Music of the Americas: Argentina and Mexico

Monday, October 18, 1 p.m.

After performing on our virtual stage last summer with flutist Diego Suárez, Argentine guitarist Claudio Ceccoli joins us again in a series of videos from Buenos Aires curated by our friend José Luis Ajzsenmesser that we will share in the coming weeks. This week we share his own "El chúcaro de mi casa," which he just recorded at home in Buenos Aires, where we can see his extraordinary fluidity on the 8-string guitar.

Tuesday, October 19, 10 a.m.

Chuño is an experimental music duo originated by two Argentine musicians based in New York City: percussionist Franco Pinna and singer Sofía Tosello. Chuño blends the rhythms and melodies of South and Central America, using the arpa legüera, an instrument, invented by Pinna, that evokes the sounds of a charango, a kora or a koto. Tosello's voice soars over Pinna’s unusual set, which includes includes drum set and percussion instruments from around the world alongside the arpa. From their homes in New York, they reimagined a version of Ramón Navarro's classic "Chayita del vidalero" based on the 1966 version by Los Trovadores, one of the leading vocal-instrumental groups of the Argentine folk boom of the 1960s. Chuño kept some of the original vocals and modified the original recording's rhythms to create a new version of the song.

Wednesday, October 20, 10 a.m.

Argentine singer Sarita Schena started studied piano, voice, and improvisation in Bari and other Italian cities before being accepted at Berklee College of Music in 2018. She has collaborated with drummer Fabio Accardi and bassist Camillo Pace in concerts and recordings. She has participated in several international tango festivals in Italy and abroad, including the 25th edition of the international tango festival Valparatango (Valparaíso, Chile) and, with the Uruguayan bandoneonist Héctor Ulises Passarella, in numerous editions of the festival Tango y Más. She is currently working on Passarella's first record project and on a concert tour in Italy and Europe. In 2021 she sang at the local premiere of Piazzolla's María de Buenos Aires in Bari and on an Italian tour with the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra of Bari.

Together with guitarist Giuseppe De Trizio, Schena sent us a new version of Tomás Méndez's 1956 classic "Cucurrucucú paloma," recorded at home in Bari.

Thursday, October 21, 10 a.m.

Saúl Cosme is a jazz guitar player, composer and music educator born in Mexico City and based in New York since 2014. He studied at the Lafaro Jazz Institute, where he played and learned from some of the best jazz musicians in Mexico, such as Agustín Bernal, Héctor Rodriguez, Gabriel Puentes, and Roberto Verástegui, among others. He has played in important halls in Mexico before moving to New York to study at SUNY Purchase College under John Abercrombie and Vic Juris. In New York he has played in the leading jazz clubs, including Blue Note, Birdland, and Dizzy’s Club at Lincoln Center with jazz orchestras led by Jon Faddis, Todd Coolman, and David Dejesus. In 2019 he launched the Saul Cosme Quintet, combining his Mexican roots with jazz tradition and Latin music. His debut album, Live in New York, was released in 2019.

He sent us an improvisation on the melancholy son tehuano "La martiniana."

Friday, October 22, 10 a.m.

Loli Molina is an Argentine guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer, and visual artist born in Buenos Aires. She released her first album in 2008 and has since toured stages and festivals in the Americas and Europe. She has played and recorded with Latin American artists including Fito Páez, Fernando Cabrera, Chico Cesar, Juan Quintero, Kevin Johansen, and among others. Molina has participated as session musician for groups like Kinky on their MTV Unplugged session, and composes original music for film and television. Winner of an MTV Latin Grammy Award and nominated repeatedly for the Gardel Awards, she has been part of the symphonic tributes to Gustavo Cerati and Violeta Parra, among other projects. Loli Molina has received support from the Gibson and Taylor guitar brands, as well as Earthquakes Devices and Reunion Blues.

Her latest studio album, Lo azul sobre mí, was recorded in Argentina and Mexico, produced by Latin Grammy winner Hernan Hecht. The album has a minimalist yet deep and somber approach. This music has its roots in Latin American guitar tradition while also taking inspiration from other roots music languages of the world. From home in Mexico City, where in addition to working as a musician she is dedicated to visual arts, Molina sent us a solo version of the album's title track. Molina writes about "Lo azul sobre mí:"

"This is a song about detaching ourselves from our past, present, and future with the purpose of gaining perspective, climbing up a metaphysical mountain, and letting the forces of nature and life fall upon us, love being the most universal and important of them."

The MetLife Foundation Music of the Americas concert series is made possible by the generous support of Presenting Sponsor MetLife Foundation.

The Fall 2021 Music program is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and by the Howard Gilman Foundation.

Additional support comes from The Augustine Foundation.