Find out about our beloved project “Mozart y Mambo” and meet the members of the Havana Lyceum Orchestra during their tour of Austria & Germany 2022 in this very Cuban Horn Hangout. Conductor José Antonio Méndez Padrón, Saxophonist and composer Yuniet Lombida and pianist and composer Jorge Aragon talk about the project and the challenges of writing Cuban music for the French horn and we played a lot of live music….
October 28th, 2022
Transcript
Auto-generated from the live stream, expect the occasional robot mishearing.
Thank you though ready to go benvenitos [Music] because I don’t know [Music] right now [Music] [Applause] [Music] I love myself [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] ah [Music] a all right [Applause] welcome everybody to the live horn Hangouts welcome back and I don’t think we ever had a beginning like that I don’t remember ever being so out of breath saying hello to you at the live horn
Hangouts before please meet the amazing fantastic members of The Havana lyceum Orchestra oh and we just had Harold madrigalfrias on the trumpet here he is thank you Harold fresh in today welcome joining us today for the first time and actually can you show me what you actually have on under your sweater now this is a good question yeah he came properly dressed we have
Pepito Mendes our conductor of the monologue Orchestra and my very favorite salsa partner in yeah for sure in Havana and I would like to ask Pepe you and the amazing uni at lombita yeah and if Chris can manage to fit his hair in the camera I’d like to invite you to over here you guys are going to be on your phones the whole time ask us any questions you want we have a few surprises for you today we have the amazing
Jorge Aragon on the piano our arranger and composer yep amazing so come join us down here if I can get my breath back I know um mum is watching at home in London yeah anybody else where are the other places they’re watching from Boston New York in Cuba what yeah the internet is holding in Cuba oh my goodness for today just you put a special thing on it just for the horn
Hangouts oh my goodness um good so we’re having a great time thank you now it’s your time to talk [Laughter] yeah tell me what it’s like being here in Berlin with the Havana lyceum orchestra playing in the philharmoni for the first time yeah for each musician in the world I I want to say playing Berlin in the philharmonies is is a dream come true because we all in in
Havana at least in Cuba we grew up see watching the um videos from the Berlin Philharmonica or all musical Heroes play in this Orchestra and we actually try to copy and imitate then as as much as as we can and be here and play in this amazing role playing with you and with the orchestra for me is is really a dream a pleasure and honor and after that is one of the to bother my widget list in the in in my musical life and yeah
I really feel very proud and grateful because all of these all of these people uh here thanks to you and thanks to their music of course thanks to Moses and to Mambo um went out and bought our album and supported us because we we brought this album out to the world and we didn’t know whether people were going to like it or not we hoped they would but um we we put what we liked usually
Mozart home concertos are just all four or concertos on one CD and uh and then that’s it but of course we did something so outrageous we put Mambo to Eine Klein and music oh yeah but all of you seem to really love it so that’s why we’re here because the audience wants to hear what and also the
Havana lysine Orchestra you’ve just seen a few of them here they go bananas on stage they are just great on the night is this is this a Cuban thing really no way stay for Cubans it’s like not only the stage whenever we play we we practice our what we are and we love music in general and make music like always but here in
Berlin in the Berlin philomorika is um something that we we never imagined for some in my case I I didn’t have that in my list for example it was really a good surprise and uh I just enjoy every minute and I’m I’m sure I’m talking for all the all the other musicians in the orchestra we are trying to you know be in the present and enjoy that moment so this moments
Pepe while I’m looking for this can you let everyone know um about our second album Cuban dances why is it different to our first and I’m going to just fiddle around here for a minute yeah um a second we said in in Spanish uh second part is is more hard it’s more difficult because we when when with the with the first album of course every is new everybody want to know about that just for curiosity maybe uh but for second album to to catch the people a a game and to to do something new yeah we we must do you know we must sing a
Lot what uh we put together with a Mozart Hong Kong concertosa um why not to do a proper piece a concerto Cuban concerto for for horn and orchestra that never was written before in in Cuba why not we can we can ask one composer and yes maybe one composer but maybe one is not enough is not enough why not five or six well actually it’s because we made a competition because we wanted one and they were too good actually yes yeah we did a competition and we don’t know who yeah we we love then uh which of them we will choose at the end because
All uh we we love every everybody’s piece and why not to do it like a sweet like a sweet with the whole Cuban uh Rhythm typical Rhythm and dances and yeah this is the idea for the second album the Cuban dance Suite uh is the a full Suite with the six Cuban different Rhythm I think six Cuban
