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  Sarahbanda
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The Sarahbanda was an idea born from the Mozart y Mambo trilogy. Could you tell us about your thought process during and after those 3 albums and the formation of the Sarahbanda? Also, what inspired you originally to make the Mozart y Mambo albums? 

The short answer to this question is that I fell in love with Cuban music when I heard the Buena Vista Social Club for the first time. I went to Havana in 2017 to dance salsa, but met the Havana Lyceum Orchestra who were playing a concert of works by W.A. Mozart that evening. I was so impressed with how they played Mozart, but I was sad at the state of the instruments they were playing on, and I decided on the spot I wanted to do something to help. So together, we came up with a plan to record the Mozart horn concertos in Havana and, also, because I love Cuban music so much, mix some Mozart with Cuban rhythms, thus creating a whole new repertoire for the French horn. My Cuban band, The Sarahbanda, was formed during the Mozart y Mambo project basically because, although I also wanted to get closer to the band culture of the Cuban popular music.

There are no French horns in any band in Cuba. I am not sure if there is any French horn in any salsa band all over the world. Ever since I was little I wanted to play in a band, and here it was Cuban band culture that I wanted to experience. The only way I could do that was to form a band of my own and I asked some of Cuba’s most talented popular musicians to join me. On every Mozart y Mambo album, the Sarahbanda recorded one piece. When all the Mozart horn concertos were recorded and our album trilogy was completed we decided that we wanted to take our band to the next level. That’s when we decided to release an album of our own. Sarahbanda was released on September 6th, 2024. 

Mozart y Mambo was received extremely well both in the classical community and the pop and Latin community. Is it safe to say that this new album is even more firmly rooted in traditional and modern Cuban music? And if so, in what ways did you intentionally achieve that goal?

We are absolutely thrilled and happy that Mozart y Mambo reached all kinds of different communities. The people who were interested in me playing Mozart also discovered Cuban music. And the people who were interested in Cuban music listened to classical music on the albums as well. So it was a win-win situation!

For us, this new album Sarahbanda is a journey through Cuban musical history. We have included Cuban classics like Chan Chan and Pare Cochero up to the present day with covers of famous songs like Sandunguera and Contigo en la Distancia. We also include two new wonderful compositions by two of our band members, Yuniet Lombida and Aylín Pino. 

Everything about the album is Cuban (except for me!) including the cover and booklet artwork design done by a wonderful Cuban designer, Rubén Cabrera. All the songs are Cuban or arranged by Cuban musicians – Jorge Aragón, our pianist and Edgar Olivero. 

Jorge and Edgar were also the two main arrangers for the Mozart y Mambo project. So, yes, the album is very firmly rooted in traditional and modern Cuban music. Because of my classical music background, I wanted to add a little classical twist as well, and that’s where the Romanza and the Habanera come in. My Cuban musician friends enjoy playing that as much as I enjoy playing their music.

How did you select the players whom you invited to join on this adventure?

Well, as I said before, I invited some of Cuba’s most talented, wonderful and well-known popular musicians to join me. A couple of the musicians I knew already from the Havana Lyceum Orchestra and Yuniet Lombida, the saxophonist, is our musical director. He is the boss because he has his feet firmly in the popular music scene, and he knew whom to ask to play in the band. He is also the one who told me: “Sarah, if you can’t dance Cuban music, you can’t play Cuban music”. So learn to dance all these different rhythms I did!

I’ve never had so much fun in a recording studio in my life as I had whilst recording Sarahbanda. And I’m so grateful to these musicians for going on this journey with me, because – as Aylín says in the promotion video – you can’t explain Cuban music. You have to listen to it, and you have to play it”. I’m learning every day with them and I am very grateful for that. 

Can you give some specific examples of how your playing needed to change in order to fuse with the band? Did the band have to adapt to fuse the horn? 

The first album came out in 2020, and now we are in 2024, so we’ve had an album every year. I could play the horn already before I went on this journey, but being with these Cuban musicians, there are a few things that I’ve really had to improve and my playing has certainly evolved in the past 4 years. My rhythm is better – there’s no way you can get slower or drag in Cuban music. You must have fantastic rhythm to play with a Cuban band, otherwise they just leave you behind. I had to find a different way of articulation, to project my sound and also to blend with the saxophone better. So, I’ve had to work on that. I’ve also had to find a different position for the horn – I stand facing with my bell more out to the audience. Otherwise, they just wouldn’t hear me because usually we horns point backwards.

Now this is a very interesting thing about Sarahbanda. We are a completely acoustic band. We don’t record like most salsa bands with everything amplified and also musicians recording their parts in different places – one guy recording something in Miami who sends the track to a guy in Havana who records on top of it, etc, etc.

