"Their way with a love song makes you think of Edith Piaf - the finesse, the phrasing, the charged emotion... One song and you feel as if you're in a smoke-filled café in France, the next one carries you to a small village in the Mexican countryside." Joanne Sheehy Hoover, Music Critic Emeritus, The Washington Post and Albuquerque Journal.
Notes about Mi Sueño:
The notion of this recording, first came to us in México and Cuba in 2004. We spent a month traveling around and between two Santiagos: Santiago Tuxtla, in southern Veracruz, the heartland of son jarocho, and Santiago de Cuba, cradle of traditional trova cubana. There we learned from the carriers of these cultural traditions, we had teachers of all ages. Their lessons are in these songs. You will find the popular and traditional music that inspires us, old sones with our own verses, and finally, Cascada de Flores’ first compositions by Jorge Liceaga, inspired by these traditional forms.
El Sueño de hacer esta grabación empezó en un viaje a México y Cuba en el año 2004. En un mes recorrimos por los alrededores de dos Santiagos: Santiago Tuxtla, en el sur de Veracruz, el corazón del son jarocho, y Santiago de Cuba, cuna de la trova tradicional cubana. En aquél viaje nos tocó convivir y aprender con grandes maestros de todas edades, portadores de estas tradiciones. Por ellos esta música sigue vigente. En este disco escucharán música popular y tradicional que nos ha inspirado, sones antiguos con nuestros propios versos, y las primeras composiciones de Cascada de Flores, escritas por Jorge Liceaga e inspiradas en estas formas tradicionales.
At first glance, Mi Sueno (My Dream) expresses a story of immigration, the emotional and physical experience of separation, hard labor, betrayal and pride. But as the title track for this album, we also view the name as an allegory for living life within the framework of our artistic vision, and through it, find expression and meaning for our common experiences of love and loss, joy and suffering, economic and political struggle and the power of the human spirit.
A primera vista, ‘Mi Sueño’ es una narrativa sobre la inmigración, en ella se expresa la experiencia emocional y física de la separación, el trabajo arduo y hasta inhumano, la traición y el orgullo. Pero como título de este album, Mi Sueño para nosotros también es una metáfora de la lucha por vivir dentro del marco de nuestra visión artística, y encontrando así el significado y expresión en nuestras experiencias comunes de amor y duelo, alegría y sufrimiento, lucha económica y política y el poder del espíritu humano.
Cascada de Flores is:
Arwen Lawrence de Castellanos: voice “prima” of duet, guitars (vihuela, jarana jarocha segunda), zapateado, quijada de burro, claves
Jorge Liceaga: voice, guitars (good ol’ 6-string guitar, guitarra de son, bajo sexto), armónica
Jorge Mijangos: voice, guitars (tres cubano, sexta bordona, jarana jarocha tercera, requintito), blues harp, cajimba, quijada de burro, marimbol, cajón
Sabra Weber: voice “segunda” of duet, flute, marimbol, claves, maracas
Cascada de Flores was blessed with the participation of:
Miguel Govea: acordeón in Mi Sueño
Brian Rice: pandeiro in Chachamaco
Mike Spiro: musical direction and güiro in Chachamaco
Glossary:
Bajo sexto: a 12-string guitar used in northern México and southwestern US
Cajima: tarima made by J. Mijangos also played as bass and cajón
Cajón: a percussive box hit with hands, found throughout Latin America, especially in areas with African presence
Guitarra de son: family of melodic guitars used as the lead instrument of son jarocho
Jarana jarocha: family of percussive guitars used in son jarocho
Marimbol/Marímbula: a bass lamellaphone of the mbira family. Used in the Caribbean, México and southern US.
Pandeiro: Brazilian tambourine
Quijada de Burro: The jawbone of a donkey used as a percussion instrument when struck with an animal horn. Used in many Caribbean and Central American countries, Perú and both coasts of México.
Requintito: small guitarra de son
Sexta bordona: square baritone guitar made out of a cajón by J. Mijangos
Son jarocho: traditional music of southern Veracruz, México
Tarima: platform or box to dance zapateado on
Tres cubano: rhythmic-melodic steel-stringed guitar of three courses of double strings used in Cuban son
Tro-blues: blues sentiment in the trova style “patented” by CdeF
Vihuela: five-string rhythm guitar with a rounded back used in central western México
Zapateado: percussive footwork
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