Lisa and songs um from different apart from the from the country from Santiago de Kuru Cuba from a pantanamo from matanzas from from Havana is very mixed uh mixed in the region in the Rhythm I mean it’s very rich Rhythm inside and for the horns uh for the horn I mean was um I think was a challenge to play this all of kind of
Cuban reason I I can’t imagine because volt Cuban was really difficult some Rhythm like changui that we normally don’t play it often was too hard for orchestra I can imagine for the horns for the horn and for the horns play in the in the world because this score of the suite will be available soon though it is it is ready to go we’re just having to print the final thing so yes it’s available so all of you can actually play it um it took a lot to be able to play it and our motto is if you can’t dance it you can’t play it so
You made me learn all these dances I’ll never forget the day when I was in in in addressing room here and uni it was in Berlin said no chica I’m sorry you’re gonna have to learn how to dance it all and we try you remember that day well of course absolutely I’d asked you to listen to some of it and say how could
I play it better and you were like you play the notes but you ain’t got it in the blood yeah I know actually it’s a challenge and I know you practice a lot and first you have to have all the notes you have to know of course how to play the horn and you do that very well but about styling on everything uh the secret in the queue of music is to feel it and this music not only to play is music also to dance so that for us the best way to learn and to play really the essence is by dancing and um but
The thing is also in Cuba uh we used to dance casinos salsa reggaeton also what else what do we have in Havana right now or in Cuba many things no many things but you know playing dance song bolero Mambo it’s a lot and to really understand how it works every every song every it’s I think it’s actually uh this is another thing good for even for for children that this kind of of all reason um were um a little bit lost in the in the last in the last year in the in the music in in general because with the modern modernity with the new
Rhythm everybody want to hear reggaeton and more faster reason and for for Cuban music this concerto not all not only for for classical musician or classical music in general for for the popular music too is is very is very good to Bringing out all of this uh all Rhythm from Fran Cuba because it’s our Essence every every modern
Rhythm came from from this Rhythm this is the root of the of the Cuban music it came from the modern and that means so you could put a rhythm to any to any bit of classical music whatever so if I gave you Eine kleinach music something like that we can try could you put all different rhythms to it yeah yeah can they help you yeah of course hey guys okay okay here we go okay the foreign [Music] but now you’re coming close to you because there’s a microphone oh okay it’s in a nice place here now the same melody in other rhythms okay so that
Was a normal Rhythm okay so that was just okay algorithms other Rhythm okay what are the Rhythm Cha-Cha Cha Cha Cha okay okay here we go oh [Music] but for example what about Bolero Bolero this is Jorge specials I’ve got to tell you guys Jorge wrote the Bolero unbolero parasado on the new Cuban dances horn concerto this is the composer this amazingly beautiful music so
I’d like to hear how you put something [Music] let’s go what about okay nobody really knows changui unless they’ve heard the Cuban dances the sixth movement is a changui it’s a folk dance from down near Guantanamo and we we played it in a place called yateras which is a banana plant a uh Plantation and um changui is always it’s like dancing salsa with hiccups so
I don’t know how you’re gonna do this [Music] they they wanted to be a bit longer okay okay but that’s what I love about Cuban music it’s improvised and it’s very bit like this hangout it’s improvised and no one really knows what’s going on a Conga no no we went to the Congo the Congo’s always six eight six eight okay six eight like a
Rondo [Music] thank you okay I like that one it’s like the horn concertos but for example afro afro afro Cuban [Music] you’re you’re all playing the same Melody but jojito here is playing the most unbelievable stuff on the piano really incredible because now we are talking only about Rhythm yeah but after when you have for example jorgeous the his
Harmony world is so yeah it’s huge it’s huge then you can also change uh play a lot with that okay so what else do we have we have for example son or a salsa how about a salsa let’s have a Salsa Salsa is not a Cuban Rhythm really is it but born in Cuba born in Cuba okay yeah but salsa is more a
Dominican Republic in Colombia Puerto Rico yeah [Music] for the last one for example I don’t know we can do it are we gonna do it okay okay in the Cuban dances let’s try a guacamole this is really your Afro Cuban rhythm with a different clave [Applause] thank you [Music] yeah yeah yeah sorry I forgot that I forgot that okay okay thank you [Music] foreign one more [Music] yeah but actually what happens with the