We recorded Sarahbanda all in the same room – our recording engineers Andreas Wolf and Marcus Mittermeyer are geniuses. How they did that, I really don’t know, but every instrument sounds amazing. There is no interference between different instruments on each microphone. I’m not sure how to explain that, but I think you know what I mean. And the mix is really, really fantastic. The other thing that my musicians do which is unusual in a salsa band is to play dynamics. Salsa bands usually start loud and finish even louder. But with me, they have to do some echoes, make colours, make diminuendos, crescendos. They say they’ve really enjoyed that part as well, putting the colour into what we’re playing. So, yes, the band has also adapted. They listen. The radar in this band is incredible. It is a give and take on both parts, and I love it.

You recorded in the Traumton Studios in Berlin. Why was this location chosen? 

Our recording engineer Andreas Wolf knew this recording studio. I had heard of it, but I’d never been there. It’s about half an hour train ride from my house, and it was February when we recorded there, freezing cold and snow outside. Cubans don’t like cold weather, but we made it into the studio every day and then the temperature went up inside. It got very hot in there with all these fiery Cuban Latin rhythms happening. We forgot that outside it was cold, so it was always a shock when we went home in the evenings. Our promo video on YouTube makes me smile every time I see it – Cubans in the cold!
We have great memories of Traumton and I will definitely be going back there to record again. Maybe the next Sarahbanda album… who knows?

Can we expect more music recordings of the amazing Sarahbanda in the future?

Yes you can! We’re already planning our next album and are happy to receive any repertoire suggestions from your readers! We want to keep it as Cuban as we can because we want to promote Cuban music all over the world. My own personal mission is to take these amazing musicians all over the world. Right now, I’m answering these questions from Switzerland where we are playing in the Swiss Chamber Music Festival. We just did an educational concert this morning where we demonstrated Cuban music to a whole school. We were told beforehand how the Swiss children are a little bit reserved, a little bit quiet. But the kids went completely bananas at the end! They clapped, stood up, danced, sang with us – it was very touching. It’s also so special for me to watch my musicians discover different countries and cultures. Here in Switzerland we had to stop and take photos of the cows… there are not many cows in Cuba anymore. It made me laugh. So it’s a real cultural experience for us all here as well as a musical one.

The whole point of the Sarahbanda is that we’re a family. Each time we make music together, we can’t wait to meet again. Our concerts are always one big party on stage and where there is big love, there is great music. 

We want to thank Sarah for her time in answering our questions. Please visit her website for extra information about everything she is doing, and to contribute to her charity Instruments for Cuba.

www.thesarahbanda.com
www.sarah-willis.com/instruments-for-cuba

The post Interview: Sarah Willis on recent album ‘Sarahbanda’ appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Best Latin Jazz/Jazz Album

Best Latin Jazz Performer

My Heart Speaks from 2xHD Mastering and Resonance Records is the most extravagantly lush album of Ivan Lins’s career. Performing rare gems from his catalog, the composer is backed by the 91-piece symphony of Tbilisi, capital of the Republic of Georgia.

Best Contemporary Classical Work/Composition

“I called Julien Labro last night with the news that Takacs Assad Labro earned a Latin GRAMMY nomination for Julien’s piece which we premiered on the album. Julien wrote the evocative Meditation No.1 eliciting intoxicating tango rhythms conjuring Astor Piazzolla and other Argentine masters of the golden era. Julien performs bandoneón with legendary Takács Quartet on their first Yarlung Records release. Listen again to track 03 at NativeDSD, mastered up to DSD512 by our very own Tom Caulfield.
Thank you Takacs and Bravo Julien!”
– Bob Attiyeh, producer

Andrew Quint gives the recording Five Stars in The Absolute Sound:

This release Yarlung Records hits the trifecta—engaging unfamiliar music, committed performances, and spectacular sound. Clarice Assad is a Brazilian-American composer/pianist, who moves effortlessly between classical, jazz, and popular idioms. She accompanies her own scat singing on two selections (Luminous and Milton Nacimento’s Cravo e Canela) while Constellation for violin and piano features a touchingly songful slow movement. Completely different is the slashing, angular Clash for bandoneón and string quartet. Bryce Dessner’s quasi-minimalistic Circles is scored for the same forces, and Julien Labro, the album’s featured bandoneón virtuoso, contributes Meditation No. 1, an eight-minute reverie for this instrumental grouping as well. Kaija Saariaho’s Nocturne, for solo violin, fits the program’s aura of anxious melancholia. The Takács Quartet is approaching their semicentennial, and although only the cellist remains from the original ensemble, the group’s intensity and technical fluency is intact. Yarlung’s sonics are revelatory. Balances are believable, and although the recorded perspective isn’t immediate, Assad’s first vocal entrance on the Nascimento piece made me jump. …vinyl options are also available.

The post 2024 Latin Grammy – Nominations appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Why did you feel the urge to record an album exploring such dark pieces?

