MUSICAL COUPLE MAKE HISTORY SING
Yo soy libre como el viento/ I am as free as the wind
Pero tengo dignidad/ but I have dignity
Adoro la libertad/ I adore freedom
Con todo mi corazón/ with all my heart
- from the 19th century song, La China Mexicana
In songs about patriotic señoritas and murdered revolutionary heroes, Consuelo Martinez and Lorenzo López make Mexico's history come alive. For many years the duo called Arena de Río has researched and performed traditional songs from Mexico's early 19th-century struggle for independence through the Revolution a hundred years later. What started as a passion for Mexico's old music has become a mission to help listeners restore their eroded links to the past.
Consuelo: "It's sad." Lorenzo: "We've forgotten our roots." The two are more than a musical duo; they're husband and wife. In conversation, one often completes the other's thoughts.
"With all the telenovelas, pop stars and soccer," Lorenzo continues, "sadly, people don't know their history, they don't know their music, don't know the old customs."
The duo's name, arena de río, means "river sand." They say there is pride in seeing themselves as "a grain of sand" in efforts to enrich Mexican culture.
Ironically, the search to recover Mexico's past was reinforced in Berkeley, California. While spending time at the university, Lorenzo and Consuelo discovered a gold mine of Mexican history and music. That started them on an exhaustive research project. They have sifted through documents and sheet music in Mexican universities, libraries and archives. And they've sought out songs passed down from one generation to the next.
"We listened to the music of old people," Lorenzo says.
"For example," says Consuelo, "a woman in her 80s, who learned the songs of her grandmother" -- songs going back to before the 1910 revolution.
You can learn about Mexico from Arena de Río's music. Or, you can just sit back and let the music flow over you -- Consuelo's beautiful, deep voice, Lorenzo's lilting guitar, their sweet harmonies. There are many love longs among their CDs.
¿Que haré lejos de tí, prenda del alma?/ What will I do far from you, part of my soul?
¿Sin verte, sin oirte y sin hablarte?/ Without seeing you, without
hearing you and without talking to you?
¿Como quitar la esencia de las flores?/ How to give up the essence of flowers?
¿Como quitarle al viento la armonia?/ How to give up the wind's harmony?
¿Como negar que te amo, vida mia?/ How to deny that I love you, my life?
¿Como borrar de mi alma esta pasion?/ How to erase this passion from my soul?
- from the romantic song, Prenda del Alma
"Which came first, music or love?" I ask. They laugh. Music and love are intertwined, they say. Consuelo: "Gracias a la música (thanks to the music), we got to know each other."
Together, they have performed and searched out traditional music for 25 years, living most of that time in La Paz. Lorenzo, 50, was born in Mexico City; Consuelo, four years younger, came from Guadalajara. They have two daughters, ages 18 and 10.
Their latest project combines music and theatre. Vamos a Cantar la Historia (let's sing the history) is a stage production that involves school children in a reenactment of events from the struggle for independence through the French intervention and the Mexican Revolution. Vamos a Cantar la Historia is also the title of a CD of spoken word and songs, a studio recording of their project.
This coming year will be busy for Lorenzo and Consuelo with the approach of the 2010 celebrations of both the 200th anniversary of Mexico's Independence and the 100th anniversary of the Revolution.
As they talk about the project and the history behind it, their faces light up. They explain that this latest CD is a distillation of so much research. The details, too many to include, have caused the historic personalities to come alive for them. "These heroes were people," Consuelo says. "They made mistakes, but they had convictions to improve life."
Y de orgullo el alma llena/ And with my soul filled with pride
Declaro de buena gana/ I gladly declare
Que soy pura mexicana/ That I am all Mexican
Nada tengo de español/ I have nothing of the Spanish in me
- La China Mexicana
You can hear samples of Arena de Río's music and learn more about the duo at their website at http://www.arenaderio.com/ and a second website at www.myspace.com/arenaderio. They have four CDs: Vamos a Cantar la Historia, Reflejos de Ayer (reflections of yesterday), Una Mañanita Azul (a blue morning) and Voy Llegando a mi Pueblito (I'm on my way to my village). You can purchase CDs directly from the artists. E-mail arenaderio@yahoo.com
Yo soy libre como el viento/ I am as free as the wind
Pero tengo dignidad/ but I have dignity
Adoro la libertad/ I adore freedom
Con todo mi corazón/ with all my heart
- from the 19th century song, La China Mexicana
In songs about patriotic señoritas and murdered revolutionary heroes, Consuelo Martinez and Lorenzo López make Mexico's history come alive. For many years the duo called Arena de Río has researched and performed traditional songs from Mexico's early 19th-century struggle for independence through the Revolution a hundred years later. What started as a passion for Mexico's old music has become a mission to help listeners restore their eroded links to the past.
