Vox Suavis
VOX SUAVIS - Ana Arnaz: song and percussion - Tobie Miller: hurdy gurdy and flutes - Baptiste Romain: fiddle and bagpipes Locus amoenus With this programme, the group Vox Suavis sets off on a journey back to centuries in which the Iberian Peninsula was a crossroads for paths coming from different cultures. During the Middle Ages the Peninsula became a landscape prone to confrontation, but also to contagion, exchange and cross-breeding. This age, characterised by its great linguistic and cultural plurality, cannot however be integrated into a common single universe. Even so, there is an important feature that links the cultural differences in the art of the troubadour, in the music of oral tradition on the Peninsula. This modal system is what opens up the door for Vox Suavis to the vast repertoire of traditional Iberian music in which they explore, seeking common roots with medieval music. The court of Alfonso X was one of the most important cultural centres in the context of the Middle Ages. It was a gathering place for musicians with a tradition in vernacular language, Arabian musicians, Jews, troubadours from Occitania, etc. The com-
mon ground in this atmosphere was that they all spoke several languages. So in this programme, as a reflection of this cultural environment, we present two pieces in the language of Provence from the last Occitanian troubadour to be documented as staying at the court of Alfonso X: Guiraud Riquier. Likewise, the instrumental pieces by another two troubadours, Jaufre Raudel and Cadenet, appear in the programme between two traditional pieces with which they share great melodic and modal similarity despite the time difference separating them. A programme of this nature could not be without the songs of friendship in Galician-Portuguese and the songs of Santa MarĂa sung in the vernacular (an instrumental piece in the programme).
Ana Arnaz
Vox Suavis Driven by their fascination for the beauty of Spanish folklore, and their excellence when performing, the members of Vox Suavis decided to get together with the intention of reviving certain aspects of some types of music that, in many cases, were close to disappearing. The group is influenced by the work and message of people such as Felipe Pedrell, Kurt Schindler, Alan Lomax, Joaquin Diaz and Garcia Matos: ethnomusicologists and composers known for vindicating a musical culture based on an oral tradition of immense wealth and artistic weight.
MĂşsicas da [52] Itinerancia