Huehuetenango: Music from 16th Century Guatemala

Tenor Jonatan Alverado and Ariel Abramovich on vihuela explore a 16th Century Guatamalan manuscript, reflecting early colonial musical influences in South America.

Music played an important role in the early missionizing of local populations in South America. As was the case in other colonial settings, European music, particularly, but not exclusively sacred music, was adopted and adapted to local and indigenous communities, becoming an integral part of the local culture as it developed over the centuries.

The music in this program is based on the collections of music from this rare manuscript, contextualized with European sources from which much of it is drawn.

An intimate, simple but beautiful performance of music that traveled across the sea to become a part of South American musical traditions.