Un mar de músicas

Jordi Savall is not only one of the leading viol players of our time, but also a pioneering thinker in the field of historically informed performance practice. As the founder of numerous top quality original sound ensembles, he has rediscovered several centuries of forgotten music from around the globe and regularly made it accessible in thematically curated concerts. Together with guest musicians from Cuba, Haiti, Brazil, Mali, Venezuela and Mexico and his ensembles Hespèrion XXI and La Capella Reial de Catalunya, in “Un mar de músicas” Jordi Savall now pays homage to the more than 12 million people deported and enslaved by the European powers over four centuries – and their musical languages. An evening that recalls this human tragedy and that spreads a net of sound across the Black Atlantic, from the coast of Africa to the shores of America, to the Caribbean and back to Europe, revealing the routes that musical influences took in both directions: European Baroque and Renaissance music influenced the Creole songs and composers of the colonies, while in turn the music of the slaves inspired composers in France and Spain. In “Un mar de músicas”, the life-affirming songs are complemented by texts with historical quotations and chronological explanations: from the first human trafficking expeditions in Africa to the beginning uprisings in the Caribbean region and the late decision to abolish slavery. The German actor Bless Amada recites these very moving and sometimes brutal texts, which reveal the history of the European slave trade in all its drasticness. A reminder of all those for whom music became a means of survival.