From the barrage of “breaking news” alerts on the 24-hour
news cycle to the incessant buzz and chirp of social media, there’s no shortage
of reminders of the things that divide us: walls being built, lines being
drawn, the notion of “difference” being wielded as a political weapon.
That’s what makes an artist like Arturo O’Farrill such an
important voice for these times. As a pianist, composer, bandleader, educator,
activist, and founder of the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, O’Farrill has dedicated
his life to not only crossing artificial borders but to erasing them in his
wake. With his latest project, Fandango at the Wall, O’Farrill has created a
stunningly ambitious and profoundly moving work that showcases the rich fruits
that can grow from common ground.
Fandango at the Wall, due out September 28 via Resilience
Music Alliance, is the brainchild of O’Farrill and his longtime collaborator
and GRAMMY® Award-winning producer, Kabir Sehgal. The project brings together
brilliant voices from a variety of cultural and musical traditions to tear down
a variety of walls that isolate us – physical, musical, or cultural. The piece
was inspired by Jorge Francisco Castillo, a musician and retired librarian who
has organized the Fandango Fronterizo Festival for the past decade. The annual
event gathers son jarocho musicians on both sides of the border wall between
Tijuana and San Diego for a celebratory jam session.
“I found that idea so touching and elegant in its activism,”
O’Farrill recalls. “I held it inside my soul and spoke to everyone I could
about my hope to join the Fandango Fronterizo and record at the border,
bringing special guests and making it a true collaboration.”
O’Farrill’s esteemed Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and
Castillo’s son jarocho musicians came together at the border, joined by a more
than 60 gifted musicians representing both sides of that divide as well as
several of the countries targeted by President Trump’s travel ban: Broadway
singer-actress Mandy Gonzalez (Hamilton, In the Heights); jazz greats Regina
Carter (violin), Akua Dixon (cello), and Antonio Sanchez (drums);
multi-talented Mexican violin trio The Villalobos Brothers; son jarocho greats
Patricio Hidalgo, Ramón Gutiérrez Hernández, and Tacho Utréra; French-Chilean
rapper-singer Ana Tijoux; Iraqi-American oud master Rahim AlHaj and his trio;
Iranian sitar virtuoso Sahba Motallebi; and many others.
“Thinking about this awful, awful moment in history – not
just American history but world history – I wanted to confront the darkness
that has overcome all our lives,” O’Farrill says. “Faced with such stupidity
and mediocrity, why not at least try to do something valuable? My first thought
was to bring not just great artists but also people from marginalized nations.
We understand that humanity and community are so much stronger than cultural
constructs, physical walls, or geo-political borders. We saw this in action: we
saw our people fall in love with their people and become one people.”
A bestselling author, investment banker, and military
veteran, Sehgal helped transform O’Farrill’s long-held dream into a reality
despite the logistical and political hurdles. Ultimately the project took on
three forms: this astoundingly gorgeous album of music; a book on the history
of the troubled U.S.-Mexico relationship with a foreword by renowned historian
Douglas Brinkley and an afterword by former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young; and
an in-production documentary focusing on the lives of the son jarocho
musicians.
“It falls upon private citizens and individuals to promote
cross-border friendship and rapprochement," Sehgal writes in his liner notes. “And that is ultimately
the goal of Fandango at the Wall: to bring the people of the United States and
Mexico together through music. After all, we don’t just share a border but
families and friends, histories and futures. Our countries are interconnected,
and our fates are interlinked.”
What is most striking about the music of Fandango at the
Wall is that for all of the anger, frustration and strife that fueled its
creation, it is an intensely joyous celebration that exults in the universal
language of music. That notion has become a cliché, but it’s one that O’Farrill
has always thrived on making vividly and unpredictably real. Hence the
surprising hybrid of approaches on display: not just a mélange of world musics,
but virtuosic jazz and striking contemporary classical approaches.
“It’s not just geopolitical borders that offend me,”
O’Farrill explains. “It’s also cultural construct borders – the idea that
there’s a high music and a low music, a high culture and a low culture. The
belief that folk music isn’t as impressive or as important as jazz, or that
Middle Eastern music isn’t valid because it’s not born in America. I wanted to
destroy these walls, and in fact I found out that the presence of borders and
walls and constructs serves an incredible purpose – it unites us in opposition
even more than it divides us.”
Another border torn down by Sehgal and O’Farrill was the one
between the pristine conditions of the recording studio and the thrilling
festivities of the Fandango Fronterizo. Fandango at the Wall flows seamlessly
between both settings, with five sessions undertaken in recording studios and
outdoors at a live session straddling the border with music freely crossing
back and forth.
“The most terrifying thing about being human is the fear of
other people,” O’Farrill concludes. “Very few people have the freedom of spirit
to embrace things they don't understand. So I really love the idea that Mexican
families who enjoy jarocho music will be introduced to the virtuosity of Regina
Carter, or that hardcore jazzheads will discover Patricio Hidalgo. I’m hoping
that people will listen to this album and whether or not they understand the
words or enjoy the music, they’ll take a moment to think about human beings
that are not like them.”
“Fandango at the Wall is ultimately a project of
convergence,” Sehgal writes. “I hope that as you listen to this music, you’ll
hear the possibilities of what the relationship between the United States and
Mexico can become. And that we as artists and activists continue to create the
world in which we want to live.”
No comments:
Post a Comment