Magos Herrera & Brooklyn Rider:Dreamers
The Album
These days, when even the term “dreamers” is disputed territory, celebrating beauty is a political act. That is the beating heart of Dreamers, the collaboration between Magos Herrera and the string quartet Brooklyn Rider. The recording, includes gems of the Ibero-American songbook as well as pieces written to texts by Octavio Paz, Rubén Darío, and Federico García Lorca — all reimagined by a superb group of arrangers including Jaques Morelenbaum, Gonzalo Grau, Diego Schissi, Guillermo Klein and Brooklyn Rider’s own Colin Jacobsen.
The connecting thread is that the poets and songwriters featured on Dreamers came from places that have endured brutal state violence. Consider Violeta Parra, from Chile; Joao Gilberto, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, from Brazil; Gustavo “Cuchi” Leguizamón, from Argentina , García Lorca, Spain and poet, essayist and Nobel Prize winner, Octavio Paz.
Dreamers is a reminder that “beauty can come out of terrible situations. As Leonard Bernstein said, ’This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before’."
“Dreamers is not only a work of art, setting musicians of the highest order to
accomplished music with purpose, but it is a work of love as well.”
“It’s drop-dead gorgeous, the whole album. It’s playful. It’s serious. It’s jazzy. Some
tracks defy description.”
“Ms. Herrera’s performance merges wonderment and disillusion.”
“It’s a fascinating production with exquisite arrangements.”
listen
Tracklist
Niña- Poem by Octavio Paz - Music:Magos Herrera & Felipe Pérez Santiago
Balderrama- Gustavo “Cuchi” Leguizamón, Jose Manual Castilla
Dreams- Poem excerpt from “El Cantaro Roto” by Octavio Paz – Music:Magos Herrera
De manha-Caetano Veloso
Volver a los 17-Violeta Parra
Milonga gris-Carlos Aguirre
La Aurora de Nueva York- Poem by Federico García Lorca -Music Vicente Amigo Girol
Eu vim da Bahia-Gilberto Gil
Coração Vagabundo -Caetano Veloso
Tu y yo-Poem excerpt from “Tú Y Yo.” by Rubén Dario-Music by Magos Herrera, Fabio Gouvea
La llorona-Public Domain
Luz de Luna-Alvaro Carrillo
Undiu-Joao Gilberto
PRODUCTION
Magos Herrera, artistic director & excecutive producer
Johnny Gandelsman, producer
Alex Venguer, recording, editing, mixing
Oscar Zambrano, master
Recorded at Power Station in NYC
Musicians
Magos Herrera, voz
Johnny Gandelsman, violín
Colin Jacobsen, violín
Nicholas Cords, viola
Michael Nicolas, chelo
Miguel Poveda, artista invitado en La Aurora de Nueva York
Mathias Kunzli, Percusion
Gonzalo Grau, Percusion
Sol y La Conja, palmas flamencas
Edward Perez, contrabajo
ARRANGERS
Gonzalo Grau, Jaques Morelembaum, Guillermo Klein & Diego Schissi
Release year
2018
LABEL
Sony masterworks