Chanticleer

continued

The Mexican music comes from Chanticleer’s third CD of music from the Mexican Baroque—Mission Road. “Our first gig back in seventy-eight was in the Mission Dolores,” explains Oltman, “and we’ve always felt really connected to the music of that period. Remember, the Spanish Empire in America went all the way through California, and the music being written here was easily as cool as any being written back in Spain.

“But when the empire in America fell apart, all the missions fell into disrepair,” continues Oltman. “Most of the music simply vanished. But some of it was saved in libraries and private collections, and only over the past couple of decades have scholars begun to dig it out. Also, we’ll be doing two pieces on the program in Ann Arbor that are from that era but are not on CD—and they’re very beautiful.”   

[Originally published in January, 2009.]