REAWAKENING VOICES Dossier 2023

I s a Cantaderas ’ project to share a forgotten repertoire with the community to which it always belonged.

I t intends to give these melodies back to the community to create a new soundscape with them.

T he core of the project is a workshop aimed at women from the region. It is a process that enriches the group of women as well as the ensemble Cantaderas , a shared path in which both parties find each themselves giving as much as receiving.

A t the sam e time an artistic residency offers rehearsals open to the public, in which Cantaderas works on the reconstruction and interpretation of the repertoire transmitted in the workshop.

T o demonstrate the result of these activities a final concert will be offered, in which the participants will be given the challenging opportunity to perform with Cantaderas . Three different activities undertaken in different places during the same days.

I t depend s upon the support of different local institutions ( cultural , social and educational ) to open their public spaces to the voices of the community.

This project has an intersectional character...

THE WORKSHOP

A cknowledging the voice as fundamental, and proceeding from the identity and individuality of every person, the workshop promises to transmit an early traditional repertoire without requiring previous musical training.

One of C antaderas ’ goals is to reestablish the role that female singing had a century ago, women being the essential communicators.

THE ARTISTIC RESIDENCY

In order for the public to feel included in the creative process, to understand the repertoire’s reconstruction and to discover their own oral heritage, Cantaderas offers open-door rehearsals with moderated sessions during the artistic residency.

To have a voice means to have power, to exist .

To gath er is to coexist

er to sing coexist .

To reappropriate these songs is to reappropriate our own voice .

To discover your own voice means to recognize yourself as a person.

sound is memory and without it we would not exist.

In the summer of 2023, Dando Voces played an important role at the edition of Voces de la Lengua 2023 , organized by Valle de la Lengua in La Rioja.

Eight women from the region attended the workshop in which Cantaderas transmitted pieces from two of the province’s most important songbooks.

C antaderas rehearsed during the day in Cine Doga (Nájera) and Ermita de Santa María de los Arcos (Tricio), which opened its doors to visitors wishing to attend the rehearsals.

They were two concert s with the program of ‘‘ Tejiendo las voces del tiempo’’ ( Weaving the voices of time ), were the participants joined Cantaderas on stage to Voces que cantan by Valle de la Lengua 2023 .

Fears and reticence about singing in concert slowly disappeared as the voices strengthened and the women felt part of a shared sound.

Dando Voces - Tricio, 2023 Dando Voces - Tricio, 2023

Has created a new community of women, who report:

I participated in the workshop DANDO VOCES with ensemble Cantaderas and I want to express my gratitude for these four great artists, who gave usthe gift of their good work over five days. It was an unforgettable experience.

Delia Bravo

It was a privilege to participate in the workshop DANDO VOCES with ensemble Cantaderas. We felt part of the group, thanks to their kindness, honesty and beauty. Not only through the simplicity of their presenting traditional and early repertoires and through the quality of their pedagogy which involved us and encouraged to the singing, but also through their deep generosity they enabled us to participate in the beauty they preserve, generate and share.

Eva M. Herranz

Dear Cantaderas, thank you for your words and for the nice memories they bring back. Thank you for creating a common space of trust, for recreating the magic that emerges when women listen to and inspire each other. Thanks for your beautiful and valuable work.

Carmen Lillo

More than recover a repertoire, it is to recover voices, it is to perform, it is about a power... a soundscape.

- Ana Arnaz, broadcaster at Diario del Alto Aragón (2022).

Having worked together for many years, Cantaderas gives voice to women curious to listen to themselves, shaping melodies that were sung and transmitted by our ancestors over generations, Reawakening voices.