CREDITS Haiku Recorded 1973 at Mediasound Studios, NYC Recording Engineer: Fred Christie Mastered by Nathan James at the Vault Mastering Studios NYC Inura Recorded April 2009 at Clinton Studios, NYC Recording Engineer: Bryan Smith Assistant Engineer: David Belmont Mastered by Nathan James at the Vault Mastering Studios NYC

Personnel Manager for Son Sonora Ensemble: Martha Mooke Personnel Manager for Son Sonora Voices: Margery Daley Haiku was commissioned by Dance Theatre of Harlem Inura was commissioned by Brandon Fradd Publisher: IROKO Music; Songs of Peer, Ltd. (ASCAP) Exclusive Administrator. CD Produced by: Martha Mooke Executive Producer: Brandon Fradd

PHOTO CREDITS Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble Haiku Dancers: Gayle McKinney, Derek Williams, Dance Theatre of Harlem Son Sonora Ensemble and Voices Photographer: Marbeth DanceBrazil Percussion Photo courtesy of Dance Theatre of Harlem TANIA LEÓN, CONDUCTOR Inura Dancer: Isis Dos Santos, Dance Brazil Photographer: Nan Melville

WWW.ALBANYRECORDS.COM TROY1284 ALBANY RECORDS U.S. 915 BROADWAY, ALBANY, NY 12207 TEL: 518.436.8814 FAX: 518.436.0643 ALBANY RECORDS U.K. BOX 137, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA8 0XD TEL: 01539 824008 © 2011 ALBANY RECORDS MADE IN THE USA DDD WARNING: COPYRIGHT SUBSISTS IN ALL RECORDINGS ISSUED UNDER THIS LABEL. THE COMPOSER Theatre of Harlem, New World Symphony, Koussevitzky Foundation, Fest der Kontinente (Hamburg, Tania León, (b. Havana, Germany), Cincinnati Symphony, National Endowment for the Arts, NDR Sinfonie Orchester, Albany Cuba) is highly regarded Symphony, American Composers , The Library of Congress, Ensemble Modern, Chanticleer, as a composer and con- The Western Wind, The Los Angeles Master Chorale, WNYC and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. ductor recognized for Her works have been performed by such as the Gewandhausorchester, National Symphony her accomplishments as Orchestra of Johannesburg, L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the China National Symphony and the an educator and advisor NDR Orchestra. She has collaborated with authors and directors including John Ashbery, Margaret to arts organizations. Atwood, Rita Dove, Jamaica Kincaid, Mark Lamos, Julie Taymor, Derek Walcott and Robert Wilson. She has been profiled on ABC, CBS, León has appeared as guest conductor with the Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of Marseille, the CNN, PBS, Univision, Telemundo and Orquesta Sinfonica de Asturias, L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orquesta Filarmonica de Bogota, the independent films. Gewandhausorchester, Chamber Orchestra of Geneva, Switzerland, Symphony Orchestra of Johannesburg, León’s opera Scourge of Hyacinths, South Africa as well as the Orquesta de la Comunidad y Coro de Madrid. based on a play by Wole Soyinka with She has lectured at Harvard University and the Mosse Lectures at Humboldt University, Berlin. staging and design by Robert Wilson, León has been Visiting Professor at Yale, and Guest Composer/Conductor at the Hamburg Musikschule, received more than 20 performances Germany and the Beijing Central Conservatory, China. A founding member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, throughout Europe and Mexico. she instituted the Philharmonic Community Concert Series, co-founded the American Composers Commissioned by Hans Werner Henze Orchestra “Sonidos de las Americas Festivals,” co-founded “Composers Now Festival” in for the 1994 Munich Biennale, Scourge and served as Latin Amercan Advisor to the American Composers Orchestra and New Music Advisor to of Hyacinths took home the coveted the . BMW Prize. The aria Oh Yemanja Her honors include the New York Governor’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the American Academy of (“Mother’s Prayer”) was recorded by Arts and Letters, Fromm and Guggenheim Fellowships. León has received Honorary Doctorate Degrees Dawn Upshaw on her Nonesuch CD from Colgate University, Oberlin and SUNY Purchase Colleges and has served as US Artistic Ambassador “The World So Wide.” of American Culture in Madrid, Spain. A Professor at Brooklyn College since 1985, she was named A selected listing of her commissions Distinguished Professor of the City University of New York in 2006. include works for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Fromm Foundation, Dance Additional information is available online at www.TaniaLeon.com. TANIA LEÓN: IN MOTION León paints a constantly shifting landscape of sonorities. At the onset, slowly moving bowed harmonics Tania León was born and raised in Cuba but her ancestry spans Europe, Africa, and Asia as well as in the strings create a listless background which