La trompa de la salsa: the role of the French Horn in Afro-Cuban music
(2024)
author(s): Ana Muñoz Koniarska
published in: KC Research Portal
Discovering Afro-Cuban music as a classical musician was an outstanding moment in my career. Realizing how unusual it is for French Horns to be involved in this style inspired me to start this research and further develop my skills.
Even though it is usual to find trombones and trumpets in Afro-Cuban music ensembles, it is challenging to find examples with French Horn players. Currently, the most successful horn player in this genre is Sarah Willis, who fell in love with Cuban rhythms and decided to share them by creating innovative albums.
The methodology of this research includes a literature review of existing works related to Afro-Cuban music, interviews with experienced players in this field, and practical demonstrations in video form. The theoretical framework provides a brief review of Afro-Cuban music from its origins until today, paying special attention to the practically non-existent presence of French Horn players in this field. The practical framework collects data on the challenges that a classical French Horn player may encounter when playing this music and offers possible solutions.
As a result of this study, I now have a better understanding of this style and why the horn is not usually included in it. Also, having the experience of playing Afro-Cuban music as a classical musician has clarified the differences and difficulties of approaching this music but more so how it can nourish my musical practice with new skills.
The chosen format of presentation will be a public exposition of the results of the research.
New (old) Music - Intercontextual Compositional Methodologies
(2023)
author(s): Martín Mayo
published in: KC Research Portal
It would be more than reductive to say that art is not created in a vacuum. Simply said, all art exists in a context, and said context includes medium, genre, style, and idiom, amongst other things. In the realm of Western music, much insight has been given regarding quotation, and less so regarding subtler applications of stylistic, generic, and idiomatic thought in composition. So, if all music exists in a specific context, how can composers creatively account for context in their compositions? This research seeks to answer this question by outlining methodologies via analysis of relevant works. Given the background and musical focus of the researcher, this research predominantly focuses on musical works that adapt or interact with Latin-American folkloric music and traditions, with many works dealing specifically with Venezuelan and Cuban folklore.
Decolonial Listening and the Politics of Sound: Water, Breathing and Urban Unconscious
(2023)
author(s): Rodrigo Toro and Donovan Hernández Castellanos
published in: Journal of Sonic Studies
This essay is based in the urgency of questioning the coloniality of being and power (Quijano, 2014), present in the hegemonic aural regime. It is based on two pieces: Wet Season / Dry Season (2021), a sound installation by the collective of Cuban visual artists Celia-Yunior that was presented at the Jakarta Biennial, Indonesia; and Breathe (2020), an interdisciplinary piece combining dance, literature, sound and video.