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The Källunge Codex 1622 (2005)

Hy hy hy hy hy hy hy (2002)

¡A la xácara! (2000)

Music from a pack of cards (1999)

Cancionero de Upsala 1556 (1996)

"Misiones de Chiquitos"

The Källunge Codex 1622

The music source of this CD is a mysterious alto part manuscript, rediscovered on the island of Gotland (Sweden). It contains sacred music from the 16th century with origin in Silesia.

Participants:

Peter Pontvik, director

Jessica Bäcklund, soprano
Nina Åkerblom Nielsen, soprano
Gonca Yazan, alto
Dan Johansson, countertenor
Love Enström, tenor
Martin Vanberg , tenor
Yamandú Pontvik, baritone
Jens Malmkvist, bass

Guests
Michael Dierks, organ
Daniel Stighäll, trombone

Sjelvar Records HB, SJECD 19
www.sjelvar.com

Hy hy hy hy hy hy hy - the New Jungle Book of the Baroque (2002)

Baroque music from Bolivia, Mexico, and other Latin American countries. Released on Caprice Records, November 2002 (CAP 21688).

Read about Cathedrals and missionary stations beyond the Atlantic

01 - Aquí aquí valentones 2'46 (Juan de Araújo, Spain-Peru-Panama-Bolivia, 1646-1712)
02 - Hy hy hy, que de riza morremo 2'13 (Anonymous, 1657? copy dated 1663)
03 - Victoria, victoria 2'12 (Anonymous, Santa Eulalia, Guatemala, ca 1600, transcription: Robert Stevenson)
04 - Ymaynalla canqui tayta 3'25 (Anonymous, Sucre, Bolivia 18th-century)
05 - Introito from "Misa para el día de difuntos" 1'57 (Fray José Manuel Úbeda, Spain-Uruguay, ca 1760-1823, transcr/adapt: Lauro Ayestarán)
- Gallardas from "Luz y norte musical"1'07 (Lucas Ruiz de Ribayaz, Spain-Peru 1626-?, [1677 to Peru])
07 - No puede amor from "La púrpura de la rosa" 3'21 (Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco, Spain-Peru, 1644-1728, transcription: Robert Stevenson)
08 - Vamos a Belén 1'40 (Anonymous, The National Library, Sucre, Bolivia 18 th -century)
09 - Lamentatio in coena Domini 4'12 (Juan de Lienas, Mexico [Códice del Carmen] fl ca 1617-1654, transcription: Jesús Bal y Gay)
10 - Achas y buelta del acha and bacas from "Luz y norte musical" 2'51 (Lucas Ruiz de Ribayaz)
11 - No haya más dulce alegría 4'32 (Gaspar Fernandes, Portugal-Mexico ca 1570-1629, transcription: Aurelio Tello)
12 - Oigan un vejamen 1'36 (Antonio de Salazar, Mexico 1650-1715, transcription: Robert Stevenson)
13 - Dulce Jesús mío 2'45 (Anonymous from Chiquitos, Bolivia 18th century, transcription: Piotr Nawrot)
14 - Tarará qui yo soy Antoniyo 1'12 (Antonio de Salazar, transcription: Robert Stevenson)
15 - Marionas, gaytas and zarambeques from "Luz y norte musical" 4'16 (Lucas Ruiz de Ribayaz)
16 - Mi niño dulce y sagrado 1'19 (Gaspar Fernandes, transcription: Aurelio Tello)
17 - Yesuchristo nuestro Dios 3'28 (Anonymous, Guatemala, ca 1600. Transcription: Paul W. Borg)
18 - Aquí zagales, aquí pastores 2'29 (Juan de Araújo, transcription: Piotr Nawrot)
19 - Un sarao de la chacona 1'53 (Juan Aranyés, Spain, ?-1649)
20 - Yyay Jesuchristo 4'00 (Anonymous from Chiquitos, Bolivia 18th century, transcription: Piotr Nawrot)

Participants:

