By Herb Boyd | Published May 2021
Listeners familiar with Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra are sure to experience a bit of reverie after hearing the opening fanfare of Gustavo Cortinas’ Desafio Candente. Inspired by Eduardo Galeano’s book The Open Vein of Latin America, Cortinas has produced a veritable musical score, replete with all the revolutionary nuances and cadences invoked by Galeano. The author’s critique of slavery, colonialism, capitalism and imperialism has its equivalency in Cortinas’s melodies. On “Pachacuti,” the tantalizing interplay between trombonist Euan Edmonds and trumpeter Drew Hansen evokes the struggle and resistance that was such a part of the fight for liberation. A similar fury resounds on “La Fiebre del Oro” when saxophonist Artie Black presents his musical credentials with a tinge of Latin verve. The revolt against oppression reaches a climax that is better understood with Galeano’s book in your hand and Cortinas music in your ears.
Desafio Candente: Desafio Candente: Obertura (Overture); Abya Yala; Pachacuti (The World Upside Down); La Fiebre del Oro (The Gold Fever); El Jinete y el Caballo (The Rider & the Horse); La Nostalgia Peleadora de Túpac Amaru (The Militant Nostalgia of Tupac Amaru); Combustible Humano (Human Fuel); La Ruta de Regreso a Guinea está en el Arcoiris (The Route of Return to Guinea Lies in the Rainbow); Pax Britannica; Los Caudillos Campesinos (The Peasant Leaders); La Mano Invisible (The Invisible Hand); El Desarrollo Desarrolla la Desigualdad (Development Develops Inequality); Desafío Candente (Incandescent Defiance); Un Mundo Donde Quepan Muchos Mundos (A World Where Many Worlds Fit). (93:41)
Personnel: Personnel: Gustavo Cortinas, drums and percussion; Kitt Lyles, bass; Joaquin Garcia, piano; Artie Black, reeds; Drew Hansen, trumpet; Euan Edmonds, Trombone; Matt Gold, guitar; Jeronimo Gonzalez on a variety of folk instruments; and Xavier Quijas Yxayoti, on different flutes.
Ordering Info: Ordering info: mattulery.com
