The San Lucas Band
The San Lucas Band | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Conjunto de la Voz de las Cumbres |
| Origin | San Lucas Tolimán |
| Years active | 1921–? |
| Past members |
|
The San Lucas Band were a Guatemalan brass band, founded in 1921. Their only album Music of Guatemala was recorded in 1974, released in 1975, and nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording in 1976.
History
[edit]The San Lucas Band, also known as the Conjunto de la Voz de las Cumbres, were a brass band from San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala.[2] The band was founded in 1921 by violinist Bernardo Mejia, and by 1974 comprised seven Kaqchikel musicians on violin, cornet, baritone horn, alto saxophone, snare drum, cymbal, and bass drum.[2][3]
On Good Friday 1972 US ethnologists Linda O'Brien-Rothe and Kathryn King came across the San Lucas Band while travelling in Santiago Atitlán.[2][3] They organised a recording session for the band in 1974, which was released in 1975 by ABC Records as Music of Guatemala, the San Lucas Band's only album.[2][3] The album was one of the three inaugural releases in the "Music of the Earth" series that ABC Records started in 1975, alongside Music of Chile and Music of Sikkim.[4]
The first half of Music of Guatemala is funeral dirges, of which David Hamilton of The Nation wrote: "The players' ideas of the music are evidently far removed from those of the now unidentifiable composers, and they have made something very weird and individual out of originals that can be still dimly perceived."[5] The second half is Guatemalan popular music and Mexican rancheras.[5][6] Music of Guatemala was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording in 1976, losing to The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album.[7] In 2024 the album was reissued by Bongo Joe Records with the title La Voz de las Cumbres (Music of Guatemala).[2]
The San Lucas Band were apparently displaced by the Guatemalan Civil War, and their whereabouts are unknown.[2]
Musical style
[edit]The music of the San Lucas Band is considered avant-garde. David Toop of The Wire described it as "Albert Ayler on Temazepam [sic]."[3] Also in The Wire, Richard Scott described the band's sound as "mutant brass...strangely beautiful massacres of Spanish imperial music."[8] Richard Dyer of The Boston Globe described Music of Guatemala as sounding "quite weird, at points, quite affecting, at others, well, indescribable."[9]
Discography
[edit]- Albums
- Music of Guatemala (1975, ABC Records), reissued in 2024 by Bongo Joe Records.
References
[edit]- ^ The San Lucas Band. Music of Guatemala (Liner notes).
- ^ a b c d e f Thierry Sartoretti (2024-02-02), "Expérience musicale inouïe, l'album du San Lucas Band est réédité par Bongo Joe" [An unprecedented musical experience, the San Lucas Band album is being reissued by Bongo Joe], Radio Télévision Suisse (in French), retrieved 2024-12-18
- ^ a b c d David Loop, "Deadly Serious", The Wire, no. 256 (June 2005), p. 45
- ^ Les Zacheis (1976-03-21), "Recordings in Review", The Cedar Rapids Gazette, p. 56
- ^ a b David Hamilton (1976-02-07), "Music of Guatemala: The San Lucas Band", The Nation, p. 158
- ^ Maria Barrios (2024-02-06), "The Best Latin Music on Bandcamp, January 2024", Bandcamp Daily, retrieved 2024-12-18
- ^ "Artist: San Lucas Band", Grammy Awards, retrieved 2024-12-18
- ^ Richard Scott, "Frozen Brass: Anthology Of Brass Music Volume 2: Africa And Latin America (review)", The Wire, no. 118/119 (Dec 1993/Jan 1994), p. 88
- ^ Richard Dyer (1975-12-11), "New label's records intruiging", The Boston Globe, p. 18
External links
[edit]- The San Lucas Band discography at Discogs