Olé Music Festival kicks off the spring

Students enjoy free live music in the Valley parking lot

ABIGAIL CAVIZO / ASST. A&C EDITOR / THE USD VISTA

SPENCER BISPHAM / ASST. NEWS EDITOR / THE USD VISTA

The Olé Music Festival, held each spring semester, made its in-person debut for the first time since 2019 and it did not disappoint. The crowd was packed and the music echoed all throughout the Valley. Leading up to the long-awaited event, the Torero Program Board (TPB) released different Instagram posts and stories, giving teasers about the details of the Olé Music Festival. Many students arrived early to snatch a front row spot. The first 350 students to enter the venue also received free, limited edition bucket hats. Members of the USD community lined up to enter before the gates opened, eventually filling the entire Valley B parking lot which was where the stage was located. The lot was filled to the brim with excitement to bask in the performances of student openers keni can fly and his band, “the wings,” opener Carmen DeLeon, and headliner Aminé. 

USD sophomore and Vice Chair of TPB Elizabeth Albizati was the lead coordinator for the concert committee in planning the Olé Music Festival. They have been planning the event since December 2021. 

“Planning this event has been such a fun journey and the TPB team have all been so supportive,” Albizati said. “I’m looking forward to seeing all the smiles on the students’ faces as it all comes together, especially for the performers; I know everyone’s been really looking forward to that.”

Similar to Albizati, TPB Marketing Manager Marco Jimenez waited to relish the night.

“It’s honestly so fulfilling to see everything come together and so validating to see all of our hard work come together,” Jimenez said. “On the marketing side, finding fun and creative ways to get the students engaged was super fun.”

To open up the night, student performers keni can fly and the wings covered songs such as “Loving Is Easy” by Rex Orange County. They also performed some of their original songs, such as “idk eplitive but colors” and “life – saba.”

Dawson (@soundbydawson), an audio engineer who worked with Kanye West, Jack Harlow, and others, also worked on one of the songs keni performed during the set.

“I mixed Keni’s next project that he has coming out, ‘mr. wednesday,’” Dawson said. “He’s a really dope artist. He told me he was opening for Aminé and I thought that was really dope. I’m just out here to show support.”

Their performance received a lot of crowd participation, complete with keni can fly crowd surfing at the end of their set. 

The student performers have performed in front of live audiences before, but the Olé Festival was special because it was for the USD community, and also because they opened for Aminé. 

“It was really cool to see all my friends out there and I’m honestly a little speechless,” Keni expressed. “Since he dropped his first album in 2017, Aminé has been one of my favorite artists, so I don’t know if there’s a better artist to open for honestly.”

Following the student opener, up-and-coming Venezuelan artist Carmen Deleon took to the stage before Aminé. Even if the crowd didn’t know all her songs, she won them over with her charisma, sound, and relatability to everyone, at only 20 years old.

Isabela Zerpa, mother of Carmen Deleon, was beaming with pride throughout Carmen’s whole performance, front and center. 

“It’s incredible because we didn’t know what to expect because the crowd doesn’t speak Spanish, but everyone could feel her when she got up there. She’s just starting, but the best thing she does is when she stands [on stage] and gives the people what she has: her voice and her energy,” Zerpa said. “People were so happy, telling me backstage, ‘You’re the mom, congratulations!’ And I was facetiming her father the whole time.”

A majority of the audience was most looking forward to Aminé, including USD sophomore Cameron Traylor.

“Front row at the concert was insane,” Traylor said. “Shoutout to TPB for putting together such a great show, [I] can’t wait to see who they bring out next year.”

USD sophomore Sacheen Tipnis was enthusiastic about Aminé’s performance – so much so that he “spammed” his Snapchat story.

“I was recording all my favorite songs,” Tipnis explained. “It just ended up being a lot more favorites than expected.”

Altogether, Olé Music Festival 2022 fostered an amazing space for music with very talented performers and students’ enjoyment.