Los Maestros de la Música cuentan: Recent Episodes
Dynasty Reconnect
Luna Monti Maria Soledad Lucas, known artistically as Luna Monti, is a singer of immense talent, with a wonderful voice and enormous charisma. Her mother was born in the province of San Luis. She moved to Buenos Aires at 19 and married a young widower with four children shortly thereafter.
This mother was a fantastic non-professional singer who dedicated herself to raising her seven children. She sang songs of her homeland, like Cuecas, Tonadas, and Gatos Cuyanos, while cooking or cleaning, at gatherings, and during informal jam sessions at her home.
Her sixth daughter, Maria Soledad, or Luna Monti was born on August 24, 1976, in Ciudad Evita, in Greater Buenos Aires. She learned to sing and play the guitar with her Cuban mother and tango-playing father.
I first met Luna at the age of 35 at her house in Ciudad Evita in January 2011 when I interviewed her husband Juan Quintero, an extraordinary composer, guitarist, and singer.
Luna and Juan met in 1999 through Raul Carnota, who produced Luna's first album when she was 23. Since then, Luna and Juan performed as a duo and developed a highly innovative repertoire. Among other collaborative works, they recorded a beautiful compact disc called "El matecito de las siete."
In 2012, WDR radio in Cologne, Germany, for which I was then working, invited Juan and Luna for a concert tour in Germany, where I met and accompanied them again, along with their little daughter Violeta. Vocal workshops Recently, I finally saw Luna Monti again at her home in Buenos Aires. Luna had experienced many changes in these ten years: separation from her husband Juan Quintero, the pandemic, and Luna's need to step away from the stage as a singer. Instead, she devoted herself with great enthusiasm to vocal workshops and choral direction.
In our conversation, Luna told me about her beginnings, how she would accompany her mother and younger sister on the guitar while they washed dishes. She spoke of the informal gatherings and jam sessions when young Luna did not want to go to sleep because she loved listening to great singers and musician friends like Alfredo Abalos and Argentino Luna, who came to play at her house. She shared how she was supported by singer-songwriter, guitarist, and composer Raúl Carnota, an emblematic figure of Argentine folklore, who encouraged her to continue developing her own style and repertoire with Juan Quintero.
Pepe Torres - La Guitarra de oro del PeruI visited José Arturo Torres Ventocilla, known as 'Pepe Torres,' at his guitar school in a neighborhood of Lima on a Friday morning. Since Pepe was already giving a lesson to a student, I waited in the entrance hall and looked at the photos hanging on the wall.All of them spoke of his tremendous success since the 1970s and his numerous tours around the world.Pepe Torres, the ambassador of Peruvian criollo music, was born on September 2, 1941. He was born in the town of Gorgor, which belongs to the province of Cajatambo, Lima.The successful musician, composer, and guitar master showed his passion for the guitar from a very young age, as he listened to his father playing huayno melodies. Later, he fell in love with the guitar of Alejandro Rodríguez from the group "Los Embajadores Criollos."From then on, his world revolved around the guitar.He built his first instrument from a box of manjar blanco (a sweet treat). Added matchstick frets, and four fishing strings, and it made sound. At the age of 13, he stepped on a stage for the first time. At 15, his sister gave him a real guitar, and at 16, Pepe recorded his first album.At the age of 20, Pepe Torres was hired by the IEMPSA label to accompany famous singers such as Tania Libertad, Los Morochucos, and Los Embajadores Criollos, along with the marvelous guitarist Oscar Aviles, in recording sessions.Peru FoclóricoStarting in 1973, he traveled the world with his group "Perú Folclórico" to promote Peruvian musical culture through indigenous dances, songs, and instrumental music.From 1985 onwards, he produced folk music programs on Peruvian television and radio stations.Pepe Torres also composed, arranged, and recorded countless songs. He was a guitar teacher throughout his life. Even at 82 years old, his days are filled with all these activities.Listen for yourselves to what this great tireless and passionate guitarist told me about his rich life.
