en español
em portuguêsby Gabriella Ibarra
Hello wonderful One horn community!
From Latin America, I am happy to present to you two new projects that began during the pandemic: ¿¡Y POR QUÉ NO!? and Octeto Feminino do Brasil. Both have been working with the motivation to produce innovative audiovisual content with distinguishing characteristics. Thanks to their creators for providing us with first-hand information on the genesis, configuration, participants, releases, and current status of the projects.
Verónica Guardia: ¿¡Y POR QUÉ NO!? (AND WHY NOT!?)
“This project was born as a result of the interest to show the horn in a setting completely opposite and alien to classical music. YPQN is a project that arose from Daniel Zárate and myself (Vero la cornista) to promote Latin American musical styles as a new language for the horn. Usually, the horn is intended to be a symphonic instrument; but thanks to numerous fine horn players, the instrument is beginning to be a part of jazz, salsa, merengue, reggaeton, etc. The purpose of this project is to continue promoting new and emerging artists who are involved in these musical styles without neglecting our great past.
“In 2021, we had three releases which included contributions from great players from several Latin American countries: Nuez Orquesta and Emilio Galvez from Chile, Claudio Bande from Argentina, Arturo Ortiz from Mexico, Víctor Prado from Brazil, Melany León from Ecuador, Diego Parra from Colombia, and, from Spain, La Coctelera del Indio; and we concluded with performances by great horn players from the world of popular music: Joshua Pantoja, Giovanni Hoffer, Pau Moltó, and Dante Yenque.
“For 2022, we are programming the new season with new themes and new guests. You shouldn't miss them!
“Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel, YPQN FRENCH HORN, and follow us on Instagram to be part of our weekly activities: @Y_why_not_frenchhorn”
Paula Guimarães: Female Octet of Brazil
“The OFB, Female Octet of Brazil, emerged as an attempt to bring together Brazilian women horn players from different states to exchange experiences and play in a format that is not yet widely explored in the country. Initially, we were to meet at the symposium of the ATB (Brazilian Horn Association) in 2020, but the plans completely changed because of the pandemic. So, I decided to get in touch with the horn players that I knew would agree to start the project, even if it was completely online, and we arranged a meeting to put into practice the realization of this great dream. When we released our first videos, the community of Brazilian horn players fully supported the idea, encouraging us to continue and contributing with scores, suggestions, and partnerships. Brazilian women and girl horn players, to whom we especially dedicated our videos, automatically embraced the idea and began to see themselves through this work, and this genuinely motivates us to continue. There were two highlights in 2021: first, we managed to carry out the Project Mozart Series in which we recorded an arrangement for quartet and guest soloist of one movement from each Mozart concerto; then, for the end of the year, we released a very special video of the song Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen) in December—very well known around the world—which had the participation of many guests for a total of 31 musicians. We are looking forward to being able to meet in person for the first time very soon and to the road ahead!”
Enjoy their latest video and follow them on Youtube.
As a member of this community, it is great to see how Latin American horn players are becoming more and more involved with all kinds of activities related to the IHS—and, once again, everyone is welcome!
