Contemporary Improvisation Department: Lost Voices

Rafael "Bullumba" Landestoy (arr. Miguel Landestoy) | Preludio en Fa menor

Preludio en Fa menorwas composed by Rafael "Bullumba" Landestoy and arranged by me, Miguel Landestoy.  Rafael Landestoy was a Dominican composer who wrote numerous songs in the pop genre in the 1950s and 60s. His songs have been performed by renowned Latin American artists such as Celia Cruz, Alberto Beltran, and Fernando Fernandez. Although he is known more for his popular writing, he was also a classically trained pianist—playing for the Lecuona Cuban Boys and writing many pieces for piano and guitar. Outside of the Dominican Republic and greater Latin America, few people know of his contributions to pop and classical music.
        Rafael and I share a last name but not blood; my father was adopted after the passing of his parents. While I was unable to meet Rafael before his passing, I have started to learn his music and bring my own influences as an Afro-Latino person who grew up in the US. This piece was the first I learned, not the most virtuosic but emblematic of his romantic writing and classical influences. In arranging this piece in a modern Jazz quartet context, I aim to bring light to his lesser-known classical music and my heritage while bringing the piece closer to myself and my experience.
– Miguel Landestoy

For more information:
https://www.manhattantimesnews.com/bullumbas-birthda

Miguel Landestoy, piano
Jun Hyuk Seo, percussion
Caleb Duval, double bass
Kelly Bray, trumpet

Germaine Tailleferre | La Rue Chagrin

Germaine Tailleferre composed this setting of La Rue Chagrin, by Denise Centore, in 1955-56.  Germaine Tailleferre was a French musician and the only female member of the notable group of composers, Les Six, of which Poulenc was also a member. A contemporary and friend of Ravel, she enjoyed a fair amount of success during her time yet is rarely performed nowadays, as her music was not published as widely as that of her male contemporaries. Through this performance we seek to bring her music the attention it deserves and hope to highlight the past and present unequal treatment of women in music.                                           

– Sarah Matsushima

Rihards Kolmanis | Range

Bjorn Fongaard (1919-1980) was an pioneer in contemporary composition in Norway and a creator of many prepared and microtonal guitar techniques. His world of sound has been an inspiration to me for years, but I realize that most people are not familiar with him. As a guitarist who is trying to explore a wide array of sonic possibilities on my instrument myself, Fongaard's work is awe - inspiring; even more inspiring is the way he utilizes all of his innovative techniques in such an organized and musical way. His work has provided a major incentive for me to pursue solo performance from the perspective of prepared guitar. The piece I am playing is my original composition, heavily influenced by the techniques and the sound world of Bjorn Fongaard.                                                                         – Rihards Kolmanis

Norman Carl Odam | Paralyzed

Paralyzed is by the Legendary Stardust Cowboy (Norman Carl Odam). Odam said that he wrote the song with the intention of “writing a wild song that will captivate everyone”. The piece was recorded in 1968, during producer (and, on this track, drummer) T-Bone Burnett’s spare time. The energy of the piece is the thing that grabbed me the most. It was written at a time when country music was almost going a bit soft, and this piece really put the “outlaw” back in country. The energy of the piece is almost punk in its sensibilities, but comes from a place of improvisation—whether the Cowboy was aware of it or not.     

-Caleb Duval    

Yiddish Folk Song | Oy, unter dem himl ligt di shtot Bunos-Ayres

In this Yiddish folk song, a woman tells the story of her abduction by the Zwi Migdal Society, an organization of Jewish gangsters who ran a sex trafficking ring, kidnap-ping women from their homes and bringing them to Buenos Aires. The Yiddish singer-songwriter and storyteller Harry (Solomon) Ary brought this song with him when he migrated from Bialystock, Poland to Montreal, where he recorded dozens and dozens of Yiddish songs on reel-to-reel tapes. We owe its preservation to the great collector of Yiddish folk songs, Ruth Rubin, who recorded it in 1955 after hearing Ary sing it. The song is a “lost voice” piece in so many ways. First of all, it is rarely sung and relatively unknown, even to Yiddish folklorists. Second, virtually no information exists about it, its origin, or its author. Third, it tells the unheard story of the many women who were abducted. In this sense, it also tells the story of the many voices that have disappeared, been stolen, or lost from the world forever and that we need to strive to recover: voices that are very much a part of our story.
– Kaia Berman Peters