It’s part of human nature to have certain attraction to darkness. Darkness in many meanings. For instance the night – is the time of magic, mystery, it’s the time when the hustle of the busy day disappears and one can listen to the quiet, connect to the space and get insights to something grander than life. Certain things which are invisible during the daylight appear at night. In my album however I am not just exploring darkness as the time of the day, but also the side of it where the supernatural beings come to life, when unpredictable frightening things happen and beautiful seductive but very dangerous creatures lure you with irresistible magical powers towards doom. As the performer it’s very exciting to dive into this magical, mysterious, frightening but at the same time beautiful world. It’s interesting, often some great actors are more excited about the roles of villains over heroes because they are limitless in terms of interpretation and always give room to try new things and go to extremes in search of your character. I guess I could relate to that.

And it’s so fascinating to explore the different ways of four composers I chose for this album and their approach to the darkness, mystery and supernatural. With Scriabin as always I’m fascinated with his vision, imagination and philosophy, it almost feels as if he is taking a glimpse into the circles of hell. Ravel opens for us enchanting and terrifying world, full of irresistible colors, beauty and danger, while De Falla is taking us to the mystic spicy nights of Spain, ghosts and magical rituals. And with Mussorgsky I just can never get enough of his incredible vividness of images and incredible characters. There is a definite battle in the music between the darkness and light – close to the end we get an intense concentration of darkness – the catacombs, Con Mortuis in Lingua Mortua, Baba Yaga… But in the end the light wins and triumphs through the glorious Great Gate of Kyiv.

How did you prepare for this recording? Did songs of this nature require a different mindset or energy from you?

Not really, I always try to get into the character of the music to the maximum, but only when I am performing it. It is quite interesting to play all of these very intensive emotionally and technically pieces next to each other as usually they would be a little more spread in the different concert programs but it’s definitely exciting and very impactful.

Do you find that darker themes lend themselves to virtuosity better than lighter pieces?

That’s an interesting question – I haven’t noticed. I think it all depends on writing of the particular composer, not of the mood of the piece. We all know that Ravel for instance didn’t go easy on us pianists with the technical aspects of the Gaspard de la nuit. 😀 But what helps me with performing any kind of music – is to dive fully into its world, characters and use the technique just as a tool to create the strongest artistic impact.

Can you give some details about the recording experience? How was the venue, the team, the experience as a whole?

As it always happens when we record together with Jared Sacks – it was an incredibly inspiring and smooth process. We were recording at Muziekcentrum van de Omroep in Hilversum. There are wonderful studios with great acoustics there, and a beautiful Steinway which was lovingly taken care of by Charles Rademaker. I must say at times it was quite exhausting to record certain moments as a lot of the music on the Cd has a very high energy and requires a lot of power. One thing is to play it once through at the concert, but something quite different is to record when you make a few takes and at each one I have to be giving not less than 100%. We finished the recording with De Falla’s Ritual Dance of Fire and the bloody keyboard as the final page full of glissandos was quite cruel!

Your last solo album was released in 2021. Had you missed making a solo recording?

Indeed, the last few years I was focused on recording all the Rachmaninoff concertos and a few chamber music Cds. Of course, I love recording solo repertoire but to be honest the time flew by so quickly that it’s hard to believe the last solo album was released already three years ago!

How are you looking forward to the upcoming live performances of Intrigues of the Darkness?

I am just hoping the audience will not be too terrified! 😀 But there is so much beauty in all of this music as well as mystery, enchantment and magic that I’m sure that it will end up being an incredible journey for all of us!

The post Anna Fedorova interviewed about ‘Intrigues of the Darkness’ appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

The conversation discusses the features and technology behind the LINA streaming DAC, particularly emphasising the innovation of the Ring DAC technology by dCS. Emron highlights the challenges and achievements in designing the DAC, including its compact size and internal components like the custom power supply and flex rigid PCB (Printed Circuit Board). He explains how these components enhance performance and streamline manufacturing.

Special thanks to Emron Mangelson, JD (Head of Sales, North America) for taking the time to talk to us.

The post dCS Audio [High End Munich video interview] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Pro-Ject Audio Systems’ Jeff Coates tells us about the latest DSD DACs that are presented at High End Munich 2024.

The post Pro-Ject Audio Systems [High End Munich video interview] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Links Park from HiFi Rose Announces New DAC RD160 & Launches Network Transport RS130 at High End Munich 2024.

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Michal Jurewicz from Mytek presents the Empire Streamer DAC at High End Munich 2024.

The post Mytek Audio [High End Munich video interview] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Bethany from iFi walks us through the iFi Museum at High End Munich, speaking about the 2KHD, Diablo 2 and Zen Phono.

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Hugo from Astell & Kern presents the SP3000T at High End Munich, 2024. He discusses the design and playback options.

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This video is extra special for us, because it was Eelco Grimm and the rest of his team who we partnered with most at the show. Our founder Jared Sacks gave multiple listening and Q&A sessions in the Grimm Audio room, and we are proud to have close working relations with this company. Not only that, but they had their 20th Birthday as a company during the audio show – congratulations to Eelco and the rest of the team at Grimm Audio!

Eelco Grimm of Grimm Audio walks us through the complete line of Grimm Audio products, celebrating their 20th year with a new masterpiece, the PW1, a new phono pre-amp!

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