Zorzal Music Ensemble presents a program of Latin American folk, Baroque, and contemporary music on Saturday, April 14, at 7 p.m. at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in West Windsor. Free-will offerings will be accepted.
Zorzal features a vocal quintet, recorders, guitar, harpsichord, violin, violoncello, and Latin American, Middle Eastern, and African percussion. Originally established in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the ensemble now features Kate Chen, Megan Helvering, and Doug Helvering of West Windsor; Minju Lee of Princeton, Momo Kusaka and Bob Ramos of North Brunswick, Janet Walker of New Brunswick, and Jina Choi of Ridgewood.
The vocal and instrumental program draws on a mix of African, Native American, Sephardic, and European styles. The songs express a range of emotions focusing on faith, peace, sorrow, and love.
“The concert will feature colonial period songs that celebrate cross-cultural influences,” says artistic director Lynn Gumert of Hightstown. “The influences go both ways — Spanish composers drew on African and Native American rhythms, while indigenous composers incorporated European four-part harmony.”
The ensemble presents the world premiere of “Desert Song” composed by Gumert and recently awarded honorable mention in the eighth Alienor International Harpsichord competition. The piece draws on Middle Eastern scales and rhythms as well as on contemporary harmonies.
Zorzal will perform several jubilant negritos — Spanish-style songs in African dialect — that celebrate Christ’s birth through the vibrant rhythms of New World dances. Other songs from the Sephardic oral tradition show the sharing that took place in Spain among Jewish, Arab, and European styles.
The concert will also feature songs from the New Song movement, which developed as part of social and political activism in Latin America beginning in the 1960s. “These songs allow us to explore the continuity in musical styles heard in Latin American music through the ages, as well as the evolution of a social awakening among popular artists in Latin America during the late 20th century,” says Carlos Fernandez, an ethnomusicoloigst and guitarist from Hightstown.
Cross Cultural Journeys, Zorzal Music Ensemble, Princeton of Peace Church, 177 Princeton-Hightstown Road, West Windsor. Saturday, April 14, 7 p.m. Free-will donation. 609-490-0196.
