in the university circles, but from the start, getting to meet folks in town and playing.”
Merced FOCUS: You’ve played gigs all over the world. What made you decide to put down roots in Merced?
Patricia Vergara: “I had the fortune to be offered a job (at UC Merced) as an assistant professor in the Global Arts Studies Program. And for me, (being at UC Merced) was very attractive because my program, when I joined, was only one or two years old.
I was excited about the place being so close to Yosemite. I love hiking. I love nature. Being so close to everything, right? Merced is two hours away from anything and everything. You have the ocean, you have the mountains, you have San Francisco. You’re not that far from LA…
I love Merced. Sometimes I don’t understand why so many people say, ‘Oh, there’s nothing in Merced.’ You know, I don’t believe that. I think there’s so much. All the communities, all the diversity that you have in Merced, it blew my mind, really.”
Merced FOCUS: Speaking of UC Merced, you’ve been quite busy. Tell me about Soundscapes of Merced.
Patricia Vergara: “It’s a project pretty much based on oral histories that I started collecting a few years back. It’s been, oh gosh, almost four years, five years that I started collecting oral histories and mostly focused on people’s experience of sound and music.
We know a place by seeing it, like if you have a postcard of Merced. Immediately you think, ‘Oh, the Merced Theatre.’ That’s iconic, right? But how about the sounds? What would be the sonic postcard of Merced? And if you ask that, everybody would agree, the train.
So when you talk about the train, the sound of the train, it’s something that brings everybody together. But then, everybody will have a different memory that the sound of the train brings, or a different anecdote, or a different experience.
That’s how the project began, because I actually had people tell me things like that. When I started, the project was mostly about music.
The idea was to do an oral history of music in Merced, going back as much as I could. But then, people started talking about other sounds, and then I expanded the scope to include the sounds. The train is one example, right? Then you have, of course, the B-52s (at Castle Air Force Base). People have all kinds of memories and experiences (throughout the) years, right, when the B-52s were very present here.
There are people who (were) children, and they talk about how their world changed when that sound came about, and other people (who talk about) the day that sound stopped, it was very sudden. They realized it had been so much a part of their existence.
What I try to do with the project is contextualize that with historical events and facts. So it’s a history project, in a way, but (with) personal stories with music and sound. And of course, there are a lot of stories of the musicians of this town from different eras.”
Merced FOCUS: How does the Merced Courthouse Museum fit into this project?
Patricia Vergara: “So all these oral histories are going to be in this (University of California) archive (called Calisphere), and we are also curating an exhibit. So out of this huge amount of data and interviews and artifacts, people have photographs that go along with their stories of their grandparents.
We are curating part of this archive to turn it into an exhibit (locally) that’s going to be hosted by the Courthouse Museum.”
Merced FOCUS: Based on your research, what’s your take on Merced’s music scene?
Patricia Vergara: “You know, it was a discovery, really, for me. There has always been a music scene here…
Some folks say, ‘Oh, but then there’s nothing anymore, because kids are on their screens and on their phones. Nobody’s making music.’ It’s not true. You know, there are all these bands in the high schools right now, and they get together and play.
They have concerts that happen in folks’ garages, driveways, and they are out there. So it’s exciting.
… Maybe some people might think I’m overly optimistic, but I’m a musician myself, and I’ve played in Europe, I’ve played all over Latin America. I’ve played on the East Coast. So Merced excites me. I think it’s a great coming together of people. It’s music done because people want to make music.”
Merced FOCUS: Tell me about the C-VIBE project
Patricia Vergara: “C-VIBE stands for Community Voices Inspiring a Better Environment. This is part of a much larger project that I’m part of, together with colleagues from other UC campuses.
This is a research project mostly on arts and climate action. That’s how the project began. We get together to write songs collectively that address social justice issues – because climate justice is not independent from other kinds of social justice issues.
You know, usually the people who are most impacted by the climate crisis are folks that are already disenfranchised.
I’m really hoping to attract high schoolers, you know, folks, undergrads, because there’s so much anxiety. You know, people are under anxiety about what’s going to happen. What’s happening to us? What’s happening to our planet? What is going to happen in the future?
People start talking about how they’re feeling, and we try to turn that into creating songs.
The goal is to have a body of songs and record an album. So it’s called “Songs for Change.” We might change the title a little bit, and the authors of the songs are all of us, whoever is there on that day.
We’re also collecting local stories of folks that have been impacted by the climate crisis. And we’re also turning these local stories into songs.
And we’re also creating videos. We’re creating musical videos that will go along with these stories. The idea is that we’re going to exhibit this.”
Merced FOCUS: What’s currently on your playlist?
Patricia Vergara: “Oh my goodness, I listen to so much stuff. Well, I’m listening to Rosalia, her latest album. I’m listening to a lot of classical guitar music. I love acoustic guitar, and I love the classical music repertoire. I’m listening to a lot of Leo Brouwer – a composer from Cuba.”
Merced FOCUS: And if you were on a desert island, and you could only bring one album to listen to, what would that be?
Patricia Vergara: “I think it would be Hermeto Pascoal…any of his albums would do. Hermeto Pascoal was someone that was music himself. He made music out of anything.
He would make music out of a bottle with water, like a tea kettle, you know, with water inside, and he would just make music with it, but like something that you would not want to stop listening to.
So he was so in tune with natural sounds. Some of his albums included pigs and chickens from his backyard, and he integrated the sounds that he recorded into musical compositions. And when I talk about musical compositions, this is someone that recorded with Miles Davis back in the day and other big names.”
Merced FOCUS: You’ve been in the music industry for a while. Is music still something that young people should pursue as a career?
Patricia Vergara: “Absolutely. If you need to make music, you need to make music. You know, don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. ‘Oh, don’t be a musician. You’re not gonna have any money…’ You know, I heard that when I was a child. That has always been the story. Everybody who wanted to be a musician has been told that.
You kind of have to make your own path. So first you need to be willing to do that. For me, being a woman instrumentalist… it wasn’t easy, but that’s what I really wanted to do, and I just kept doing it one day at a time.
Believe in your music, just make your music. You know, it’s different now, but it was never easy.”
WHAT: Soundscapes of Merced Exhibit at the Merced County Courthouse Museum, 21st and N streets in Merced.
WHEN: Opening ceremony Thursday, May 14, 6 p.m. (exhibit continues until Nov. 30)
DETAILS: Opening program includes live performances by Tou Long Xiongxaychou, Jesse Gonzales, and Pat Dahlstrom. Free admission.
COST: Admission is free