Rosa GuzmánDear listeners of our podcast series, The Masters of Music Speak, welcome! A few weeks ago, I traveled through Peru to learn about the musical culture of this wonderful country, nestled between the beautiful Pacific coast and the impressive Andes mountain range.Today, I present to you my encounter with the extraordinary Afro-Peruvian singer Rosa Guzmán. More information about her and the transcript of the interview can be found on our website. And please, write to us if you have any questions or suggestions about our podcasts.BarrancoI visited Rosa Guzmán at her home in the Barranco neighborhood of Lima, accompanied by the Quechua singer Consuelo Jeri. I will introduce you to this singer in the next podcast.Rosa offered us a glass of Pisco. And since it was still very cold on this September day in 2022, I eagerly accepted. We became very cheerful thanks to this delicious national drink of Peru. But above all, because Rosa has a great sense of humor:"I was born in Barranco. Guess my age. I'll just say that I'm older than Eva Ayllón. I have five albums and Despertar is the latest production I've made. I'm on my way to record my next album. "The Ministry of Culture gave me a recognition a few years ago as a 'Meritorious Personality of Peruvian Culture.' Even though my dad didn't want me to sing, I would say thank you for everything he has taught me.And he would say to me, 'You didn't listen to me, but you're doing well.' My ex-husband didn't want me to sing either. I had to separate to be able to sing. And I have dedicated 21 years to this art. My mother told me that the only inheritance she would leave me is education, which would help me become someone."This is how Rosa Guzmán presented herself in an interview with the Peruvian newspaper Peru21.Paco de LuciaRosa told me how, in her childhood, musicians would gather at her father's house, a guitarist and composer, to eat beans and play together. And she talked to me about the Peruvian origins of the Cajon and how Paco de Lucia discovered it at a concert by the legendary Carlos Caitro and then integrated it into flamenco.Listen for yourself to everything that Rosa Guzmán, this fascinating singer of Creole and Afro-Peruvian music, told me at her home in Barranco!Buy the full transcript in the shop Video de Rosa Guzmán
Susana BacaA few months ago, I traveled through Peru to learn about the musical culture of this magnificent country shaped by the impressive Andes mountain ranges.I had the great honor of meeting an extraordinary woman, with an enormous aura, who immediately conquered me completely: the Afro-Peruvian singer, composer and ethno musicologist Susana Esther Baca de la Colina.Susana Baca was born on May 24, 1944 in Lima and grew up in the Chorrillos district. Her father was a guitarist, her mother a dancer, and her cousins Ronaldo Campos and Caitro Soto had founded the famous ensemble „Perú Negro“.Susanas were a role model. And they convinced her to dedicate her life to music and her Afro-Peruvian roots.Another pivotal event that defined Susana Baca's life was her meeting with the famous Peruvian singer-songwriter Chabuca Granda. She hired Susana as her secretary and the two became friends. After Chabuca's death, Susana continued the passion of her friend and her role model: researching and preserving the music of her homeland.For eleven years, Susana and her husband, the sociologist Ricardo Pereira, investigated testimonies from the Afro-Peruvian population, descendants of black slaves, who live on the Peruvian coast. In 1992 Susana and Ricardo published all these documents in the book "Del Fuego y del Agua".Three years later, they founded a cultural center called "Instituto Negrocontinuo" in San Luis de Cañete, a small coastal town south of Lima, to keep Afro-Peruvian culture alive.David ByrneIn 1995, Susana Baca became famous when David Byrne invited her to record her song "Maria Landò" for her label "Luaka Pop" on the album "El Alma del Perú Negro".Since then, Susana Baca has won several Latin Grammys and has worked with such important musicians and singers as Mercedes Sosa, María Rita, Totó La Momposina, Gilberto Gil and many more.Despite her musical successes, Susana never stopped fighting for her Peruvian homeland in other areas as well. In 2007, she was named "ambassador of SOS Children's Villages".In July 2011, the then Peruvian President, Ollanta Humalo Tasso, appointed Susana Baca Minister of Culture, a position she held until the end of 2011.From 2011-2013 she was chosen by the OAS, an organization of American states, to chair the Inter-American Commission on Culture.When I had the privilege of interviewing Susana Baca at her home in Lima, in September 2022, she had just returned with her group from an important tour of Argentina and Chile.At that time, we had no idea that the social and political situation in Peru would reach such a point that the country is currently, unfortunately, on the brink of civil war.Very openly and with great kindness Susana Baca answered all my questions and she told me about her life and her rich experiences!Women as fighters like her give hope!Hear for yourselves everything this inspiring singer, songwriter, ethnomusicologist and so much more told me!
