Album Description
It's no longer a secret among lovers and early music that the repertoire of 17th century Latin-American music holds real treasures. The colonisation of large parts of the Americas by the Roman Catholic countries of Europe had inevitably brought the sacred and devotional music of the church to the ethnic population of these areas. As these sounds became absorbed into the culture, the resulting music incorporated a heady concoction of the sacred, the secular, and the pagan spirit.
The music is fascinating because apparently incompatible elements such as dances, women, God and the Virgin Mary were brought together. Borders between the culture of the common people and the noble, between the clerical and secular world were overstepped. Pictures of love and devotion as well as feasts and worship come to mind whilst listening to this Hispanic-American Baroque music.
The Colombian ensemble MÚSÍCA FÍCTA are renowned for their interpretation and performance of the vocal and instrumental music of Latin-America during this time, and have here gathered together some of the most beguiling examples of this art in this fascinating collection.
Personnel:
Musica Ficta, Jairo Serrano - (tenor, percussion), Julian Navarro - (baroque guitar, vihuela de mano), Carlos Serrano - (recorders, shawm, pipe and tabor), Elisabeth Wright - (harpsichord)