A Tour of Hispanic Music
Oswaldo Zapata, trumpet
Kasandra Keeling, piano
Michael Acevedo, Carlos Castañeda, Jeff Castle, guest trumpets
Isaac Bustos and Alejandro Montiel, guest guitars
Mariachi Los Paisanos
Three Pieces from El Amor Brujo
I. El Amor Brujo
II. Canción del Amor Dolido
III. Canción del Fuego Fatuo
Quizás, Quizás, Quizás
Manuel De Falla (1876-1946)
Fabiolita Williams Panchi Culqui (1964- )
Osvaldo Farrés (1902-1985) arr. Oswaldo Zapata
Por Una Cabeza Carlos Gardel (1890-1935) arr. Oswaldo Zapata and Kasandra Keeling
Jeff Castle, trumpet
Porro from Suite Colombiana No. 2
Issac Bustos and Alejandro Montiel, guitar
Intermission
El Niño Perdido
La Bikina
Bésame Mucho
Nereidas
Gentil Montaña (1942-2011) arr. Oswaldo Zapata
Wenceslao Moreno (unknown) arr. Jeff Nevin
Rubén Fuentes (1926-2022) trans Jesus “Chuy” Guzman
Consuelo Velázquez (1916-2005) arr. Jesus “Chuy” Guzman, trans. Oswaldo Zapata
Amador Pérez Torres Dimas (1902-1976) arr. Jeff Nevin
Mariachi Los Paisanos
Michael Acevedo and Carlos Castañeda, trumpet
Violins:
Harmony Grace Skinner
Monica Carlos Malachi Landin
Taytum Rangel
Andre Alvarado
Cynthia Elias Nunez
Mariachi Los Paisanos
Michael Acevedo, Director
Trumpets: Michael Acevedo
Xavier Contreras
Guitarron: Joaquin Robles
Vihuela: Alexander Garcia
Guitar: Rogelio Diaz
Three Pieces from El Amor Brujo
Manuel de Falla was one of the most successful Spanish composers of the twentieth century. Many great pieces of music are easily transferred to the trumpet, and several of de Falla’s works are wonderful examples of this. This recital presents three selected pieces from the ballet El Amor Brujo, De Falla’s work about a love-struck gypsy woman who loves a man who inconsistently returns her affection. El Amor Brujo, the first movement, was originally the opening of the ballet, and the lines here for muted trumpet were often performed with oboe or played by the oboe alone. The other two movements are transcriptions of songs in the ballet about the fickleness of love.
Fabiolita
Fabiolita was awarded the first prize in the Luis Alberto Valencia contest in 1990. This contest was organized by the municipal district of Quito, Ecuador. Its original version for flute and piano was a dedication to his beloved wife. Fabiolita is a “Sanjuanito” (Ecuadorian genre) in 2/4 time. The piece is written in a short sonata-like form. The introduction takes elements from the main theme with different harmonies and tempo. The exposition presents the main theme in A minor followed by a transitional bridge that addresses the second theme in D minor. The development presents a new theme, highlighted by pentatonic elements and various modulations. Finally, after the recapitulation, the piece concludes with a Coda section.
Quizás, Quizás, Quizás
Sometimes known simply as “Quizás” (“Perhaps”), this popular song was written by Cuban songwriter Osvaldo Farrés. Farrés wrote the music and original Spanish lyrics for the song. Numerous artists have performed and recorded their own versions of the song in different languages, but it was Bobby Capó who made it a hit in 1947. The English version (“Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps”) was translated by Joe Davis from the original Spanish version, and it was first recorded by Desi Arnaz in 1948 (RCA). The story is about a man wondering if the flirting of his girlfriend while dancing with an unknown man will have impact on their relationship: “Who knows?”
Por Una Cabeza
Por Una Cabeza is a tango written in 1935 with music by Carlos Gardel and lyrics by Alfredo Le Pera. The name is a Spanish horse-racing phrase meaning “by a head,” which refers to a horse winning (or losing) a race narrowly – by just the length of its head. The lyrics speak of a compulsive horse-track gambler who compares his addiction for racing with his attraction to women. Alfredo Le Pera was born in Brazil, the son of Italian immigrants. Le Pera and Gardel died in an airplane crash in Medellín, Colombia on Monday, June 24, 1935. Por Una Cabeza is featured in a famous tango scene in Martin Brest's film Scent of a Woman (1992), in the opening scene of Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (1993), and in James Cameron's True Lies (1994).