is periodically disrupted by mallet percussion outbursts the Americas. In the music she has been composing for the past four decades, she has absorbed all of before dissolving into a sea of low drum thuds. All of which evokes the first poem about observing fish in these influences and transformed them into a vibrant synergistic totality that foreshadows the omnivorous the water. Next, as a backdrop to a poem about wandering a flower-strewn hillside, a high synthesized polystylism of the early 21st century. In works such as the 1986 piano and percussion duo A la Par (fea- flute melody soars over eerily transformed voices which move in harmony. Then, plucked sonorities make tured on a disc devoted to her music released on CRI and now available from New World Records), the their first appearance with quirky, percussive-like music for a poem about a cuckoo call anticipating the 1999 orchestral Horizons (on a disc devoted to her music from Bridge Records), and the 1994-99 opera moonlight. These plucked sonorities become melodic for a poem about geishas entranced by the moon. Scourge of Hyacinths, based on a play by Wole Soyinka (as yet unavailable on a commercially released For a poem about the wind scattering peonies, a flute melody commands the foreground amidst recording), León masterfully synthesizes seemingly irreconcilable musical traditions. But perhaps nowhere shamisen-like percussive plucking on the guitar. For another poem about wandering in nature, the else in her output thus far is her range so demonstrable than in the two works featured on the present percussion becomes melodic (a talking drum) while the plucked strings remain percussive. recording, one from the beginning of her career and the other among her most recent compositions. One of the most strikingly beautiful passages is next—flute and bassoon evoke a “flitting, twittering More than thirty-five years separate Haiku (1973) and Inura (2009), and they conjure up wildly different little bird” which is followed by counterpoint between the winds and plucked strings before the narrator sonic universes. Haiku, created during León’s tenure as composer-in-residence and music director for the describes the faint singing of a skylark. Suddenly the percussion returns aggressively as the narrator Dance Theatre of Harlem, is an aphoristic and almost otherworldly re-imagining of seventeen classical describes insects which are not afraid of biting big men. Then comes a lengthy, almost five-minute-long Japanese haiku poems which somehow forms a cohesive and unified whole. (Each haiku has seventeen interlude which begins with the winds but, after a declarative temple bell is struck, is decisively taken over syllables and by stringing seventeen haiku together León has constructed an über-haiku.) The holistic by the electronics, in which the glissandos of the altered voices come across as almost psychedelic. approach León took with Haiku would however be anathema for Inura, a celebration of contradictions Poignantly when the narrator reappears he is unaccompanied for his description of a childless house- created for DanceBrazil which is inspired by Candomblé. Candomblé, like Santería in the Caribbean, is a wife. Here León shows how emotive the temporary absence of all the musical instruments can be. The syncretism of traditional African animism and European Catholicism that has been practiced for centuries. next poem is actually about silence, but here sparse sonorities—a few bass notes, a slide on the guitar— Inura specifically addresses the traditional Afro-Brazilian Yoruba concept of an energy that exists in every convey silence more effectively than actual silence. Its successor, a poem about new clothing follows one of us, called “Exu,” an energy manifesting itself as a deity that speaks every language, thrives on immediately—a plucked bass string briefly suggests a heartbeat. Again, a poem is read in silence—an diversity, is unabashedly sensual, and does not differentiate between good and evil. León’s score is appro- admonition. But then a variety of magical string sounds appear—various scrapes, harmonics, etc.