Album Notes

Contrasts, far horizons, other languages and cultures inspire us. They provide the possibility to escape daily routine, and through created distance invite us to broaden our lives.

Perhaps it was for this very reason that over two hundred years ago Columbus and Vasco da Gama set sail to Terra Incognita. Did they too wish to come closer to themselves by tempting far horizons?

Centuries later, Dutch singer Christel Veraart, traveled to South America and found herself falling in love with the treasures of folklore music that she came across. Upon returning to her native soil she found a pianist, Judith Wijs, who had Portuguese ancestors from the time of the great discovery voyages. What once started as a Terra Incognita for only the pianist became a Terra Incognita for both.

The songs for this cd were carefully selected while in Argentina and Brazil, with some passed on by fellow musicians and persons met. In Rio de Janeiro, the Museu Villa-Lobos kindly allowed the use of the composer’s grand piano, so to sift through the vast repertoire of this wonderful musician. In Buenos Aires countless hours were spent at the famous Teatro Colon, in search of songs that would suit Terra Incognita.

Argentina’s music reflects the sounds of the pampa, its vastness, its gauchos; and always whenever one is listening to its music, there is the whinny of a horse heard. Brazil represents the ocean and with each song one hears the surge and pull of Iemanjá, goddess of the sea and mother of all gods in the Umbanda religion of Brazil.