Jessica Bäcklund (soprano)
Annasara Johansson (soprano)
Dan Johansson (countertenor and virginal)
Peter Pontvik (countertenor)
Carl-Fredrik Jaensson (tenor)
Viktor Kallas (tenor)
Yamandú Pontvik (baryton)
Joakim Schuster (bass)
Markus Ström (recorders, zamponia, pifano, tarka)
Karl Nyhlin (baroque guitar and luta)
Louise Agnani (viola da gamba)
Karl Thorsson (percussion)

¡A la xácara! - The Jungle Book of the Baroque (2000)

This CD contains music from Latin America in the Baroque period. It is released on the label Caprice Records (CAP 21658).

Read about The Baroque music of the Conquistadors

01 - Los coflades de la estleya (Juan de Araújo 1646-1712)
02 - Hanacpachap cussicuinim (Anon., Peru 1613)
03 - Tleycantimo choquiliya (Gaspar Fernandez 1570?-1629)
04 - Serenissima una noche (Fray Geronimo Gonzalez ca 1633)
05 - Vachonloj ibankinal (Anon., Guatemala, ca 1585)
06 - Las estreyas se rien (Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla 1590?-1664)
07 - S:ta Maria in Ilhuicac (Hernando Franco 1532-1585)
08 - Tarantela por primer tono (Lucas Ruiz de Ribayaz, ca 1677)
09 - Al dichoso nacer de mi nino (Juan Hidalgo 1614-1685)
10 - Xicochi (Gaspar Fernandez 1570?-1629)
11 - [Instrumental piece] (Francisco de Penalosa 1470-1528)
12 - Deus in adiutorium meum intende (Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla 1590?-1664)
13 - Xácara por primer tono (Lucas Ruiz de Ribayaz, ca 1677)
14 - Turulu neglo (Anon., Peru?)
15 - Gloria patri (Gutierre Férnandez Hidalgo 1553-1620?)
16 - A la xácara xacarilla (Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla)
17 - Hijos d'Eva, tributarios (Tomás de Herrera ca 1611)
18 - Salga el torillo (Juan de Araújo 1646-1712)
19 - Si el amor se quedare dormido (Juan de Araújo 1646-1712)
20 - Oy es dia de placer (Tomás Pascual, ca 1600)

Participants:

Jessica Bäcklund (soprano)
Annasara Johansson (soprano)
Dan Johansson (countertenor and virginal)
Peter Pontvik (countertenor)
Carl-Fredrik Jaensson (tenor)
Viktor Kallas (tenor)
Yamandú Pontvik (baryton)
Joakim Schuster (bass)
Markus Ström (flutes)
Karl Nyhlin (baroque guitar and lute)
Keren Bruce (viola da gamba)
Karl Thorsson (percussion)

Music from a pack of cards (1999)

On this CD-single you find seven songs by Claudin de Sermisy (ca 1490-1562). The songs are in four parts, and written on the back side of one of the packs of cardsthat come with the magnificent cabinet which in 1632 was presented to the Swedish king Gustav II Adolf by the German city of Augsburg.

01 - Hau le boys
02 - Joyssance je vous donneray
03 - Le content est riche
04 - Ami souffrai
05 - Vignon vignette
06 - Tant que vivray
07 - Dont vient cela

Participants:

Jessica Bäcklund (soprano)
Annasara Johansson (soprano)
Dan Johansson (countertenor)
Peter Pontvik (countertenor)
Carl-Fredrik Jaensson (tenor)
Mattias Öberg (tenor)
Yamandú Pontvik (baryton)
Magnus Schultzberg (bass)
Markus Ström (recorder)
Karl Nyhlin (lute)
Lena Weman (viola da gamba)
Karl Thorsson (percussion)

Cancionero de Upsala 1556 (1996)

Cancionero de Upsala is a collection of Spanish madrigals (villancicos) by several composers. The madrigals are in between two and five parts and have lyrics in Spanish, Portuguese and Catalan. The collection has survived in the library Carolina Rediviva in Uppsala, Sweden. Proprius (PRCD 9153)