Harold Arlen (arr. Eve Cassidy) | Over the Rainbow

There is much beauty to be found through reimagining. Eva Cassidy, a creative musician, clearly understood this and used her artistry to transform existing songs into new masterpieces. Starting from the first note, Eva crafted an original interpretation of the well-known song, Over the Rainbow.
        She honored the original melody and deviated from it in subtle, meaningful ways over an elegant guitar part. Her musical style was beautiful and undeniable—it made huge waves across the globe after she passed away.  During her years as an active musician, she was a hidden treasure.  The recordings of her music continue to inspire.  
        I chose to represent Eva Cassidy because she and her music have been such an inspiration to me as a singer and guitarist.                           
– Emily Mitchell

Emily Mitchell, voice and guitar

Macedonian Folk Song | Po Drum Odam Majce

Po Drum Odam Majce is a traditional Macedonian folk song from the Chalgija tradition.
        Chalgija is a form of urban folk music that originated in Macedonia during the period of Ottoman occupation and reached its peak popularity in the 1890s -1920s. The music is a hybrid of Macedonian and Turkish styles often featuring Macedonian folk songs played on Turkish instruments such as kanun and oud rather than the gajda (bagpipe) and kaval (end blown flute) typical of Macedonian folk ensembles. The music was historically associated with urban Roma (gypsy) communities—communities who are still marginalized to this day. 
        In the period following the breakup of the Ottoman empire, Chalgija became a relic of Turkish colonization and was gradually replaced by folk ensembles with a more “Westernized” instrumentation featuring accordion and violin.
        The blurring of national boundaries within Chalgija music shows a history of cultural cross-fertilization that today is often overshadowed by the ultra-nationalist politics in the region.                                                                               
– Gabriel Soileau

Iranian | Sortgar-e Naghash

Sortgar-e Naghash(The Portrait Painter) is an old piece where the composer and poet are both unknown. Some say that the work was written by Ali Akbar Sheida, but there is no exact evidence of that.
     The poem of the piece is about a lover who is talking to a painter and describing the face of his or her love.  Because of the political issues that Iran is facing in these past forty years, women, who have always been a huge part of artistic matters in Iranian culture, are not allowed to sing solo publicly. I want to dedicate this piece to all the Iranian female singers who are not allowed to perform and show others their art.
– Afarin Nazarijou

Astor Piazzolla | Balada para un loco

“There is no document of civilization that is not at the same time a document of barbarism.”                                    
– Walter Benjamin 

Balada para un loco was written by Astor Piazzolla in 1968. Although the lyrics for it are attributed to the Uruguayan poet Horacio Ferrer, a huge part of the text was edited and "styled" by Astor Piazzolla's wife, Amelita Baltar. This song was extremely controversial, due to its language and references. Followers and players of the time believed that Tango belonged in La Boca and other poor boroughs of the capital and thought that this piece was too bourgeois and didn’t represent the working-class values of the Tango community.
       The text was inspired by Philippe de Broca's film Le Roi de Cœur (King of Hearts), which portrays the story of a Scottish soldier who is sent to a small town in France to deactivate the bombs remaining from the First World War. During his odyssey he leaves the door to the mental health asylum open, allowing all of the patients to roam freely through town, eventually controlling it. The movie concludes with the question of whether the soldiers or the mental health patients are the “craziest ones". In this piece we see an individual who walks around the city during nighttime describing the mysteriously charming yet disturbing city of Buenos Aires. Although Amelita Baltar's input on this song and its performance is emblematic, she does not enjoy even half of the acknowledgement and appreciation that Astor Piazzolla and Horacio Ferrer have attained globally, and to this day many people are unaware of her contribution to Piazzolla's works.
        Amelita Baltar is a symbol of Argentinian music and of tango, and with this rendition of her song we hope we can shed light on all of her brave and essential work towards building a vital part of our history as a country.     

– Delfina Cheb Terrab

For more information: https://www.infobae.com/cultura/2019/02/17/amelita-baltar-y-los-50-anos-de-balada-para-un-loco-decian-que-era-un-tema-oligarcay-por-eso-nos-chiflaron-en-el-estreno/

Delfina Cheb Terrab, voice
Lucy Little, violin
Giulia Haible, cello
Miguel Landestoy, piano