In the last golden rays of the eighteenth century, a
number of Spanish musicians, following in the footsteps of the Conquistadors and
missionaries, arrived in Mexico to make their contribution to the evangelisation
of the conquered peoples. No longer armed with the cross and sword, they bore a
guitar.. And Santiago de Murcia
was one of them.
When he arrived on the shores of the New World, this guitarist, who had
studied with Francisco Guerau, had already travelled all over Europe, where he
had met composers such as Alessandro Scarlatti, Arcangelo Corelli and Robert de
Visée, and shared with them the most inventiveness and creativity, exploits the
various registers of the baroque guitar.
Santiago de Murcia created a very personal blend of music, combining Spanish
baroque - with its Medieval, Renaissance and Oriental influences - with the
native music of Mexico. Without ever losing coherency of structure, he brought
together popular dance themes (gaitas, jacaras,
canarios), dances of Afro-American origin (cumbees,
guineos) or paisones - the latter to the theme of Greensleeves
- and pieces of Italian origin (La Folias, tarentela).
Accompanied by an exciting group of musicians (the
percussionists include Pedro Estevan), Rolf Lislevand
- well known for his cobweb-removing performances
of the baroque repertoire - enriches the score with improvisation and explores
to the full the verve of this music.
