Reed Whipple Center hosts group performing the traditional music of New Mexico

Roberto Martinez, the patriarch of three generations of musicians, brings his group Los Reyes de Albuquerque to the Reed Whipple Cultural Center Sunday for a concert.

The group has been committed to performing and preserving the traditional music of New Mexico for 45 years.

The band will perform at 3 p.m. in the main theater, 821 Las Vegas Blvd. North. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 on performance day. Call 229-6211 for more information.

In addition to band co-founders Ray Flores on trumpet and Martinez on rhythm guitar (viheula), the group includes Lorenzo Martinez (or Angela Perez) on violin, Stanley Gutierrez on melody guitar (requinto), Robert Martinez Jr. on guitar and Antonio Orduno on Mexican bass (guitarron).

The concert includes music that has been performed at wedding celebrations in New Mexico and southern Colorado for 450 years.

Los Reyes de Albuquerque has performed throughout the country at a variety of venues, including such prestigious events as the Smithsonian Institution's American Folk Life Festival, the Festival of the American West and at the Museum of American History.

The group has opened for Jose Feliciano, toured with the National Council for the Traditional Arts, appeared on television and radio programs and in movies, and recorded numerous albums.

In 2002 Martinez was inducted into the National Corridistas Hall of Fame, and in 2003 he and Lorenzo Martinez received the National Endowment for the Arts' National Fellowship Heritage Award.