01 - Falalalan Falalalera
02 - Con Que La Lavare
03 - Soy Serranica
04 - A Pelayo Que Desmayo
05 - Ojos Garcos A La Nina
06 - Ay Luna Que Reluzes
07 - Que Farem Del Pobre Joan
08 - Estas Noches A Tan Largas
09 - Si Te Vas A Banar Juanilla
10 - Vi Los Barcos, Madre
11 - Teresica Hermana
12 - Si La Noche Haze Escura
13 - Soleta So Yo Aci
14 - Desposastes Os Senora
15 - Vella De Vos Som Amoros
16 - No Soy Yo Quien Veis Bivir
17 - Dime Robadora
18 - Ay De Mi Qu'en Tierra Agena
19 - Vesame Y Abracame
20 - No La Devemos Dormir
21 - Rey A Quien Reyes Adoran
22 - Verbum Caro Factum Est
23 - Alta Reyna Soberana
24 - Gozate Virgen Sagrada
25 - Un Nino Nos Es Nacido
26 - Dadme Albricias, Hijos D'Eva
27 - Yo Me Soy La Morenica
28 - E La Don Don Verges Maria
29 - Riu Riu Chiu
30 - Quarto Tono
31 - Dezilde Al Caballero
32 - Yendome Y Viniendo
33 - Falai Meus Olhos
34 - Si De Vos Mi Bien Me Aparto
35 - Que Todos Se Passan En Flores
36 - Si Amores Me Han De Matar

Participants:

Jessica Bäcklund (soprano)
Annasara Johansson (soprano)
Lilian Druve (alto)
Peter Pontvik (countertenor)
Carl-Fredrik Jaensson (tenor)
Mattias Öberg (tenor)
Yamandú Pontvik (baryton)
Linus Hammar (bass)
Göran Månsson (recorders and percussion)
Suzanne Persson (vihuela)
Angela Johansson (viola da gamba)

V Festival de Música Renacentista y Barroca Americana "Misiones de Chiquitos" / CD2

This CD can be ordered from info@festivalesapac.com

This is one of two CD's recorded during the festival 2004. Contains 23 pieces performed by Ensemble Villancico, Musica Fiorita, Doulce memoire etc.

15 - Gloria Patri
16 - Hy hy hy, que de riza morremo
17 - Convidando está la noche
18 - Si el amor se quedare dormido

Recorded 29 April 2004 at the festival's opening concert in the San Roque Church, Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

Participants:

Jessica Bäcklund (soprano)
Nina Åkerblom Nielsen (soprano)
Dan Johansson (countertenor)
Peter Pontvik (countertenor)
Love Enström (tenor)
Viktor Kallas (tenor)
Yamandú Pontvik (baryton)
Jens Malmkvist (bass)
Markus Ström (flutes)
Karl Nyhlin (baroque guitar and lute)
Magdalena Mårding (viola da gamba)
Karl Thorsson (percussion)

IV Festival de Música Renacentista y Barroca Americana "Misiones de Chiquitos" / CD1

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This CD can be ordered from info@festivalesapac.com

This is one of two CD's recorded during the festival 2002. Contains 20 pieces performed by Ensemble Villancico, Florilegium, Hesperus etc.

1 - Achas y Bacas
2 - Ymaynalla canquitayta
3 - Yyai Yesuchristo
4 - Vamos a Belen
5 - Victoria
6 - Introito

Recorded 29 April 2002 in the San Roque Church, Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

Participants:

Jessica Bäcklund (soprano)
Annasara Johansson (soprano)
Dan Johansson (countertenor)
Peter Pontvik (countertenor)
Carl-Fredrik Jaensson (tenor)
Viktor Kallas (tenor)
Yamandú Pontvik (baryton)
Håkan Ekenäs (bass)
Markus Ström (recorders, zampoña and tarka)
Karl Nyhlin (baroque guitar and lute)
Louise Agnani (viola da gamba)
Karl Thorsson (percussion)

