Isra Alonso

Isra was barely 18 years old when he left his hometown of Mexico City for the first time to tour Europe. With the traditional Mexican music and dance group “Tonalli Ambar,” he visited Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Netherlands, and Belgium. In his suitcase, he carries string instruments (guitar, guitarrón, jarana, vihuela), wind instruments (saxophone, flute), and percussion instruments.

Isra was barely 18 years old when he left his hometown of Mexico City for the first time to tour Europe. With the traditional Mexican music and dance group “Tonalli Ambar,” he visited Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Netherlands, and Belgium. In his suitcase, he carries string instruments (guitar, guitarrón, jarana, vihuela), wind instruments (saxophone, flute), and percussion instruments.

In addition to playing and writing music, Isra also teaches traditional Mexican music, music theory, and singing. He founded several groups in Mexico: the street theater and music company Onírisonante (2008) and SonÓsfera (2015), a jazz fusion group that juggles different traditional Mexican music genres and with which he tours Argentina, Spain, and France. Once settled in Brussels, he formed the quartet 4Cascabel (flute, Mexican guitar, saxophone, and double bass), specializing in ‘Son Jarocho’.

Inspired by some artist friends from Brussels and the Marolles district, Isra began dreaming of a local version of the Mexican Day of the Dead festival. In 2018, they joined forces with Centre culturel Bruegel, MetX, and other local organizations for the first edition. Since then, every year at the beginning of November, a whole week of artistic workshops, exhibitions, and concerts has been organized in the neighborhood. There are also moments of reflection for all ages, preceding a festive parade on Saturday evening.

Led by the Tas d'Os collective, which Isra founded together with Célia Dessardo, Vital Schraenen, and sisters Sarah & Manon Brûlé, Día de Muertos has grown into a festival that brings together thousands of artists and residents of the Marolles district to celebrate death and life. Throughout the various editions, they also established branches in other Brussels municipalities and even in other cities, such as Ghent and Tournai in Belgium and Toulouse in France.

At the same time as setting up Día de Muertos, Isra also began playing with the Gnawa brass band Remork & Karkaba at MetX, where he met mâalem Driss Filali and percussionist Mohamed Saïd Akasri. Together with this duo and five other musicians, he founded Banda Quetzal in 2023, a refreshing cocktail of Mexican Son Jarocho, Moroccan Gnawa rhythms, and wind instruments.

In 2025, Isra began a two-year artistic residency at MetX. On the one hand, he wanted to develop a participatory project around Fandangos, a traditional Mexican form of celebration that often culminates in a jam session. On the other hand, he wanted to create a new professional production combining influences from Son Jarocho, European baroque music, and jazz.