Música at the World Music Festival

From September 24 to 30^th, venues city-wide will resound to international melodies and rhythms brought to Chicago courtesy of the World Music Festival. Be sure to check out as much it as you can! Here´s the skinny on música of particular relevance to Arte y Vida Chicago readers:

♪ The llanos or plains of eastern Colombia and western Venezuela have bred a beautiful music known as joropo. In addition to lightning-fast percussive dancing, there´s singing (often about the “cowboy” life, as  this region is famous for its horsemanship and cattle-breeding) accompanied by the harp, the cuatro (a four- stringed instrument) and intricate maraca-playing. The musicians of Cimarrón excel in all of these arts, and their performances are a shimmering, vibrant experience.

♪ The talented ensemble of Los Angelinos named for the patron saint of music, La Santa Cecilia, fuse many a Latino rhythm including cumbia, bossa nova, rumba, boleros and tango. Their tunes also reference the influences they admire: Miles Davis, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Argentinean folk-singer Mercedes Sosa and norteño legend Ramon Ayala, and all together take the audience on a musical paseo through Latin America, with a touch of jazz and rock thrown in for good measure!

♪ Years ago during Franco´s dictatorship in Spain, the musical instrument txalaparta was forbidden in an attempt to quelch the independent Basque culture. The art of playing this wood or stone percussion instrument was almost lost. Today, masterfully played by the duo of Orexa TX, the txalaparta has traveled round the world, and in concerts they are often accompanied in their hypnotic, almost experimental creations by international musicians who have recorded with them, including African and Mongolian artists.

♪ Mexican singer song-writer and accordionist Rana Santacruz, now based in Brooklyn, crafts beautiful Gabriel Garcia Marques-esque tales, which he then frames in textured pieces that reference folk musicians such as The Pogues, as well as a wide variety of traditional Mexican genres (from soulful rancheras to the genteel waltzes and polkas that the French left behind during their brief reign of Mexico). Music made for delightful entrancement!

♪ DJ Toy Selectah from Monterrey, Nueve León, Mexico has taken clubs world-round by storm with super-danceable mixes that incorporate a wide variety of mexicano soundscapes in the context of contemporary urban rhythms. On the same bill, all the way from Cordoba, Argentina, the duo Frikstailers (whose name comes from their radical, freaky take on “free-styling”) create sonic landscapes that start from an electronic platform and land in wildly tropical grooves.

♪The renowned virtuoso percussion quartet from Mexico, Tambuco, founded in 1993, that has been nominated for the Grammy three times, took their name from a 1964 piece by the distinguished Mexican composer Carlos Chavez. They create music played on African and Afrocuban drums, marimbas, pieces of wood and even river stones that moves the classical into ethnic and avante garde realms.

♪ Known as el “Duque de la Bachata”, Dominican Joan Soriano´s roots bachata is considerably more driving and compelling than the strains normally heard in clubs. Nevertheless, Soriano´s music is definitely also made for dancing, as it emerges from his steel-string guitar shaded by the rhythms of palo and gaga, the Afro-dominican sacred traditions that he practices.

♪ The irresistible sound of former member (and founder) of “Los de Abajo”, Mexican Liber Terán, incorporates all of what he himself says he is: a norteño rock-and-roller, as well as a crooner/folk-singer with punk and Balkan influences. His latest CD, “Tambora Sound System”, takes advantage of the natural kinship between horns from different parts of the world in a surprisingly successful mix of banda from Sinaloa with Balkan beats.

♪ The twelve-piece orchestra La Excelencia, one of New Yorks´ premiere salsa ensembles, will bring their salsa dura which overflows with horns and percussion to tell their tales of the barrio. This is music for dancers with a conscience – their lyrics frequently address real social topics. As an example, one of their songs from their last CD “Mi Tumbao Social”, eloquently expresses its disenchantment with the “American Sueño”.