Misa de Indios

From that moment on, the music and culture of America were renamed “pre” and “post” Colombian, forming a true cultural universe of immeasurable richness whose effervescent evolution continues to this day. Undoubtedly, one could say that American music in general, especially over the last two centuries and through popular genres such as jazz, tango, Brazilian music, salsa, Cuban and Venezuelan music, to name a few, has contributed (and continues to do so) generously to the universal musical heritage.
When Luis Rigou proposed me to perform Ariel Ramírez’s Misa Criolla, Galeano’s words and countless isolated words such as blood, conquest, honor, Jesuit, Indian, ambition, sword, barbarity, silence… came to mind. I hesitated to accept the proposal but Luis finally convinced me. The challenge was enormous. After almost a year of reflection and considering my inability to conceive an album without a “story” or “argument”, we divided the work into two parts: the Misa Criolla on one side and on the other, a series of pieces that represent a vast and varied journey through the history of the Andes Cordillera, on the vast Collao shared by Peru, Bolivia and Chile. From pre-Columbian melodies, through colonial popular music to finish with modern compositions inspired by Galeano’s lyrics. Thus, our “Indian Mass” travels a broad path from pre-Columbian cultures to the music of our time, focusing particularly on the rich religious syncretism of Latin America.