Musikfest Berlin 2024 with “Un mar de músicas” by and with Jordi Savall, 31.08.2024
Jordi Savall. Photo: Herve Pouyfourcat
It was the only concert that the world-famous Catalan gambist Jordi Savall this year, shortly after his 83rd birthday, he brought it to the stage in Germany together with La Capella Reial de Catalunya and his ensemble Hespèrion XXI on August 31, 2024 in the Berlin Philharmonie.
But the concert wasn’t just about instruments. There was also plenty of singing and dancing, often in brightly colored clothing. The ladies and gentlemen came from Cuba, Haiti, Brazil, Mali, Venezuela and Mexico.
Jordi Savall, this time with a small treble viola da gamba, intertwined European Baroque with the songs of enslaved people between 1440 and 1880. A speaker, Bless Amada, led the audience through the centuries in German.
Photo: Toni Penarroya
Jordi Savall says he has dealt with the subject of slavery in depth and has also done his own research. The word sea is therefore ambiguous here. The slave trade between Europe, Africa and the Americas took place across the sea, and on the other hand the songs of the slaves enriched musical life, and this is still the case.
Olivia Artner had previously had a conversation with Jordi Savall, which can be found in the Berlin Festival’s media library. Jordi Savall said that he had dealt intensively with the presence of the Spanish in South America and the associated musical influences.
He also discovered that, especially at the beginning of the 17th century, many composers had written pieces in which the traditional music and languages of the slaves and the indigenous population had left their mark. He also conducted research in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. There, the slaves often had to wait months for good weather to travel to America.
Photo: Toni Penarroya
Above all, Jordi Savall has noticed one thing: “a large part of the beautiful music from America, the music we know today as Negro spirituals, but also the music of the entire Caribbean region or from Colombia, Brazil and Mexico, is decisively influenced by African traditions.” There are also young people who keep these traditions alive, and he has now worked with them. “And then I came up with the idea of creating a concert program with historical works that were sung around 1550-1600.”
“We begin the concert with music from the beginning of the 16th century and then move on chronologically through history. Combined with old traditional music from African countries – from Madagascar and Mali – and from South America – Colombia, Brazil and Mexico – we were able to put together a wonderful program.” And that’s exactly what happened.
Photo: Toni Penarroya
The enslaved people consoled themselves with song and dance. These were not protest songs, but old legends and stories that were connected to their culture and their country. And “the more they suffered, the more optimistic the song had to be. That was the energy that saved them and gave them strength and hope,” emphasized Jordi Savall. So we shouldn’t moan and complain, but rather sing and dance, thinks the author. “Without music, history would be a vast desert!”
Und Jordi Savalls Fazit: “Without music, history would be a vast desert!”
During his performance, the desolate desert was far away. The women, mostly dressed in beautiful, colorful clothes, sang and danced expressively, and were constantly applauded. The men with their large drums, which matched the religious, powerful, archaic music of the Yoruba traditions, almost catapulted the audience out of their seats.
The program was easy on the ears, the songs were mostly folksy and harmonious, some even sounded like chorales. It began with Creole songs of slaves from the Old and New World, followed by composed songs by some artists. Dances with variations came from Santiago de Murcia, among others. The groups also brought their instruments. Finally, European music from the 17th and 18th centuries was also heard, including by Jean-Philippe Rameau.
Photo: Toni Penarroya
They all received a lot of applause, so Neema Bickersteth from Canada, Sekouba The Bambino from Guinea, Yannis Francois from Guadalupe. Ballaké Sissoko, Mamani Keïta, Tanti Kouyate and Fanta Sissoko – The Best Of Fanta Sissoko came from Mali, the Tembembe Continuous Assembly came from Mexico / Colombia, Maria Juliana Linhares and Joe Luis Birth represented Brazil, Sylvie Henry was from Haiti and Ivan Garcia from Venezuela.
Particularly lively singing and dancing Teresa Yanet, Lixsania Fernández, Marlon Rodríguez, Frank Pereira from Cuba and were immediately celebrated accordingly. They all made not only the director Jordi Savall happy, but also the cheering audience.
Ursula Wiegand
