Rehearsal

We are rehearsing for a mass.
These are two bits of  the work of  Francisco López Capillas .A Mexican composer of the 17th century.
The first is part of  'Magnificat', my teacher told us that Catholics consider it the most powerful prayer.


You can hear our teacher (and director) singing the part of the bass at the beginning, then he goes over the alto part with us. The words say:

  "Deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles"*
*(He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly)
The  Second thing we sing is actually a complete piece, "Alleluia" I'm just learning it.
Each voice has a beautiful melody and I find amazing how this incredible explosion of joy and light takes place when they are assembled together


The pictures are of the choir, the convent and some signs of the choir's recitals.

Coro de Santiago

A few weeks ago I brought my camera to choir rehearsal.
I had been wanting to do so for a very long time but I kept on forgetting.
I finally got to take a few pictures of the choir and of the beautiful convent where we rehearse.
Since I first set foot inside it all I have eyes for are the frescoes on the walls and ceilings of the cloister.
I made 3 videos with the pictures I took and with some songs from a recital we had on March at that very convent.

Un Sarao de la Chacona

The first picture is of Angelina, one of our sopranos :) Isn't she beautiful? Even as unprepared as she was for this picture, I surprised her with it. I love the texture of the adobe wall behind her, there was a tarantula web in it, which of course I didn't include on the video but you can see it here:

Tepoztlán is such a beautiful town to visit! And, no, it's not crawling with tarantulas!

The next picture in the video is the entrance of the Convent and main church. The decorative arch with "aztec" motifs is made entirely out of seeds and grains.

The last pictures are of Patricia, one of our new sopranos, she's wearing a hat, I don't know much about her yet.but she's very nice to be around and has a lovely voice. And 2 of our altos, Susana and Alicia, Alicia is the one sitting on the stairs and smiling, she is a remarkable artist. Susana is always joking around and making us laugh and has a very nice accent, she's from Argentina and has a wonderful voice!. The last picture is of Odiseo, our youngest tenor, he's 15 years old.

Teresica Hermana

On the particular day I took this pictures we were moved back to a different room which was were the choir used to rehearse before I joined them and there was a garden next to it! It's been "chained" ever since. I guess they didn't appreciate to have us wandering off into it. It smelled of guavas, citrus and mango. The Guava tree has a pinkish hue to its bark.

If you have any insights about this song I'd love to hear them since there's been many hypothesis about it at the choir but I'd sure love to know the exact story behind it.

Con qué la lavaré

"¿Con qué la lavaré, la tez de la mí cara? ¿Con qué la lavaré? Que vivo mal penada.

Lávanse las galanas con agua de limones"

I've heard longer versions of this piece, but these are the only lines we sing. It's so beautiful!

Just like a Tepoztlán evening, Look at the wonderful color of that night sky.

This is the sign that was made for this recital
I like it a lot.
I must say I have always been very impressed by the choir members and I feel so happy to be a part of it.
I remember the first time I heard them rehearse at the convent, it was glorious and amazing!
I'm looking forward to September being over because then I believe we will have a different repertoire, we've been rehearsing other traditional mexican songs for the 200 years celebration of the independence such as "La Adelita" and I miss this other kind of songs, (meaning the ones on the videos) plus the 17th-18th century Spanish Christmas Carols they sang last year were delightful and I'm very much looking forward to rehearsing them! <3

(Specially "Vaya Vaya de Cantos de Amores" and "Es Nascido")

The other pictures of the choir are from a recital they had in Cuautla just before I joined them. Only my foot appears once or twice because I took the photos but I do sing in all 3 of them :)

XVI-XVII Century México

Cloister of the Convent in Tepoztlán, Morelos.

From the time the Spanish arrived to the 'New World', particularly to what they came to call México, an amazing blend of cultures took place, unlike other places of the world where there has been an invasion, in this case the locals and the invaders mixed and a new culture with two or more heritages was born.
Old worlds entwining to create a new race that to this day has much to be proud of. Unfortunately our real roots are often mistaken. A large number of today's Mexicans would much rather look Spanish and on the other hand we have people thinking the real roots of our country lie within the native prehispanic traditions and reject half of their legacy.

I have felt worried about being artificial because many of my preferences seemed alien to my culture but I have recently come to find out that many -if not all- of the things I love and that move me can be found in that specific time of the history of my country. I was just unaware of it.

You can't love what you don't know. My country is easy to love just because of it's beautiful landscapes and kind climate alone, among many other things, each worthy of their own blog post. But a lot of people, my self included, ignore most of our historic and cultural inheritance. As I've come to learn more about it through books, friends and teachers I've also gained a better appreciation for my culture and its art and history.

This song is something I started rehearsing today with a choir I'm very happy to belong to. We rehearse at the Convent of Tepoztlán. It's such a wonderful space to be at and often the highlight of my week.

Palm Sunday Hymn version by Francisco López y Capillas, kapellmeister of México's City Cathedral, XVII Century. Performed by the Choir of the Cathedral of México.