ABOUT

In the CD Voice of the People Peruvian-American composer Gabriela Lena Frank integrates indigenous music of the descendants of the former Inca Empire into 2 works for Violin, Soprano and Piano. Dmitri Shostakovich’s Violin Sonata depicts his lifetime navigation of the minefield of politics and art in the former Soviet Union.

Suenos de Chambi are 7 musical illustrations of photographs taken by Peruvian Indian Martin Chambi, who with his Rembrandt-like qualities has captured the image and spirit of the traditions and culture of the indigenous peoples of the Andes at the turn of the 20th Century. The composer herself is descended from Peruvian Indian ancestry through her mother.

Cuatro Canciones Andinas, are settings of 4 poems by Peruvian Indian writer José Maria Arguedas, arguedas a proponent of mestizajé (mixed race culture). Writing in both the Quechua language and Spanish, the language of the dominant rulers, the songs are sung in Spanish.

The third work on our CD, the only Violin Sonata by the great Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, shotsakovich was written in honor of Violinist David Oistrakh’s 60th birthday. Shostakovich writes a musical “life history” of their terrifying navigation through the mine-fields of Soviet life under Stalin and other Soviet dictators. It was the second-to-last composition of his life.

Both composers capture in their music the universal human qualities of life, love and loss: they take us into the depths of human emotions.

VIDEO

4 mini documentaries tell the story of the music – it’s background, history, and cultural setting

• Suenos de Chambi – 7 parts – Composer Gabriela Lena Frank gives a musical tour of her composition and the life work of photographer Martín Chambi

• Cuatro Canciones Andinas – 4 parts – Composer Gabriela Lena Frank gives a musical tour of her composition and the life work of poet and author José Maria Arguedas

• Two sculptures created as “archaelological icons” – by Russian artist Grisha Bruskin.  Story by Alice Nakhimovsky.

• Artistic Director Shem Guibbory shares his personal musical journey with the music of Gabriela Frank and Dmitri Shostakovich, and we see an overview of the Sueños de Chambi and Cuatro Canciones Andinas videos

View at Vimeo or at You Tube

Why?

Introduction: the 21st Century Media Suite Voice of the People

Innovative Music Programs seeks to create transformational experiences for communities and audiences world-wide, through Music and Art. We believe that Music facilitates the healing of the Human Heart, that with laughter, beauty and delight it can empower us to transcend and transform suffering.

We at Innovative Music Programs are producing separate video mini-documentaries and art film elements that provide multiple access points to the rich traditions, stories, and inspiration behind the music in Voice of the People. The film and video projects are engaging, inter-generational, and informational. In addition to celebrating the strength of the music itself, artists involved in creating the CD are interviewed, the history of the material is discussed, and a visual interpretation of the composition is developed through short narrative film.

Two CDs comprise the centerpieces for the MediaSuite: Voice of the People, and our next CD – scheduled for release in 2012 -  Evolution.  In Voice of the People the music takes the listener into the depths of human suffering and shows the potential for transcendence of that suffering; in Evolution transformation is achieved, bringing all into the light of the Sun.

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

CD, Video and Film – a 21st Century Media Suite available at MSRCD.COM or wherever CD’s are sold.  Music of Gabriela Lena Frank and Dmitri Shostakovich – performed by Shem Guibbory, Susanna Eyton-Jones,  Sonia Rubinsky, Craig Ketter and Elizaveta Kopelman

Film/Video directed by Pearl Gluck

Bill McGlaughlin, Music Host, with special guests Oscar Stagnaro, Marco Granados, Sean Harkness, Rex Benincasa, MaxZT, Alice Nakhimovsky and sculptures of Grisha Bruskin

AUDIO & PHOTOS

All photographs ©Martín Chambi, All Rights Reserved.  Photographs displayed with the gracious permission of the Arkivo Fotografico Martín Chambi, Téo Chambi, Director

Sueños 4- P'asña March

All photographs ©Martín Chambi, All Rights Reserved.  Photographs displayed with the gracious permission of the Arkivo Fotografico Martín Chambi, Téo Chambi, Director

FILM

Short Films in development

Film #1 – Music: Cuatro Canciones Andinas – - The Peruvian Mestizo character in Arguedas’ poetry comes to life as a “woman of the wild,” inspired by Leni Riefenstahl’s Junta in The Blue Light (Germany, 1937). In our film, as she becomes profoundly aware of her father’s imminent death, Junta performs the Arguedas poem in spoken word (English) and takes the audience on her own dark journey.

Film #2 – Music: Piano music of Dmitri Shostakovich, J.S. Bach and others – - Artistic treatment of the the life of legendary Soviet pianist Maria Yudina, born Jewish, & later converting to Russian Orthodox, kept an enthralled Stalin under her “spell” because he believed her to posses supernatural powers.

Film #3  - Music: TBA – - Scenes from Grisha Bruskin‘s   Past Imperfect – 318 Episodes from the Life of a Russian Artist

REVIEWS

Contested Terrain, read full review here

FANFARE Magazine March/April 2011 [click for whole review]: ”These performances are extraordinary…Violinist Shem Guibbory’s tone is arresting from note 1. His intonation is exemplary, and his rhythmic acuity brings all the flavors of Gabriela Lena Frank’s Sueños de Chambi…to the fore. His performance of the Shostakovich is on the same level as that of Oistrakh himself, and of Yuri Bashmet’s recording of Shostakovich’s Viola Sonata…

I found the sound of this CD exceptional… Few CDs, however, have the warmth and detail of this offering. Reading its [liner] notes, I realized that it was produced by Shem Guibbory. What a revelation! A CD actually produced by a musician and not a run-of-the-mill record producer.

…Frank Daykin eloquently sets forth the underlying agenda of this release, titled Voice of the People, in his liner notes. He posits that humanity, universally, desires to live in societies that provide a modicum of security and well-being…that totalitarian regimes have always feared the power of artists of all disciplines in communicating, on a host of levels, the aspirations of the people at large…”

Below is  a Recent Review of Voice of the People from the Art of Noise
“This beautiful collection of music is like a horn of plenty out of which flows an endless stream of vivid, fresh beauty. Vibrant, nutrient-dense (? I can’t think of a better phrase right now), musically enrapturing.

More Reviews:

At first glance, Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich and young American composer Gabriela Lena Frank appear to have little in common. Shostakovich’s Soviet-era portraits are a world away from Frank’s depictions of Peruvian indigenous culture. But violinist Shem Guibbory thinks the two are a perfect match……  Read the rest of the City Arts Review of Festival here.

Not long ago, violinist Shem Guibbory introduced me to a recording which he produced through his project, Innovative Music Programs, Inc.Read the rest of the Lynn Horton Review here.

One of NYC’s Hidden Treasures: Free Concerts at Lincoln Center:
Last night (March 3, 2011) we discovered one of New York’s hidden treasures: free concerts (and other events) @ Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium.

The star of the evening was a wonderful violinist, Shem Guibbory, who played two solo pieces, Grazyna Bacewicz’ Solo Sonata #2 and Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonata in g minor, BWV 1001. Not surprisingly, the Bach was a thousand times better than the Bacewicz.

The other two pieces were duets. And the supporting players were every bit equal to Guibbory. The first for violin and percussion, Slowly She Turns by Douglas J. Cuomo, opened the evening. It included an absolutely brilliant percussionist, Rex V. Benincasa, and in some ways was the evening’s highlight. All the performers were wonderful but I loved Benincasa. What he did with percussion was unbelievable.

JOE’S PUB

Many thanks to all who attended and participated in our release event!!

MINI ARTS FESTIVAL AT JOE’S PUB