Manuel Obreg󮠹 La Orquesta de la Papaya

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:08:00 -0500

Christopher Columbus met up with Central America on his last attempt to discover a sea passage to the Spice Route, and while he may not have come across pepper, he did find a sea of papayas.

Papaya seeds made their way to India where, with the turn of the centuries and life’s twists of fate, some spice traders have used them to adulterate pepper.

The Papaya Orchestra takes its name from this fruit, which grows wild in this narrow strip of the continent and is considered a tasty treat by magpies, toucans, monkeys, iguanas, lizards, tapirs and all kinds of other birds, mammals and insects.

Meeting for the first time and in many cases, venturing out of their communities for the very first time, fourteen musicians and the instruments and customs of seven countries were convened to play music heard traditionally at festivities, to accompany a special day of labor or religious ceremonies, and in everyday life.

This is how the folk violin of Panama, the Garifuna drums of Belize and Honduras, Guatemala’s earthen jars (pre-Columbian percussion) and Nicaraguan marimbas de arco were brought together under the direction of Costa Rican pianist Manuel Obregón.

This fusion of indigenous instruments with the more conventional piano, electric bass, accordion and drums has resulted in an unusual and surprising sonority that has since come to identify this volcanic arc connecting northern and southern America.

THE JOURNEY

This is Papaya Music’s founding disk, inaugurating an entire collection of sonorous landscapes and musical regions in Central America, with their composers, rhythms and reinterpretations of traditional folk music. It was recorded during a series of debut concerts in Costa Rica, in February 2002.

The music of Papaya Orchestra is like a travel book taking us on a journey, to the great indigenous civilizations established within the jungles and highland plains, to densely populated cities scattered over the isthmus and to Caribbean communities reminiscent of an African diaspora. Their concerts are an intense, joyful and festive voyage through the region’s seven countries, recreating scenarios and ambiances through the transporting magic of music.

The musicians of Papaya are a true reflection of ethnic convergence in this zone, made up of indigenous ancestors, the Africans who came with the Europeans in the colony and all of the mixes that subsequently took place.

The journey begins in the Azuero Peninsula, on the Pacific coast of Panama where the orchestra’s distinctive “grito” or shout was born. From there Papaya tears off from the beaches of Belize on its way to Lake Nicaragua. As happens during such voyages, the trip is full of rhythmic leaps, sudden changes of climate, border crossings and shifting languages. It brims with joy as an accordion plays a Panamanian cumbia, then pauses for a moment to hear Lenin Fernández play the “tonajas,” earthen jugs that evoke the music of pre-Colombian times and sing the dramatic history of Guatemala’s native population.

TRADITION

Central America’s indigenous people have always loved dance and revered good musicians, as documented by European travelers over the years. “In just one day they can take the most difficult melody and perform it with great expressiveness,” wrote the 19th century chronicler, Von Tempsky.

Manuel Obregón had the same experience the first time he got together with the marimba group “Nicaragua Mía” at Casa de los Tres Mundos, in Granada, Nicaragua.

The Martínez family rose to the challenge of fusing marimba de arco and piano, demonstrating their willingness to venture outside folkloric tradition and executing complex harmonies with ease.“We’re not from a school, we are the root,” asserts Marcos Martínez, leader of the group. “The music is in our mind.”

Tradition is also represented in this orchestra by musicians from Panama, a country whose folklore is unusually dynamic. The African legacy is provided by the musicians of Belize and Honduras, while the artists of Costa Rica, Guatemala and El Salvador -more exposed to the influence of U.S. rock, jazz, pop, R&B, Latin rhythms and contemporary music- reflect the cosmopolitan aspirations of the region.

Our journey through the seven countries of the isthmus comes to a close with “Catedral”, which Manuel Obregón composed especially for the orchestra, revealing the esthetic refinement these Central American musicians can attain.

Tierra de la Dulce Espera

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:08:00 -0500

The musical seeds of Central America burst in exuberance from the heart of a papaya. Using marimbas, turtle shells, African and pre-Colombian drums, guitars and violins, Papaya Orchestra expresses the spirit of the land bridge between two oceans, from the melancholy of a rural farmer to the soul of carnaval.

Central America is the Land of Sweet Longing. It is an ark –a vessel carrying trees and palm groves. It is a seed beached on the sand awaiting a bright future. The cover art painting by Cuba's René Martín symbolizes fertility and the feminine essence of the fruit for which the orchestra is named. It is an image that characterizes the purpose of this second disc: to find and record the talented female voices inhabiting this piece of the planet.

Central America is no longer a mythical place of blue jade, boundless gold and teeming jungles. It is a land with a convulsive and complex history, trampled by wars and hurricanes, yet still preserving patches of virgin forest and people capable of sweetening reality with their music, their work and their capacity to rise again. In the words of Honduran Guillermo Anderson, from a song that gives title to this disc: “I saw walls crack/ I saw dictatorships fade/ I saw mountains of fire/ I saw bitterness on faces. I know the wrath of men/ I know the calm of beasts/ My country is called the Land of Sweet Longing.

"Nanita", composed by the Guatemalan artist Magda Angelica, pays homage to the Cackchiquel woman who raised her. The song embodies the Indigenous soul of Central America and points us down the road towards an exploration of this musical landscape, in the company of various women, artists, composers
and singers.

Women in the Orchestra

Originally, Papaya Orchestra was made up of 14 musicians, all men. Now five female voices have been added, headed by Yomira John, an Afro-Panamanian with immense stage presence and a voice reminiscent of Toto La Momposina.

Yomira was born in Panama City and was raised in the area of Chiriquí, one of the great salt water lagoons on the Caribbean shore of Panama. At 14 she was touring the country in the company of folkloric groups; in Mexico she abandoned her teaching career to sing calypsos in an Acapulco bar with Haitian and Panamanian immigrants. Yomira has sung with Luis Miguel, Ricky Martin and Danny Rivera. She tried her luck singing pop and boleros, “but it was pretty discouraging. I had to go back to my roots to feel good about where I am.”

The Protestant churches in Costa Rica´s Caribbean coast are a mine of choral treasures. These treasures include the Tucker sisters, daughters of an Adventist minister who shared his vocal gifts with the entire family. The Tucker sisters have shared the stage with several Papaya Music artists, including Manuel Obregón and Malpaís Group.

The orchestra´s second disk is the fruit of a collective creation. Each theme was based on a musical idea created by one of the orchestra members, while the others built on the song with their improvisations, adding instruments or pieces of lyrics. At first Manuel Obregón did all the arrangements; now the orchestra members have come to understand one another and arrange their music together. They have found a common voice: the voice of this “Land of Sweet Longing.”

New Music From Papaya Orchestra / La Orquesta de la Papaya on Calabash Music

Manuel Obreg󮠹 La Orquesta de la Papaya

Tierra de la Dulce Espera