Consuelo: "It's sad." Lorenzo: "We've forgotten our roots." The two are more than a musical duo; they're husband and wife. In conversation, one often completes the other's thoughts.
"With all the telenovelas, pop stars and soccer," Lorenzo continues, "sadly, people don't know their history, they don't know their music, don't know the old customs."
The duo's name, arena de río, means "river sand." They say there is pride in seeing themselves as "a grain of sand" in efforts to enrich Mexican culture.
Ironically, the search to recover Mexico's past was reinforced in Berkeley, California. While spending time at the university, Lorenzo and Consuelo discovered a gold mine of Mexican history and music. That started them on an exhaustive research project. They have sifted through documents and sheet music in Mexican universities, libraries and archives. And they've sought out songs passed down from one generation to the next.
"We listened to the music of old people," Lorenzo says.
"For example," says Consuelo, "a woman in her 80s, who learned the songs of her grandmother" -- songs going back to before the 1910 revolution.
You can learn about Mexico from Arena de Río's music. Or, you can just sit back and let the music flow over you -- Consuelo's beautiful, deep voice, Lorenzo's lilting guitar, their sweet harmonies. There are many love longs among their CDs.
¿Que haré lejos de tí, prenda del alma?/ What will I do far from you, part of my soul?
¿Sin verte, sin oirte y sin hablarte?/ Without seeing you, without
hearing you and without talking to you?
¿Como quitar la esencia de las flores?/ How to give up the essence of flowers?
¿Como quitarle al viento la armonia?/ How to give up the wind's harmony?
¿Como negar que te amo, vida mia?/ How to deny that I love you, my life?
¿Como borrar de mi alma esta pasion?/ How to erase this passion from my soul?
- from the romantic song, Prenda del Alma
"Which came first, music or love?" I ask. They laugh. Music and love are intertwined, they say. Consuelo: "Gracias a la música (thanks to the music), we got to know each other."
Together, they have performed and searched out traditional music for 25 years, living most of that time in La Paz. Lorenzo, 50, was born in Mexico City; Consuelo, four years younger, came from Guadalajara. They have two daughters, ages 18 and 10.
Their latest project combines music and theatre. Vamos a Cantar la Historia (let's sing the history) is a stage production that involves school children in a reenactment of events from the struggle for independence through the French intervention and the Mexican Revolution. Vamos a Cantar la Historia is also the title of a CD of spoken word and songs, a studio recording of their project.
This coming year will be busy for Lorenzo and Consuelo with the approach of the 2010 celebrations of both the 200th anniversary of Mexico's Independence and the 100th anniversary of the Revolution.
As they talk about the project and the history behind it, their faces light up. They explain that this latest CD is a distillation of so much research. The details, too many to include, have caused the historic personalities to come alive for them. "These heroes were people," Consuelo says. "They made mistakes, but they had convictions to improve life."
Y de orgullo el alma llena/ And with my soul filled with pride
Declaro de buena gana/ I gladly declare
Que soy pura mexicana/ That I am all Mexican
Nada tengo de español/ I have nothing of the Spanish in me
- La China Mexicana
You can hear samples of Arena de Río's music and learn more about the duo at their website at http://www.arenaderio.com/ and a second website at www.myspace.com/arenaderio. They have four CDs: Vamos a Cantar la Historia, Reflejos de Ayer (reflections of yesterday), Una Mañanita Azul (a blue morning) and Voy Llegando a mi Pueblito (I'm on my way to my village). You can purchase CDs directly from the artists. E-mail arenaderio@yahoo.com
