David H. Finke

Columbia, Missouri, USA, 14.03.2014

My wife and I were attending the Rocky Mountain Ragtime Festival in Boulder, Colorado, USA in 2002, a two-day trip westward from our home in Central Missouri (home to the John William "Blind" Boone Ragtime Festival.) We were delighted at that time to hear several musicians — performers and composers — playing not only Ragtime (which emerged from Black folk culture in the Midwest) but also various pieces with distinctive Latin rhythms. We didn't at that point know those individuals whom we have since come to love and treasure. One of them was Frank French, who with Scott Kirby had been the Musical Directors of that festival for a number of years. Besides performing, Frank also gave a seminar on the music of Cuba, to which I believe he had traveled, collecting some of their older music. He may have also mentioned other Latin American countries and their contributions to music which gradually influenced folk and popular genres for North America (perhaps he could add his own testimonial.) Frank has done presentations on the mid-19th-century American composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk, and his 2-way influence of NorthAmerican and LatinAmerican themes, starting when as a youth he would listen to the music of Blacks in "Congo Square," New Orleans, which already had been affected by music from the Caribbean basin. Soon thereafter we purchased his CD, "Odeon — Tango Brasileiro!!! Frank French Plays the Tangos of Ernesto Julio de Nazareth." It was self published, and the only reference (minus a date) that I can see on the Album Cover was a link to www.frankfrench.info. The notes featured details of the life and work and philosophy of French on an inside panel, and the back panel was given to describing Nazareth (including his birth and death dates): "Pianist, the greatest Brazilian Tango composer and Trendsetter of the Choro, Ernesto Nazareth was born in Rio...." [I could copy the rest of the description on request for scholars.] That was, I believe, our first introduction. At that same festival we met and heard a remarkable older gentleman, Hal Isbitz, for which a Google search will provide more information, particularly around the album of his compost ions "Blue Gardenia," (1998) as performed by John Arpin. One review from a customer through Amazon said: "Hal Izbitz is one of the most talented composers writing today! Izbitz begins where the great Brazilian Ernesto Nazareth left off. John Arpin is Canada's finest pianist." He spoke about composing tangoes on his own, and then being delighted to discover the works of Nazareth, which he quickly shared with others. More about Hal's development is contained here: Rose Leaf Ragtime Club Interview— Hal Isbitz www.roseleafragtimeclub.com/f/interviews/isbitz.php It is hard for me to recall whether it was from Isbitz or French that we first heard the name of Nazareth or the description of the genre, "Choro." But as the years have gone by, a distinctive school of mostly younger composers (Isbitz and Rummel being senior in this circle) has emerged under the banner of "Terre Verde Music." They have an album named with that phrase, and the Russian/Swedish Ragtime collector Oleg Mezjuev (http://www.ragtime.nu/) has maintained a fine compendium of the works under that concept. (http://www.ragtime.nu/terraverde/terra.htm) In my own words, I would say that the Terra Verde people have started with classic Ragtime but moved it ahead to include contemporary compositions in that form ("New Ragtime"), and then more modern and experimental expressions as well. David Thomas Roberts and Scott Kirby, close collaborators, I believe first developed the phrase to show that our "Green Earth" is benefiting from the interchange and cross-fertilization of music from North, Central, and South America. Several of them have an intense sense of connection with The Land, a mystical devotion which elicits religious fervor (again, my own words.) A Google search on this phrase and also the Wikipedia article can expand on my own understanding, and I commend attention to several of the seminal interpretive written essays. This is all connected to the growing awareness and performance of works of Nazareth, and every festival we attend seems to have his name as more of a household word; More fans are learning to recognize several of Nazareth's most well-known pieces. Just this past November, at the West Coast Ragtime Festival (http://www.westcoastragtime.com/festivals_2013.htm) after several years away Scott Kirby thrilled the attenders with a "Pan-American Set: A sampling of Latin-American-influenced ragtime and related styles that shows the connections between ragtime, early jazz, creole music, and other traditions from the Americas, including new compositions. " Most of these have been posted under Scott's name on YouTube, and include some articulate and sensitive (Scott ALWAYS embodies these virtues!) renditions of Nazareth, extending the education and exposure. Coming up to the present, I am aware of a collaboration between two esteemed performers of Nazareth: Alexandre Dias and David Thomas Roberts, for a new work in honor of Nazareth, and I'll let them describe it in due course. In the last several years, after an introduction by Alexandre, we have become ardent fans of all the performances by Choro das Trés, who bring particularly vibrant life to Nazareth's pieces, and illustrate to us that older and younger generations can continue to inspire each other, and that the music not only lives but also grows -- it thrives, it flourishes, it animates! Suffice it to say that in the dozen years since we first heard Nazareth's name (back then, not everyone knew how to pronounce it!) his work has seeped into our souls and we hear those treasures night and day, waking and sleeping. Obrigado, —DHF