Pedro RodriguezPedro Rodriguez was born in Arequipa, in southern Peru, at the foot of the Misti, Chachani and Pichu Pichu volcanoes. He grew up in a very musical family. At first, Pedro was mainly interested in classical music. As a teenager, he discovered the Andean music of the Altiplano.Especially during Carnival and the Candelaria Festival, the indigenous population, descendants of the Incas and Aymaras, celebrate these festivities with exuberance and lots of music.The siku, a kind of pan flute, the quena and the charango are the traditional instruments that are played in all the towns around Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, up to Cuzco and Machu Pichu, in each town with your own variations.Pedro studied the classical guitar, the siku, the quena and the charango from his youth. With his brother Jaime, he founded the Conjunto Queñal to preserve these forgotten musical traditions and compose Andean music.Music for Symphony orchestras - Pedro RodriguezPedro also composes for symphony orchestras, chamber music, voice, electronic and film music ensembles. He is a visionary and has many different musical projects.For example, he wants to perform 10 different works in TonaliAndes around the music of his land and associate it with the Pythagoras theorem. Pedro told me that each TonaliAndes work corresponds to a color, a perfume and an object for a tactile experience.The first Compact of this musical series is called Lapislazuli. It is ultramarine blue in color and goes along with a lapis lazuli stone and a perfume fragrance. For this Compact Pedro was inspired by the overwhelming beauty of Lake Titicaca, located at an altitude of 4,000 meters.The new Compact "Morada Mistica", which comes out at the end of 2022, revolves around three important composers from his hometown Arequipa. That is why it is purple and yellow, which Pedro associates with the colors of the sunset in Arequipa..But Pedro has many more projects, which I discovered in the patio of my beautiful hotel, near the famous monastery of Santa Catalina. He has so many musical ideas that our very interesting conversation lasted over an hour and I split it into 2 episodes of our podcast series.Listen for yourselves to this inspiring talk with talented musician and composer Pedro Rodríguez Chirinos on a beautiful spring afternoon in Arequipa.Download the complete transcriptionWebsite Pedro Rodriguez Chirinos
Ariel Ramirez TANGO Y NOTICIAS, RADIO NACIONAL, Entrevistador: Felipe Yofre, “Me permite”
Ariel Ramírez (September 4, 1921 – February 18, 2010) was an Argentine composer, pianist, and music director. He was considered "a maximum exponent of Argentine folk music" and was noted for his "iconic" musical compositions.
Ariel Ramírez is known mainly for his Misa Criolla (1964) and for the song 'Alfonsina y el mar. He allowed her to travel throughout Europe and Latin America to build his reputation. However, he wrote more than 300 compositions during his career and sold millions of albums.
Mercedes Sosa was born in San Miguel de Tucumán on July 9, 1935, in a humble home. From those years comes her attachment to popular artistic expressions. Just out of her teens, she liked to dance and taught folk dances. She also sang.
In October 1950, when she was fifteen years old, pushed by the enthusiasm of a group of inseparable friends, she decided to participate in a radio contest organized in Tucumán. Hidden behind the pseudonym of Gladys Osorio, her incipient quality as a singer made her triumph in a contest whose prize was a contract for two months of acting at the station. It was the beginning…
A decade later, when there was a kind of explosion around folk music, merely consumerist, the name of Mercedes Sosa was already committed to popular singing as a member of the Movement of the New Songbook, a renovating trend of folklore, emerged in the province of Mendoza, which proposed to put aside passing fashions, to put the accent on the daily life of the Argentine man, with his joys and sorrows.
Among the founding artists and promoters of this movement were Armando Tejada Gómez, Manuel Oscar Matus and Tito Francia.
Her artistic and personal skills surprised an audience accustomed to something else. Together with her husband, Manuel Oscar Matus, she did concerts at the University. Other scenarios are beginning to receive them encouragingly. Matus released the first album by Mercedes Sosa on an independent label: “Canciones con fundacion”.
Because of this option, the singer had to work for several years before achieving recognition like the one she received at the Cosquín National Folklore Festival in 1965, when, thanks to the generosity of singer Jorge Cafrune, the entire country was able to discover to this wonderful Argentine singer and it was the occasion that marked the birth of the great popular artist that she always deserved to be.