Porro from Suite Colombiana No. 2
Julio Gentil Albarracín Montaña was a well-known South American guitar player and composer from Ibagué, Colombia. His Suite Colombian No 2 is the most popular of his five suites for guitar, and it was published in 2000. This composition opened the door to Colombian rhythms in academic music with guitar, not only in Colombia but also in other countries. Due to its nationalistic aesthetics, this work incorporates traditional elements from Colombian rhythms (including the bambuco, pasillo, porro, vals, and guabina) in more formal structures like the suite or the concerto. Porro is a rhythm that originated in the Caribbean region of Colombia and derives from the cumbia.
El Niño Perdido
El Niño Perdido (“The Lost Child”) is a popular song composed by Wenceslao Moreno, and it was inspired by an event that occurred in the town of Agua Caliente de Gárate in Sinaloa, Mexico. According to the story, the town management traditionally hired music bands to celebrate important events. One of these events was a wedding that took place in La Loma de los Novios, a hill where bands used to perform to announce their arrival. As the band started to perform, the mischievous child of one of the musicians disappeared. When the father and his colleagues realized that the child was missing, the party was interrupted, and an intense search began. After a long, unsuccessful search, one of the town inhabitants suggested for the band to climb to the top of the hill to perform so the lost child would return on his own by following the music. The band started to play with the sad call of the trumpet calling for the child, and it did not stop until he came back. In the modern performance of the piece, both trumpets represent the father and son, who are far apart and get closer until they meet again (one of the trumpets begins off-stage and slowly approaches the other). Then the cheerful accompaniment of the band represents happiness after finding the lost child.
La Bikina
La Bikina is a Mexican song composed by Rubén Fuentes in 1964. There are different versions of the origins of the song and the meaning of the word “bikina.” One version indicates that Fuentes composed it after a walk on the beach, where his son told him that the women wearing bikinis should be called “bikinas.” Another story, told by Fuentes, states that he first composed the instrumental version and gave it to Juan García Esquivel, who called it “The Beginning.” Later, that title in English was deformed until it became “La Bikina.” The song has been recorded by many artists, including Lucha Villa, María de Lourdes, La Gran Orquesta de Paul Mauriat, Alberto Vázquez, Luis Miguel, Celia Cruz, Juan Torres, Chayito Valdez, Gualberto Ibarreto, Yanni, Ray Conniff, Julio Iglesias (in French, under the name "L'existence se danse"), Karol Sevilla (for the film Coco), among others.
Bésame Mucho
Bésame Mucho (“Kiss Me A Lot”) is a bolero written in 1932 by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez. It was one of the most popular songs of the 20th century and one of the most important songs in the history of Latin music. It was recognized in 1999 as the most recorded and covered song in Spanish of all time. Famous versions were sung by Trio Los Panchos and female vocalist Gigliola Cinquetti in 1968, and by Dalida in 1976. English lyrics to it were written by Sunny Skylar. According to Velázquez, she wrote this song even though she had noet been kissed yet at the time, and kissing, as she heard, was considered a sin. She was inspired by the piano piece Quejas, o la Maja y el Ruiseñor, from the 1911 suite Goyescas by Spanish composer Enrique Granados, which he later also included as “Aria of the Nightingale” in his 1916 opera of the same name.
Nereidas
Nereidas is a danzón (native Cuban dance of African origin) composed in 1932 by the Oaxacan director and composer Amador Pérez Torres Dimas. It is one of the most popular danzones in Mexico. Daniel Sidney, the owner of the famous California Dancing Club, a dance hall in Mexico City, commissioned Pérez to create this piece of music for the upcoming inauguration of the Nereidas cabaret. The name “Nereidas” alludes to the nymphs of the Mediterranean Sea, the Nereids.