Reviving rhythms
Published in 2009
The major contribution of Eduardo Llerenas to cultural heritage began simply in his native Mexico where, in 1968, he started to record the music that had him in its grip.
From the 1970s onwards, his love of music took him beyond Mexico’s borders, undertaking long-term research and recording in the Caribbean (English- and French-speaking, as well as Spanish-speaking regions). Cuba, where he began recording in 1985, was of particular interest to him. He has now been there almost 30 times, focusing on Santiago de Cuba, the eastern tip of the Caribbean island where African rhythms mingle with every song.
Musicians perform traditional music from Cuba.
Courtesy of Eduardo Llerenas
Each country’s musical tradition and presentation are different, and over the years Llerenas has become finely attuned to the subtle factors required to get good-quality recordings. While many of his field recordings of Mexican musicians are made in a quiet corner of their village – he says putting them in a sound studio changes their music – in Cuba that is not the case. “In the Caribbean, the musicians are much more extroverted than those in rural Mexico. So you can put a Cuban musician in a studio and his personality will overcome any inhibitions.”
Photo Courtesy of Eduardo Llerenas
Caribbean rhythms eventually led Llerenas to Africa, the source of much of the sound and rhythm that permeate music in the Caribbean and Americas. He has made three trips to Mali, recording in populations with no written culture. “The musicians are the transmitters of history,” says the Laureate, whose first album produced from Mali was recorded in a remote village with sound equipment powered by car batteries. Kassi Kasse: Mande music from Mali (featuring Kasse Mady Diabate), recorded by Corasón, his independent label, was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Traditional World Music.
Lucy Duran, a professor of ethnomusicology at the University of London’s School for Oriental and African Studies who co-produced Kassi Kasse with Llerenas, believes that he has created a cultural bridge between Africa and the New World, recording little-known voices and bringing musicians to concerts abroad. “Eduardo is quite a pioneer. He has brought artists to festivals around the world and showcased their talent, raising awareness in places like Mexico where most people aren’t aware of music from outside the hemisphere.
She also points out that Llerenas’ work takes on more importance as globalization erodes traditional cultures: “This music needs to be recorded precisely because it’s not commercially viable. It has no market value because it’s connected to a regional way of life, to local geography and old cultures and indigenous languages. It’s even endangered within the local community. So it needs to be recorded in order to be preserved and hopefully fed back into the community. You just don’t record it and throw it into a museum, you put it back out there and stimulate interest in it and help people understand this is something that needs to be valued.
“As a labour of love, Eduardo goes into the field and records – in sometimes remote and difficult situations – music that’s very connected to the land and to a marginalized people or dying way of life.”
His work – representing musicians, licensing their music and producing international gatherings of musical artists – has injected new life into traditional (folk) music and fuelled the world’s fascination with Latin American music. Moreover, he has often been ahead of the curve – he produced a CD of Cuban guitarist Eliades Ochoa in 1990, bringing him to the world’s attention years before Ochoa and others won a Grammy for the Buena Vista Social Club.
Corasón, founded in 1992, has now released 85 albums, yet 63-year old Llerenas has no plans to retire, given the thousands of other recordings in his archive that he wants the public to hear. He is still recording in Mexico and the Caribbean, and is planning another trip to Africa. The only thing that has changed – from 1983 onwards – is the equipment he uses. “Digital technology has lessened the weight of what we have to carry when we hike into villages. We no longer have to carry those mountains of tapes like we used to.”
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- Contact Information
Mr Eduardo Llerenas
Discos Corasón
Altamira 832
Colonia Miravalle
03580 México D.F.
Mexico