After her, it was her undeniable conditions that allowed her to become the great figure that everyone applauds today. Also in 1965 he took part in the recording of «Romance de la muerte de Juan Lavalle», by Ernesto Sábato and Eduardo Falú, singing «Palomita del valle» .
In March 1966, “I don’t sing for the sake of singing”, was released, with a dozen songs that are now anthologies, among which were “Indian landslide song” “Song for my America”, “Chayita del vidalero”, “The flooded”, ;“Zamba para no muerte”, “Tonada de Manuel Rodríguez” and “Zamba al zafrero”. Such was the acceptance of this album, that just seven months later, in October, she was invited to record another one that appeared with the title “Hermano” .
At the end of 1967, “La Negra” made known “To sing to my people”,, a album that accumulated an important flow of Argentine and Latin American poetry.
In April of that same year, she had captivated the European and United States public with successful performances in Miami, Lisbon, Porto, Rome, Warsaw, Leningrad, Kislovo, Sochi, Gagri, Baku and Tbilisi.
During that tour she met Ariel Ramírez who immediately suggested that she be the voice of “Mujeres Argentinas”, a job that would only materialize in 1969, after the appearance of “Zamba para no muerte”, a compilation with the most important songs recorded up to that moment, and “With flavor of Mercedes Sosa”, in which he recorded for the first time < em>“To the garden of the Republic”.
When they proposed to record “Argentine Women”, the country was living under the weight of a military regime and Mercedes, like many Argentines, suffered the consequences: their songs could not be broadcast on Radio Nacional, the government station.
In 1970 she participated in the film «The Saint of the Sword», by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson and released two important albums in his career: «The cry of the earth» and «Christmas with Mercedes Sosa». During this period he recorded, among others, «Canción con todos» and “When I have the land”, by Ariel Petrocelli and Daniel Toro and the beautiful “Juanito Laguna’s Christmas”, by Cuchi Leguizamón and Manuel J. Castilla.
In 1971, “The voice of Mercedes Sosa” and “Homenaje a Violeta Parra” appeared, an album that brings together almost a dozen songs of the great protagonist of the Chilean Popular Song. That year he also participated in & nbsp; “Güemes ” & nbsp; (The land in arms) , a film directed by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson. In a brief but significant role, she played the Alto-Peruvian heroine Juana Azurduy.
In 1972, “Hasta la victoria” was released, an album full of songs loaded with social and political content. Those were times when a few composers and also singers such as Mercedes Sosa did not remain oblivious to the commitment and militancy with which they wanted to collaborate to achieve a more just and equitable world. Also in that year she lent her voice to the & nbsp; “Cantata Sudamericana” , with music by Ariel Ramírez and lyrics by Félix Luna.
Today I present to you the pianist, arranger and composer Lilian Saba. I interviewed her in her beautiful home in January 2009. In the middle of the living room was a huge grand piano, which Lilian played for me over and over again during our conversation.
Lilian Saba was born on September 28, 1961 about 400 km from Buenos Aires in the town of Adolfo Gonzales Chaves and grew up in Benito Juárez. She there she learned to play the piano. In the corner of her house there was a peña El sombrerito where she was able to listen to Eduardo Falu, Ariel Ramirez, Eduardo Lagos and Horacio Salgan who at that time came to tour the towns of the Province Lilian transferred everything she heard to the piano and to Guitar. And she and her friends danced folklore.
The priest Osvaldo Catena, author of the lyrics of the Misa Criolla by Ariel Ramírez, convinced her to dedicate herself to music. So she moved to Buenos Aires at a very young age and studied at the Carlos Lopez Buchardo National Music Conservatory and at the National Dance School. She also took private composition classes with the pianist Manolo Juárez.
Lilian Saba has played folklore and jazz in various formations, such as in a Tribute to Bill Evans with guitarist Quique Sinesi, percussionist Facundo Guevara and double bassist Horacio Hurtado in 2015. In November 2015, she received the National Fund for the arts.
In our conversation, Lilian Saba told me about her idols Gustavo Cuchi Leguizamon, Manolo Juarez and Eduardo Lagos and showed me at the piano why these composers are so different and so modern within traditional folklore. Lilian is very excited that today's youth is so interested in the rich Argentine folklore to the point of preferring it to national rock. And how her training in Argentine folklore dances gives a special touch to her compositions.