Music by Capilas, Padilla, Araujo & Fernandez
Church of St John the Baptist, Wellington Somerset TA21 8QY
19:00 - 21:00
£15, students £10, u12 free
Organiser: Blackdowns Early Music Projects / blackdownsearlymusic@gmail.com/01884 849172
Blackdowns Early Music Projects
Blackdowns Early Music Projects, directed by JanJoost van Elburg with a superb band will bring some of early Latin America's music to life on May 4th. The distinctive C17th baroque style in what is now Mexico and some of its neighbouring countries developed following the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the early 16th century leading to much interaction between Native Indians and the invaders, the outcomes being varied and not always beneficial to either party. The incomers were very quick to introduce their own culture and religion and in this regard, music offered a significant link. Many native cultures were centuries old and highly sophisticated, with well defined traditions particularly in ritual music. This was soon to be fused with the Catholic traditions of plainchant, then polyphony together with the playing and making of instruments. By the early seventeenth century immigrant Spanish priests like Padilla were composing in a very distinctive Baroque style which incorporated characteristic local syncopated rhythms, the familiarity of which drew the population into the Catholic faith. Criollo composers (born in South America of Spanish parentage) such as Capillas, a pupil of Padilla, began to export their music back to Europe where these rhythmic freedoms could be explored even further.