Hispanic Flavor Productions was created in 2007 with the goal to enhance the Hispanic culture and the traditions in the Greater New Orleans area by creating diverse events such as Latin jazz performances, classical music concerts, Latin Nights, art exhibits, and music festivals among other events. It is also the creator and producer of “Que Pasa New Orleans,” a local entertainment show, which debuted in 2010 and “Que Pasa” bilingual newspaper, which debuted in 2017.
Javier Olondo – Executive Director – Que Pasa TV (00:08) I started to Que Pasa New Orleans TV show because I felt like there was a need to showcase our culture, our music here in the area in the New Orleans area and also in Louisiana.
JO (00:34) So we’ve been able to combine this show with other different things like a festival, we do an annual festival, where we showcase all the Latino culture that is present here in our area. This is the Que Pasa Fest.
Brenda Melara – Editor – Que Pasa Newspaper (01:03) My main role right now as editor of Que Pasa newspaper that is now five years old is, to put together a bilingual newspaper focusing on arts, culture and entertainment that complements our TV show that has been on the air for 12 seasons now. Mainly, I like to focus on things that are relevant to the Latino community but also things that are happening in the non-Spanish speaking community so our community can learn about what’s happening and kind of assimilate and bring together both cultures. The paper is bilingual, so you can read everything in Spanish or in English or in both languages if you wish, and it’s very popular in our household because as many of you may not know, we have multi-generations in Latino households that also are bilingual, or monolingual, sometimes.
JO (01:55) So Que Pasa is like a brand. It has a newspaper. It has a TV show. It has also the festival and some theme nights that we also call Que Pasa nights.
BM (02:05) So Hispanic Player Productions, which is the producer of the Que Pasa brand, we five years ago, started a Latin night here at the iconic Rock ‘n’ Bowl in mid-city, New Orleans, and tonight it’s Javier Olondo playing some Cuban classics, playing salsa, merengue, bachata, just for you. Music is so important to our culture, our Latino culture is all about happiness, dance, music, just kind of passing on that energy, and so it’s very important that we maintain our roots and our music and what a great place to do that here in New Orleans.
JO (02:43)For us it’s very important to to be part of this incredible community, that’s the community of Louisiana. This is now our home, and we feel that the Latino community now has a place in the culture of Louisiana.
