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

Bruskin and life in the Soviet Union - English and Russian

Title

Bruskin and life in the Soviet Union - English and Russian

Runtime

3:58

Views

91

Title

Why the MediaSuite? - English and Russian

Runtime

7:22

Views

41

Title

Suenos de Chambi - English and Spanish

Runtime

10:04

Views

44

Title

Arguedas and Canciones Andinas - English and Spanish

Runtime

6:02

Views

40

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?

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 2-Diablicos Puneños

Sueños 3-Responsario Lauramarqueño

Sueños 4- P'asña March

Sueños 5 - Harawi de Chambi

Sueños 6 - Marinera

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

JOE’S PUB

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

MINI ARTS FESTIVAL AT JOE’S PUB