—which priately ecstatic and unapologetically corporeal and it is presented as a series of eight highly contrasting perfectly sets the stage for a surreal poem about capturing the moon and releasing it. movements. But probing these seemingly opposite approaches further also reveals some common A poem about dreams is accompanied only by percussion, which almost acts as punctuation. Then threads: a thorough command of percussion—both in terms of rhythm and timbre; an amazing ability to there is another long instrumental interlude in which an even broader array of timbre is explored including fashion musical metaphors that both reflect and respond to the texts being featured; a keen sense of bassoon multiphonics, xylophone figurations, and an ominous gong. The electronics now even more drama that leaps out at listeners even without being able to see the dances for which these scores were overtly suggest a heart’s palpitations. The flute emerges, first with a haunting flutter-tonguing then an both originally created. actual melody for a poem about death. The final text, again about the moon, follows almost immediately, Part of what makes Haiku so otherworldly-sounding is its unusual instrumentation: narrator, flute, bas- like an afterthought, or perhaps a re-affirmation of the eternity of nature. This, of course, is ultimately a soon, guitar, Japanese koto, cello, double-bass, five percussionists and electronic tape consisting of subjective interpretation. Every listener will inevitably create other equally viable pathways into this music. Buchla synthesizer as well as manipulated sounds of voices (both of dancers and Dance Theatre of Tania León is reticent to make any overt suggestions for how to listen: Harlem staff). These instruments do not form an orchestra; rather they are an audio palette from which Any commentaries should not be essential to the comprehension of my music. Shall I talk about between pitches and then hover between speech and song. The music eventually becomes more static, beauty, methods, a planned structure? Seeds attract the necessary elements to grow to evolve: almost as if time has stood still. At the end a solo soprano remains with a monotone melody which glorious memories of the people from Harlem whose efforts helped create the work; the heart of dissolves amidst the rattling of maracas. For “Understanding,” a throbbing percussion groove returns along with a euphoric string ostinato. the People beating in each and every man and in his contributions; I tried to speak in a language There is some extremely exciting call and response between the men and the women in the chorus, punc- whose expressive tension has Japanese overtones. tuated by an insistent minor-third oscillation on the word Óro (pray) which is shattered by a forceful single spoken voice who directly calls upon the spirits. In what is perhaps the most extreme contrast in the entire Inura also features five percussionists, but only one has a background in performing notated music— score, what follows—“Respect”—is an incredibly lush instrumental interlude for strings, at first without the other four are traditional Brazilian percussionists from the dance troupe DanceBrazil who come from any percussion and later only with gentle bossa nova underpinnings. The entire movement is framed by Salvador do Bahia. León worked intensively with these musicians over a period of six months to teach another monotone melody, this time by a male singer. “The Lust” begins in a haze of choral whispers but them by ear to play the elaborate polyrhythmic cycles she composed for them which they play on soon become a spirited dialogue between the voices and strings with occasional marimba intrusions. indigenous Brazilian instruments selected by her whose antecedents are from their ancestors who For “Funny Battle,” the strings disappear and percussion again takes a leading role, although a regular originally came to Brazil from the Benin region of West Africa. Despite Inura’s form being much more groove is never quite established. However, even without a groove, the percussion still sets the tone, heterogenous than Haiku, the rest of its instrumentation is significantly homogenous: a string nonet affecting the way the chorus sings—forcefully articulated whispers and staccato block chords. In the (a double string quartet plus double-bass) and a chorus of twelve voices. Unlike Haiku where the words eighth and final movement, “Manifest,” there is yet another steady percussion groove. But rather than remain somewhat detached from the music since they are recited by a single narrator who is sometimes the euphoria of some of the previous movements, the overall effect is more foreboding, with the chorus unaccompanied, in Inura the words are an integral component of the musical fabric. But the juxtaposition intoning low notes against a drone-line ostinato and pizzicato string punctuation. An element of uncertainty of African-based percussion with European strings and voices allows for some powerful dichotomies is also caused by the steady-state being interrupted by a couple of extremely emotive silences. The final which León further highlights by having the chorus occasionally sing in style reminiscent of Gregorian word is given to the berimbau, the famous single-stringed struck percussion instrument from Brazil which