Cathedrals and missionary stations beyond the Atlantic

As a result of the Indian presence, European settlements and the African influence, a vast multicultural heritage flourishes in the widespread Latin America. The Western Renaissance and Baroque tradition that was carried over the Atlantic, that came to take root in the Indian soil and to take on a new outfit, is a particularly fascinating chapter. Through the discovery of the manuscripts in modern times and other historical documentation, it has been possible to map out the daily music usage in the church, missionary and partly even the worldly milieus. From this functional perspective, the genre can be largely divided into:

- Music in the cathedrals
- Music at the missionary stations
- Secular music

The Cathedrals

Latin America's first cathedral was built in Mexico City in 1528. Through monumental buildings such as this, a network was created on the "new" continent for first performances, spreading and archiving of European and locally written church music repertoire. The scores of the foremost contemporary Western composers reached the colonies surprisingly fast and found their place beside the newly composed Latin American works.

The cathedrals had boys choirs, professional choirs, instrumental ensembles and cantors. The cantor's duties were, in addition to conducting and organ playing, even pedagogical contributions. In Cuzco, Peru for example, the teaching of the Indian boys in shawm and cornet (1580) was documented, and in Lima cathedral's regulation book for the choir from 1612, the conductor was encouraged to teach both the adult musicians and choir-boys in Gregorian chant and counterpoint. The choir's capacity gave rise to such comments as: "the people in Toledo should feel envy and in Seville, admiration." (Antonio Rodriguez de Leon about Lima's cathedral choir in 1617, quoted in The Music of Peru by Robert Stevenson.)

The most important cathedral archives, that hitherto has contributed to the basic material and knowledge about the Latin American Renaissance and Baroque music, are situated in Guatemala City (Guatemala), Mexico City, Oaxaca and Puebla (Mexico), Lima and Cuzco (Peru), Sucre (Bolivia) and in Santa Fe de Bogotá (Colombia). A short list of the composer representative of the above-mentioned centers are, in the alphabetical order: Juan de Araújo, Roque Ceruti, Gaspar Fernandes, Gutierre Fernandez Hidalgo, Hernando Franco, Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla, Ignacio de Jerusalén, Juan de Lienas, Tomas de Torrejón y Velasco, Domenico Zipoli and Manuel de Zumaya.

The Missionary stations

Music was the missionaries', especially the Jesuits', most successful tool in the evangelisation process. The response that the priests with musical knowledge and the church musicians received from the Indian population, in this respect, is unprecedented in the history of music. Numerous testimonies inform us about the Indians' capacity to build instruments, play on them and to sing in choirs. The Jesuit priest Martin Schmid writes about it in a letter to his brother: "You cannot imagine how well these Indians play the organ and the violin and how well they have learned to singŠ"

During the period 1693-1767, the Jesuits established a number of reducciones (pressing together or reducing of the geographically spread Indian clans to communities according to the European model) in parts of today's Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. One of the first measures, after the establishing of a physical place, was the forming of a choir and an orchestra. The priests led the activities but at the same time, also educated the local talents in the imported art of music, and they, in turn, instructed their own countrymen.

The daily life at the missionary stations was characterized by a strict set of religious rules, where learning and practicing music was an important element. The masses, vespers and prayer hours made up the routines, but it was the great church holidays as the Easter, Corpus Christi and most of all Christmas that gave rise to celebratory music-making. It was also on these occasions that the Indian population's own traditions were allowed to come forward and coexist with the catholic liturgy. Furthermore, the sacred dances, both within and out of the church, and opera performances with religious content were recurring phenomena.

The music archives in the Jesuit colony Chiquitos, Bolivia, which comprise 5000 sheets that were saved from a fate of being used as toilet paper, give us a good insight into the missionary daily music usage. The collection contains, among others, works by the Italian-born Argentinean Domenico Zipoli and a number of anonymous composers.

