Pianist Irma Enriquez and Opera Australia tenor Diego Torre will channel the ancestral voices of indigenous Mexicans during the Mexico 22 in Asia Pacific concert on September 8 at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra.
Inspired by lullabies, legends and poems in indigenous languages, the concert will feature works composed exclusively for the Mexican-Australian duo.
Pianist Irma Enriquez and Opera Australia tenor Diego Torre. Credit: Supplied
The concert will show the linguistic and musical diversity of a contemporary Mexico, and let people know that contemporary music can also be created from the indigenous languages of Mexico.Irma Enriquez, Mexican-Australian pianist.
During an interview with SBS Spanish, Ms Enriquez says the duo hope that the concert conveys the richness and diversity of indigenous Mexico to Australian audiences.
“I hope that people will leave the concert knowing more about the indigenous languages of Mexico, from different areas. That is why we have chosen five geographical areas in this program, with five specific languages represented," she says.
Only a handful of contemporary music concerts in indigenous languages have been performed in a a few countries, such as Canada and the US, but never in the Asia-Pacific.
The challenges of interpreting indigenous languages
Mr Torre, a tenor with Opera Australia, says interpreting these songs in their original languages proved to be quite a challenge.
He tells SBS Spanish that it was like entering a new world of music.
“This is the first time in my career that I've had to perform this type of vocal work. In particular, the opera piece in Mayan was a new world for me," Mr Torre said.
"It is very interesting, and I will try to make it as authentic as possible."
The Mexican-Australian opera singer says that he has received a lot of help from the composers of these works to achieve a better performance.
It's a big challenge because I have to allow myself the time to assimilate the music, to understand it and to be able to transmit it. I am the first one who has to understand it in order to interpret it. And well, it was a joint effort with Irma.Diego Torre, star tenor of Opera Australia
For her part, the pianist says that the concert includes a varied repertoire, including new works in-language exclusively composed for the duo, as well as modern arrangements of 20th century indigenous Mexican pieces.
Ms Enriquez highlights a lullaby, a piece she hopes will have a great impact on the audience.
“The lullaby that we are presenting is very significant," she says.
"The audience will be the ones who will be able to say what they felt while listening to this lullaby, which is also contemporary, and is not just any lullaby.
"It's something very special that focuses on the poverty suffered by our indigenous peoples and how they see lullabies in their communities."
Although Ms Enriquez shies from giving away too many details of the world premiere, she describes the final piece as a "very beautiful, more subtle and more seductive piece in Spanish".
Helping young composers of indigenous origins
On the significance of initiatives like this beyond a concert or a tour, Mr Torre explains that the idea is to inspire young composers of indigenous origins from Spanish-speaking countries to “return to their roots and to feel proud of where they come from, and not relegate this to oblivion".
Mr Torre says it is important to revive all of this ancestral knowledge in contemporary artistic expressions as a means to create new works, “to rescue traditions, capture them and make them part of our time".
It's not just about reproducing the old songs; it's about being able to create new works with indigenous roots, with our original roots.Diego Torre, star tenor of Opera Australia
Ms Enriquez adds that she is also not interested in merely reproducing or copying what other people have done in the past.
“What interests me, as Diego says, is to use elements - either through language, through legends, poetry - and to be able to include them in the musical part of our day-to-day," she says.
"It's the best way to bring people together... Folklore has a very important mission today because it's history, it's literature, it's art, it's a whole, and why not do it here in Australia?"
The world premiere of the program Mexico 22 in the Asia Pacific will be on Thursday, September 8, at 6:30pm, at the National Gallery of Australia, in Canberra.
