New Recordings from Mexico (and the USA)
I returned to Mexico in March to record with Armando López Valdivia in Guanajuato. We tracked nearly two hours of music and it turned out beautifully. Armando played violas de gamba, flute, guitar, zamfona (it’s like a hurdy-gurdy) and hand drum while I played guitar, dulcimer and vihuela (a Spanish 16th century antecedent of the guitar). I am now in the process of mixing and editing the results and I’ll post some of it as soon as it’s ready.
I also did some playing and recording in Mexico City with my friend drummer/percussionist Javier Sosa. He played drum set and various percussion instruments and I played guitar and dulcimer. I’ll be adding some bass here at home and then mixing the results. So far it sounds great - I hope I don’t mess it up with the bass parts! Once again, I’ll post the results when they’re ready.
After returning home I did another session with jazz and R&B vocalist Jazmin Skye. We have been playing duets of voice and guitar and we recorded four tunes to function as a demo. As you might guess, my hands have been full with mixing and editing!
Guanajuato mini-tour a Success
The first concert in the beautiful Museo Iconográfico de Don Quixote in Guanajuato, Mexico on August 7th turned out to be one of the best concerts I’ve ever given. The museum is a converted old hacienda near the center of town and it has a great concert space in the sculpture garden with wonderful acoustics. I’m happy that Armando Lopez Valdivia joined me on stage again. He played with me there 2 years ago and it was a fantastic show. Armando is an early music specialist and has a collection of nearly 200 instruments - and he plays them all! You can see my recap of the concert with photos and video here. On the strength of that concert I was offered another at the Museo Dieguino also in Guanajuato. You can read the recap (also with vieo and photos) here. Between the two concerts, I traveled to Mexico City to do some recording with drummer Javier Sosa and bassist Edgar Sanchez. I’ll post some audio of that session when it’s mixed down. I then went to Paracho, a small town in the mountains of Michoacan to purchase some instruments. If you’d like to read the blog of the whole trip, you can read it here.
Concert Tour of Mexico, Europe and Africa
I was invited to tour as the guitarist in the band of Koulsy Lamko, an African vocalist currently residing in Mexico City. The tour visited several cities in Mexico, France, Italy, Mali and Burkina Faso. The band was part of “The Caravan Tom Sank” which celebrated the life of Thomas Sankara, the former president of Burkina Faso. Although the tour had a number of logistical problems, it was fascinating to see Africa and to get to know the people a little bit. We had a couple of fantastic opportunities to play with griots in Mali. The griots are a caste of musician/poets that are raised to be artists from childhood and keep their people’s cultural story and wisdom in memory through song and spoken word. I have never played with more natural musicians in all my life. If you’d like to read the blog of the trip, go to the following link:
Mexico, Europe and Africa Blog
