The Bristol 4th of July Committee recently announced the lineup of musical acts scheduled for the annual Concert Series from June 20 to July 2, and it features a wide variety of acts, from jazz to rock to tribute bands.

But for some members of the community, a glaring omission became apparent among the lineup — ethnicnally diverse musical acts. Specifically, Portuguese music.

Luis Neves, a resident of East Providence who was born in Lisbon to Azorean parents. Neves enjoys a successful career performing Fado music as well as popular covers in both English and Portuguese.

Disappointed to not see Neves in this year’s lineup, local resident Crystal Pacheco, who is Portuguese by marriage and part Irish by birth, commented as much on the 4th of July Committee’s Facebook page.

She was shocked to find her comments as well as others in support of her position, were soon removed.

“The immigrant communities in this town — Irish, Italian, Portuguese — all had to deal with countless hardships growing up and in their adult life, taunting, name-calling, bias, and discrimination. I thought Bristol had moved past this,” Pacheco said. “By removing posts the Committee is demonstrating that this community will not be heard.”

According to Pacheco, the effort to include Portuguese music in the Series began years back with Tony Avila, an Azorean native and longtime resident of Bristol. Avila is a travel and immigration service provider who leads tours to Portugal. He also served on the July 4th Committee from 2014-16.

“I thought with Bristol having such a large Portuguese population it would be nice to have Portuguese music, but every time I mentioned it I was told that people would look into it, but it didn’t happen,” said Avila.

Until last year, that is, when a current member of the Committee expressed interest, and with Avila’s help, Neves was added to the line up.

“It was really nice — there was an Irish band before — they called it ethnic night,” said Avila.

Pacheco agrees, the show was a tremendous success. “We set up chairs early…my whole family, Tony Avila and his family, many of our friends, and a group of folks from Bristol that we had all traveled to the Azores together in September of 2021. They rocked! There were dozens of people up in front of the stage dancing all night,” said Pacheco.

“I was sure that Luis had paved the way for Portuguese music to be included in the lineup every year. We were all very proud.”

So when this year’s lineup was released, Pacheco was disappointed by what she saw. “I was shocked to see not only no Portuguese, but no Irish, no Italian, nothing that represents the cultural makeup of the population of Bristol,” she said. “So, I commented that it was sad to see no Luis Neves and no ethnic music at the concerts.” In addition to Pacheco and Avila, others commented, liked and commented on the posts.

“The next morning, I awoke to find all of our posts gone. Deleted. Why?” said Pacheco.

Chairman confirms deletion of posts
“I deleted them, I confess,” said 4th of July General Chairman Chuck MacDonough. “We want positivity on our social media; I did delete some comments I thought were inappropriate.”

A country and western fan exclusively, MacDonough says that he leaves decisions about music up to others, but says that ethnic diversity has never been a focus for Series organizers. “We try to be diverse in genre, but haven’t considered ethnicity,” he said. While noting that the lineup features many different musical styles, money is another consideration. “It’s a difficult balance, but it all comes down to money.”

Avila, he said, arranged the sponsorship for Neves last year. “The concerts are free to the community, but the budget is a lot, and it’s funded by bingo, macaroni suppers, and sponsors. The stage alone is over 50k. It’s a difficult job, and we do the best we can.

“It’s about finding balance, it’s not against any group.”

Pacheco was disappointed to have not received any communication from the Committee following the deletion of the posts. “We all commented about our posts being deleted, but we never got an answer or a reason why,” she said. “Let the people know you’ve seen and heard them. Give them a voice.”

“Why, in a celebration of America in the town with the oldest celebration, a town of immigrants who added such a richness to the culture, would you not want to celebrate that?”

“It’s sad,” said Avila. “We could do Italian music too. I don’t have anything bad to say about the music they are having but it would be nice to have this variety, this representation. The Committee works very hard and does a wonderful job, but they do get a stipend for the celebration so it would be nice to not forget about such a great number of taxpayers.”

“They proved the strength of their resilience through their work ethic and their faith, their commitment to family and their love of culture, all while mastering the language and becoming as Red, White and Blue as each and every one of us,” said Pacheco.

Included in the musical lineup announced is the 88th Army Band, the East Bay Wind Ensemble, Sentimental Fools, Keats and Company, Colby James and the Ramblers, 7-Day Weekend, Kate & the Mongrels, Loose Screws, Changes in Latitude, Gerry Grimo & East Bay Jazz, Eric Bloom Band, Patterson Smith Trio, Merchants of Cool, Alex Jackson, Bullet Proof, Rusty, DMB Project, Jon Tyler, Downcity Band, Back in the Dav, The Liz Spencer Group, and David Clark's All-About Joel.