Differences

What distinguishes the cathedral and missionary repertoire, respectively? A cantor was hired by the cathedral and had professional ensembles at his disposal; the missionaries, and particularly the Indians, were more or less voluntary workers. The musical form and instrumentation were of course adapted to these practical conditions. The works that came about in the cathedrals were often characterized by greatness and solid compositional work, where as, the missionary music seems to have made use of simpler means of expression and contains "mistakes," seen from the traditional music theoretical point of view. Lastly, the songs in native languages were much more common at the missionary stations than in the cathedrals.

Secular music

The worldly Renaissance music in Latin America, to a large extent, lacks documentation. One explanation is that the church, from its all-powerful position, was not interested in anything other than the sacred repertoire. There are, however, written examples of secular music (both vocal and instrumental) from the Baroque period, albeit in a relatively small scale, but it is still the composers of the church that are responsible for the material. On this CD, Blasco's Ventezillo traviesso has been included as an illustration.

Operas were also relatively uncommon. In Lima, Torrejon y Velasco composed in 1701 La purpura de la rosa, one of the few Latin American Baroque operas that has reached our time. The next example is Partenope written by the Mexican Manuel de Zumayas in 1711. Other dramatic musical contributions comprise musical features in theatrical plays and music specially composed for the celebration of a viceroy being inaugurated into office.

Ballroom dances were appreciated in the colonial society, and with time, a fruitful exchange between the old and the new world took place. The European country dances and minuets competed with the chaconnes and sarabandes - two of the dances with the Latin American origin that became well-known in Europe and later, returned to America. African roots can be found in the zarambesque, which was popular during the latter half of the 17th-centry.

Through the rediscovery of the Renaissance and Baroque music in Latin America, the old world has lost its monopoly position in regards to the art music of this epoch. A submersion into this world - as an object of comparison or as an absolute phenomenon - is and will continue to be a precious asset for researchers, interpreters and music lovers.

Peter Pontvik

Translation: Sung Hae Park

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Read about The Baroque music of the Conquistadors »

The Baroque music of the Conquistadors

It is difficult to define Latin American renaissance or baroque music, since the many precolonial Indian cultures had no unifying cultural heritage. One must therefore seek a common denominator in the (sacred) music that the Europeans, as the dominant ethnic unit, imported to the new continent.

History

The ships bearing the conquistadors probably also had musicians on board, both military and private, who with their trumpets, oboes, vihuelas and renaissance guitars are likely to have introduced western music to the new continent.

Soon after the conquerors came the missionaries, impatient to convert the population of these new territories to Christiantiy. They soon found that music could help them to quickly convince the Indians to join in Christian daily life and eventually join the faith.

Even though this social and cultural takeover was dictated wholly by the conquerors, it resulted in curious musical blends: compositions written in the formal language of the Europan renaissance, but which are coloured here and there by indigenious rythms or melodies, and which at the same time incorporate the local Indian languages in the text. In fact, only a few decades after Columbus arrived in America in 1492, the newly built Roman Catholic cathedrals in Mexico and Guatemala featured church music sung in Nahuatl and other Indian languages.

We should not forget that music played an important role in many rituals and ceremonies for America's indigenous population as well. Witnesses tell of the Indians' great talent for singing, playing and building instruments. One chronicle even names an Indian who had "ingeniously" composed and written down an entire mass. Often, young Indian boys were recruited for the church choirs, and they learned their new arts quickly.

The priest Fray Toribio de Benavente Motolinia (Mexico) said, "Some of these young boys have already begun singing four-part villancicos in their own language, which seems to me extremely impressive, since none of them have yet studied counterpoint."

In 1637, another priest, Antonio Ripario, wrote in a letter from Tucumán (Argentina) to the leader of the Jesuit movement in Milano, "The Indians sing entire masses and other motets or songs, together with their instruments: violins, harps, flutes, guitars, horns and trumpets so expertly that this music could be listened to in any European church."

Peter Pontvik

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Read about Cathedrals and missionary stations beyond the Atlantic »