Music of the Americas: Early Music from Guatemala, Cellos, Guitar, and Electropop

Tuesday, June 8, 10 a.m.

More Tipa Tipo.

Friends of Music of the Americas know Adele Fournet from her video work on the online premiere of Joaquín Orellana's Efluvios y puntos, which we launched in January.

But she is an artist of multiple talents, and today we share the first of a series of videos of her electropop duo Tipa Tipo, a project that mixes the spirit of 1970s soft rock with a modern analog production style. Fournet is in charge of vocals, keyboards, and production, while Peruvian musician Felipe Wurst, her husband and musical partner, shares on vocals and production and also plays guitars. The duo met in Lima and are currently based in Brooklyn. This week we share "Morir bailando," recorded in their bedroom in Brooklyn (note Fournet's art on the wall behind Wurst).

Wednesday, June 9, 10 a.m.

Kristal Rojas is currently studying at Hunter College with João Luiz. She was part of our Showcase earlier this season.

This week, we feature her version of "Ponteio e toccatina," written by Lina Pires de Campos in 1978. Pires de Campos was a composer and pianist born into a family of string instrument makers in São Paulo in 1918 who wrote mainly for the guitar and the piano and worked as assistant to famous pianist Magda Tagliaferro for decades.

Thursday, June 10, 7 p.m.

Argentine early music specialists Jonatan Alvarado and Ariel Abramovich (who appeared in our series a few seasons ago) explore a beautiful, mysterious musical manuscript compiled in northwest Guatemala in the late sixteenth century. This program explores the repertoire through a dialogue with contemporary European collections, including the famous Cancionero de Upsala and the tablature collections by Pierre Attaignant, with special emphasis on pieces that are exclusive to the Guatemalan books. 

Watch here.

This is the last GEMAS concert of the season. GEMAS is a project of Americas Society and Gotham Early Music Scene dedicated to early music and musicians from Latin America, Canada, and the Caribbean, curated by Nell Snaidas and Sebastian Zubieta.

Friday, June 11, 10 a.m.

Cello trio Flor Sur (Eugenia Menta, Ana Herrera, and Pablo Doliñski) is back with Jorge Martínez's version of Osvaldo Pugliese's groundbreaking "Negracha" which, when it was released in 1948, seemed to foretell the upcoming decades of tango evolution.

Flor Sur sent us two videos, and you can watch "Siesta en Pirané" here. 

The MetLife Foundation Music of the Americas concert series is made possible by the generous support of Presenting Sponsor MetLife Foundation.

The Spring 2021 Music program is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Additional support for the Young Guitarists Showcase comes from The Augustine Foundation.