Congo we actually oh yeah yeah okay okay this is a Cuban conga [Music] laughs okay right well okay after that incredible Conga I’m gonna go back down here because I’m exhausted um jorito come in come in here I want to ask you something about composing for horn um Pepito will you translate for me or he just speaks amazing
Spanish and I don’t so but he understands really well what what was the challenge of arranging and composing for the French horn foreign was for you uh a yes as a composer he he normally made a lot of arrangement for orchestration um for Cinema until about the real composition for for like a concerto or like a proper piece for solo and an orchestra is the first time for hidden is was a big challenge to to do it but what was the challenge which challenge what exactly is it the sound of the horn the range of the horn um [Music] foreign [Music] like the horn sound
Was too close to to his his way to sin and actually his range vocal range uh really I didn’t know that you could sing like the horn yeah well um and yeah was was great because he he he liked the the sound for for the beginning this is the idea okay good and what about arranging because you’ve arranged all the
Cuban songs for mozzari Mambo but what happens with the Cuban arrangers is they put everything for the wins and for the strings and then in the percussion Parts they write Mambo Cha-Cha they don’t write the notes are [Music] like um a scale or something to for for the other uh percussion playing in in the world I can can play this music because this this music were born as a improvisation as many music in
Cuba was improvised and for the percussion play they must know only play a mambo Rhythm or play song Rhythm uh but to bring in this this kind of equation to the orchestra and play the same Dynamic the same articulation the same chain of of um of tempo the the the phrasing and accompanying the the horn as a solid was a real difficult to write to to put in in in the proper score for but this is great for the for the people in the world that they can play absolutely because now we have they made this
Legend and uh from now until now and for now they they will everybody can everybody can use this like a new dictionary it’s all our work so now actually they wrote down um a song they wrote A Dance song was the the hardest one for me anyway the guaguan KO was quite hard too but but for the percussionists of the world and also
Alejandro and Ponce are two percussionists in the Havana lyceum Orchestra they have made a video to go with the Cuban dances they made one already for Rondo Mambo and now they’ve made it for Cuban dances you see he’s got a horn hang out t-shirt as thanks uh but he made they made an amazing amazing video which we’ll upload but the music is available so yeah it’s been amazing to have you here and
I must say today it was so emotional to be on stage in the chamber music called the philomoney play turn around and then see my Mi Familia Cubana my Cuban Family behind me playing supporting I had a few moments where I really the yeah and I think tomorrow you but Pepe and I get together we just cried yeah actually
I I am really astonishing now I I try to remember what happened in under rehearsal but I really I cannot it’s gonna be a great show and we’re going to try and fit for you so you get to see it um but but I think before we go it’s about time we time live music what do you think what do you think some more live music yeah yeah that’d be great because due to the lack of questions unfortunately we had a little hiccup and we went off live so we don’t have the live chat with us anymore but if um any of you have any
Questions for us write it in when you’re watching this and we’ll do our best to answer them but it was really important for me today to gather my Cuban family and to to introduce you to these amazing people because um I love them very much and um people say it’s great what Sarah’s done for her Cuban musicians but
I see it the opposite I find it amazing what they have done for me because they’ve given me oh god oh [Laughter] they’ve taught me to make music in a different way they’ve given me a lot of joy in what I do I play Mozart differently since I met them um I’ve found you know people that I really love in a completely different completely different area of the world and different
Lifestyles different way of thinking but when we play music it doesn’t matter because we’re all the same yeah we’re all the same and uh I love you very much I’m going to stop talking because I’m going to cry otherwise so how about some mumbo to finish off with what do you say guys thank you to my our percussion section without our percussion section we would not be who we are
Alejandro Luis Felipe Adele and Miguel and they’re all over here and really the essence of Cuba music is in the clave in the beat and you are going to now give us some mumbo influenciado and Chuchu Valdez wrote this but I think this is more like uh yeah more like a Havana lyceum Orchestra influenciado it’s fantastic okay thank you for watching
I’m glad you met everybody keep in touch enjoy Mozart remember enjoy Cuban dances and you heard it here first there may be another album coming but lovely to see you take care here we go Mumbo [Music] foreign [Music] thank you foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] no no no no no no no no laughs [Music]
I love anything [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music]
Horn Hangouts are created by Sarah Willis of the Berlin Philharmonic. Brassbanned is a proud long-time collaborator and streaming partner.