chant. As she says: also has roots in Africa dating back millennia. Haiku and Inura very effectively conjure age-old traditions, but in Tania León’s vibrant and visceral renderings they are both very much the music of our own time. I wanted to make a sonic commentary between what we perceive as African influences versus —Frank J. Oteri European influences. In each country in Latin America to which Africanos were brought, musical traditions have emerged that are in a way some sort of “musica mulata.” ASCAP Award-winning composer and music journalist Frank J. Oteri is the Composer Advocate The first movement, “The Power,” opens with the sole non-Brazilian percussionist on marimba which at the American Music Center and the Founding Editor of its web magazine, NewMusicBox. introduces the chorus and remains playing throughout as a subtle underpinning. No other instruments One of the earliest interviews he did for NewMusicBox, in 1999, was with Tania León join in just yet and the chorus’s supplication is almost tender. In the second movement, “The Sharing,” www.newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=221. the strings make their first appearance accompanied by a frenetic and infectious percussion groove. “The Teaching” is slower and more mysterious—it opens with a drone against which the chorus forms harmonies which grow more chromatic and somewhat impressionistic at times. They then begin to glide TEXTS\ HAIKU INURA È ní s’ebo l’ore o, Epo l’ erò Èsù Ìrunmalè e se ojú lè o, È s ù ni yióò gbà e b o wa. 1 There in the water color 7 Little bird flitting, 13 With the new clothes Epo kété nídi òro È s ù gbè, È ní s’ebo l’ore o, SECTION I / II of the water twittering, trying Remember……the Òrò, Òrò, nlo o, Òrò. Epo l’ erò Èsù moves……translucent fishes. to fly…… crow stays black E e e Oní Èsà arole, Igba ìmalè e se ojú lè o, È s ù ni yióò gbà e b o wa. My, aren’t you busy. and the heron white. Iná mi sími gbà o ní e e, Òrò, Òrò, nlo o, Òrò. Lálúp o n, mo gbè e b o re 2 He who climbs this hill Babá Èsà K’ e ran Omi ni sparó iná idí È s ù of flowers 8 High on a mountain 14 I scooped up the moon Olomo mi sími gb à b’o dé lé Bàrá a dúró kò kikà È s ù gbè, È ní s’ebo l’ore o, finds here a shrine we heard a skylark in my water bucket…… Aché, the power, È s ù gbè ení s e b o l’óre. È s ù ni yióò gbà e b o wa. to the kind goddess. singing faintly and spilled it on the grass. Epo kété nídi òro Come with me and help me to Exu, you are the one who far below…… Odára kò je àdín È s ù gbè accept this power, makes the good offerings. 3 A cuckoo calls 15 Wandering, Dreaming, È ní s’ebo l’ore o, You, Exu, accept my offering Exu, of the body, keep together and suddenly…… 9 In my small village in fever You, creator of this same Oh spirits, keep your eyes with us, please accept our the bamboo grove even the flies Dreaming that dreams offering, guardian of our house. over us, offerings. lighted by moonbeams. aren’t afraid forever wander. we pray, we pray, we pray here Exu, palm oil is the color of all to bite a big man. and now. your power. 4 Beyond paper walls 16 I’m very sorry SECTION III Keep your eyes over us, we Exu, help. Exu, you are the one voices of geishas 10 A childless housewife…… to have to die Òjís è pa lé fún awo, Odára pa pray, we pray. who makes the good offerings. whisper How tenderly at this time lé s’ó ba. Keep your eyes over our house, about the bright moon. she touches……little dolls with Plum trees in bloom. Exu, you are the messenger. we pray, we pray for sale. SECTION VII You protect our ceremonial Exu, you are the one who 5 When the autumn wind 17 Only a chirping house. makes the good offerings. Olówo Éégún e ní solórò, scatters peonies, 11 Thinking comfortable insect told me Come and keep guiding us on Exu, of the body, keep together È san floor atóro s e a few thoughts it was night, this road. with us, please accept our Olówo Éégún e ní solórò, petals fall in pairs. with a friend in silence so bright was the moon. offerings. È san fólóró atóro s e in the cool evening…… Exu, palm oil is the color of all Olówo Éégún e ní solórò, 6 My dear Pilgrim hat, Poems by Basho (1664-94), SECTION I V/V your power. È san floor atóro s e you must 12 In my new clothing Buson (1716-83), Hyakuchi (1763-1827) Ìrunmalè e se ojú lè o, Exu, help. Exu, you are the one …Èsù Agbó ó ní Olórò accompany me I feel so different and Raizan (1654-1715). Òrò, Òrò, nlo o, Òrò. who makes the good offerings. È san fólóró atóro s e to view the plum trees! I must Igba ìmalè e se ojú lè o, look like someone else. Òrò, Òrò, nlo o, Òrò. All powerful ancestors, help us Osó ilé e se ojú lè o, SECTION VI in the hour of our rituals. Òrò, Òrò, nlo o, Òrò. È s ù gbè, È ní s’ebo l’ore o, SECTION V III (Invocation