One of the finest jazz ensembles and best-loved choirs in our country pay tribute to Salvador Espriu on the centenary of his birth. They remember the Catalan poet in a cantata based on a selection of his civic poetry.
Ricard Gili, composer of the cantata and director of Locomotora Negra, still remembers the concert of sacred music given by the Duke Ellington Orchestra and the Coral Sant Jordi. Conducted by Oriol Martorell, the concert took place in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar in 1969. The vision and memory that imbues Salvador Espriu’s poetry, strikingly valid qualities today, inspire and shape a performance that features the eighteen musicians of La Locomotora Negra, the sixty singers in the Coral Sant Jordi, two solo singers – the Mexican soprano Paula Nogueira and the tenor Mú from Guinea-Bissau – and the actress Carme Sansa, who introduces the poems as they are put to music.
In a production directed by Quim Lecina, then, we will hear the poetry of Salvador Espriu accompanied by jazz rhythms for the first time. The narrative thread of the cantata is provided by the uncertain quest of the Catalan people for a worthy destiny as a nation. He mirat aquesta terra is the most original and ambitious project ever undertaken by La Locomotora Negra, one of the most outstanding Catalan jazz ensembles since the band was founded in 1971.
Autoria: Salvador Espriu / Ricard Gili; Composició musical: Ricard Gili; Direcció musical: Ricard Gili (La Locomotora Negra) i Lluís Vila i Casañas (Coral Sant Jordi); Direcció escènica: Quim Lecina; Interpretació musical: La Locomotora Negra / Coral Sant Jordi / Paula Nogueira (soprano) / Mú (tenor); Textos: Carme Sansa; Disseny de so: Joaquim Isern; Il·luminació: Rafael Tomico;
