June 20, 7pm
Adults $20
Kids $10
Seamlessly weaving together the ancient with the modern in a collaboration between sacred and world music, from the rhythms and hauntingly beautiful melodies of the South American Andes and the rainforest, Native American chants and modern lullabies for melting glaciers and ocean deities, to the spiritual visions and sung prayers articulated in cathedrals, ‘MAMALAMA Y ANDES MANTA’ is an uncommon, otherworldly and uplifting experience through music.
ANDES MANTA is a 4 brother ensemble from Ecuador who have been performing the traditional music of the Andes for over 30 years throughout the United States. The music of Andes Manta is a joyous celebration of daily life. Songs and festivals mark the blessing of a house, the birth of a child, and the cycles of planting and harvesting. Energetic music and dance animate religious festivals blending pre-Colombian and Catholic rituals. The musicians of Andes Manta believe that through their music they bring a rare opportunity for cultural understanding between the people of their homeland, South America, and the people of modern North America. Although we know that Andean music has been played in South America for thousands of years, its beginnings have been lost in the mists of time. Just as the true origins of the native peoples of the Americas continue to elude us, the first players of this wonderful musical tradition remain an enigma.
Despite the mystery, this vibrant and powerful music continues to be played from Colombia to Tierra del Fuego, and none play it better than the four Lopez brothers who make up Andes Manta. Fernando, Luis, Bolivar and Jorge bring this unique art form to North America in its purest and most authentic form. Natives of the Ecuadorian Andes, the brothers learned their traditional folk music as it has been learned for thousands of years — passed from father to son, and brother to brother.
Andes Manta perform with over 35 traditional instruments including a wide variety of traditional Andean flutes (including some that are 6 feet long), charango, ocarinas, percussion, bandolin, and more. They have collaborated with artists like Paul Winter, as well as performed in spaces like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The National Cathedral, among others. The musicians of ANDES MANTA believe that through their music they bring a rare opportunity for cultural understanding between the people of their homeland, South America, and the people of modern North America.
MAMALAMA composes and performs dreamlike, modern-day sacred music on world instruments, with European/Paraguayan harps, ethereal female vocals, shruti box and piano, accompanied by an ever-evolving world music ensemble. The songs have one foot on the earth and one in the spiritual realm, exploring vivid experiences within dreams, visions and prayers, archetypes of sacred world mythology, realms of the human heart, the wild and beautiful earth, and the transformative realms of spiritual healing. The music is a seamless union of the ancient with the modern, and is offered as much as a healing salve as it is a performance.
" A stunningly beautiful, intoxicating sound that will lull you to a place of peace ...." (Chronogram Magazine)
An Artist in Residence at Woodstock’s Byrdcliffe Guild, Mamalama’s front-woman Elizabeth Clark is currently composing “Seeds Under Nuclear Winter,” her first inter-disciplinary ‘Earth Opera' -- an articulation of dreams and visions through music and moving visual art. This large-scale production encompasses music orchestrated for a world music ‘pit’ orchestra, choir, and harps, as well as dance/movement, multi-sensory experience, and animated/acoustic moving visual art.
Elizabeth is a long-time foundational composer with the non-profit organization ‘SageArts", whose mission involves writing deeply reflective pieces of music collaboratively with Elders throughout the region (www.sagearts.org). Through 'Sagearts', songwriters work directly with elders, creating original songs that reflect upon and celebrate the wisdom and experience inherent within each Elder’s life. Most recently, 'Sagearts' completed a music project which involved composing original life-reflective songs with eight holocaust survivors, a life-changing and healing musical project that is currently being developed into a documentary film called “"WE REMEMBER: Songs of Survivors”.
“Honoring Holocaust Survivors: A Concert of Resilience” was the public performance of these songs, the culmination of 6 months of intimate, one-to-one work with individual survivors. The live concert was performed at Mount Saint Mary College in May 2019 for an audience of nearly 500 people, with an all-ages audience consisting of many survivors and their immediate families, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, as well as the surrounding Hudson Valley community.
Elizabeth approaches music and the arts with the clear conviction that these practices can be utilized as a potent healing force in the world.