Manuel Ponce

This season's offering of Momentos Musicales on KPAC 88.3 FM takes the idea of growing the Great American Songbook into the Great Americas Songbook through songs and melodies from Central and South America that influenced composers in America and elsewhere.

Dr. David Bowles, fluent in Nahuatl, speaks of the numerous variants of the language. The focus is on music with titles in Nahuatl, by Carlos Chávez and Silvestre Revueltas. Dr. Bowles introduces us to Nezahualcóyotl, a poet, musician, philosopher and architect.

If there's one thing to be learned about classical music from Latin America, it's that there's much more there than one might imagine, especially if we…