The project
The chance brought us together in Spain - Galicia - A Coruña.
Having performed in many opera houses, concert halls, festivals and renowned artistic meetings, especially in Germany, and in recent years also in Spain, Carmen Durán,
lyric spinto soprano, a prizewinning singer of solid technical and musical training, and the author of these lines, decided some time ago to look for new fields of artistic
activity ... therefore we got in touch with the well-known jazz pianist and composer Alberto Conde, a distinguished professor at the Conservatory of Music of A Coruña.
We were welcomed with open arms, great spontaneity, enthusiasm and huge disposal to immediately begin organizing a musical project together. Our primary purpose
was, for obvious reasons related to our personal taste and previous experience with the warm reception by the public and critics, especially in Germany, to explore the
rich field of Brazilian music, if possible with a modern jazz approach, other than the classic style we were accustomed.
Program
Xangô (H. Villa-Lobos)
Ritual “macumba” chant, nagô invocation of one of the most popular and
powerful orixás of Candomblé and other African cult variants in Brazil:
Xangô, lord of storms, thunder and lightning, lord of fire.
The rhythmic force of the melody on a Yoruba text of onomatopoeic cha-
racter serves to accentuate the conjuring effect of the voice, accompanied
by the vigorous suitable pace.
Arrangement of a singing melody, presenting the 'a Cappella' theme for solo
voice with the tabla to then introduce the piano and the bass in a single evo-
cative arc. Introduction to development with a period of ostinato style re-
peating with variations the main theme cell till the beginning of the piano
solo with a pronounced Afro-character. Re-exposure of the theme under jazz aesthetic to the final with chromatic ascending key retaking the plot produced
by the ostinato.
Xangô! Olê gondilê olalá, gon-gon-gon-gon-gondilá.
Xangô! Olê gondilê olelê, gon-gon-gon-gon-gondilê.
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Why Villa-Lobos? And why this project here and now?
Heitor Villa-Lobos, born in 1887 (March 5) in Rio de Janeiro, left a rich multifaceted work in all its aspects and genres deserving for sure the attention of any musician, player or singer, arranger or composer, interested in the vast possibilities of creative performing his songs, melodies, variations and musical forms.
Our work is intended to be an international tribute to the great figure of the most emblematic Brazilian composer of the XX century, joining the worldwide musical homages to celebrate the 125th anniversary of his birth.
So we’ve chosen some of his most significant compositions, arranged for jazz trio
and soprano, with four original pieces inspired by his motives or musical cells remembering Villa-Lobos’ creative zeal in his explorations of national folklore and
folk melodies, with texts in Portuguese (by a Brazilian author), written especially for this project.