of the powerful Judith Clurman has conducted USA and is a member of the For more than 30 years, Founded in 1969 by Arthur …Ògún akoro ó ní Olóro, È san Orishas) and collaborated with the faculty of an annual seminar DanceBrazil, founded by Jelon Mitchell and Karel Shook, Boston Symphony Orchestra, for music critics as part of the Vieira, has thrilled audiences Dance Theatre of Harlem fólóró atóro s e All powerful ancestors, help us New York Philharmonic, the National Endowment for the across the Unites States and was considered “one of ballet’s …Ode arolé ó ní Olóro, È san in the hour of our rituals. fólóró atóro s e American Composers Orchestra, Arts Workshop, throughout the world with its most exciting undertakings” …Osányin ewé o, o ní Olóro, È Ìyá l’a gbà wá o ó, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, New sponsored by the Columbia dazzling artistry, inspired by (New York Times, 1971). Now in san fólóró atóro s e Ìyá mi Sòròngà l’a gbà wá o York City Ballet, Mostly Mozart University School of Journalism. the cultural tapestry of Brazil. its fourth decade, Dance Theatre …Lógún Ode o ní Olóro, È san ó yèyé. Festival, ’s Great Whether in the streets or on of Harlem has grown into a Performers series, Jazz at Tote Gira, Music Director of stage in the most prestigious multi-cultural dance institution fólóró atóro s e Mother Soronga, please keep …Obalúwàiyé o ní Olóro, È san Lincoln Center, the American DanceBrazil, is a multi-talented theaters, the dancers and with an extraordinary legacy of us in mind and accept us as Songbook Series, and the New musician and composer from musicians of DanceBrazil never providing opportunities for fólóró atóro s e we are. …Òsùmàrè o ní Olóro, È san York Pops. She served as found- Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. He fail to enthrall audiences with creative expression and artistic fólóró atóro s e Àgòlónòn àwa pè e nbo, ing conductor for the New York has gained a reputation as a the company’s unique fusion excellence that continues to …Sàngó káwòo o ní Olóro, È àgòlónòn e. Concert Singers and Project composer through his group of Afro-Brazilian movement, set standards in the performing san fólóró atóro s e Àgòlónòn àwa pè e nbo, Youth Chorus, music director for Ilê Aiyê. Through his work with contemporary dance and arts. Dance Theatre of Harlem …Oyá gbálè o ní Olóro, È san àgòlónòn e. Prism Concerts and the 92nd DanceBrazil, he has received Capoeira, the traditional dance/ has achieved unprecedented fólóró atóro s e Street Y’s Music of the Spirit commissions from Meet the martial arts form that had its success, bringing innovative We seek permission to continue …Osún rora o ní Olóro, È san program, National Public Radio’s Composer, The Mary Flagler origins in Africa and evolved in and bold new forms of artistic on our path, cultivating our love fólóró atóro s e Artist-in-Residence, Director of Cary Charitable Trust Live Music colonial Brazil as a means of expression to audiences in New for you. …Oba si o ní Olóro, È san Choral Activities at The Juilliard for Dance program, as well as a fighting enslavement. The score York City, across the country School, Co-Director for Harvard commission from the American of Inura was originally written for and around the world. The score fólóró atóro s e Àgbà Ìjèn ò n University’s : Music Center Live Music for the ballet Inura, choreographed of Haiku was originally written …Yewà riro o ní Olóro, È san A pà k’o m o re iwá fólóró atóro s e Boston to Broadway festival, Dance program for Retratos by Carlos dos Santos, premiered for the ballet, Haiku—A Dream …Yemonja odò o ní Olóro, È Master, ancestor guardian of all and guest lecturer/conductor at da Bahia. He also has recorded by DanceBrazil, March 19, 2009 for Brown Eyes, choreographed san fólóró atóro s e roads, bring tranquility, peace, England’s Cambridge Univer- four CDs of his own work, at NYU Skirball Center, New by Dance Theatre of Harlem …Nàná Buruku o ní Olóro, È and all the progress that we need. sity. She earned a 2009 Emmy including his most recent, York City. founding member Walter Raines, san fólóró atóro s e nomination for Outstanding Sentimento Acustico. which premiered July 20, 1973 …Òsolúfon o ní Olóro, È san The text of Inura is drawn from Achievement in Music Direction at the American Dance Festival, prayers of the Yoruban Candomblé fólóró atóro s e and Composition for her work Palmer Auditorium, Connecticut religion passed down through gen- as Associate Music Director of College, New London, Connecticut. …Òsogíyàn o ní Olóro, È san erations. Provided and translated fólóró atóro s e by Carlos dos Santos. Sesame Street. Currently, she is the creator, music director and conductor of Essential Voices