Customer Reviews

La Noche Buena: Christmas Music of Colonial Latin America

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Wed. Dec. 7 edition, SA Life section, page 4G

" SAVAE, La Noche Buena
Drum roll, please. The best Christmas album of the year is a dark horse from our own ranks, and we can almost guarantee you've never heard these songs before. The San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble has excavated 16th and 17th century century songs by Spanish, Portuguese and indigenous New World composers in Latin, European, African, and American Indian languages. The seven singers also play the instruments, usually percussion but also guitar and recorders. Lovely, lively stuff."

by Michael Barrett
special to the Express-News

Despite what the product info above says, amazon.com does have this in stock (our record label has been shipping them bulk orders every few days).

As a resident of the Philippines, I got this CD to revel in our shared Spanish colonial past and have delighted myself and my friends with frequent playings. I was already familiar with SAVAE's 'Guadalupe' discs and their wonderful evocation of the multicultural music of Aztec, Renaissance and Baroque Mexico. This production continues that unique sound and adds the rhythms of Africa. A worthy addition to anyone's Christmas and/or Period Music collection. Come to think of it, it's fun to listen to without any labels! SAVAE: Come on over and do the same for our Hispanic heritage on this side of the Pacific!

A unique and very highly recommended addition to any multicultural Christmas music collection, "La Noche Buena: Christmas Music Of Colonial Latin America" is an outstanding compilation of sixteen superbly performed pieces drawn from the decades between 1570 to 1680 where it was played in Spanish Catholic cathedrals throughout Latin America. Drawing from Mayan, Incans, West African, and Spanish sources, these pieces told the Nativity story through music in celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. SAVAE (San Anstonio Vocal Arts Ensemble) blends its seven voices with pre-Colombian, African, and European instruments to recreate these flawlessly recorded selections which include: Hoy es dia de placer (2:03); Christus natus est (2:15); Serenissima una noche (3:20); Hanacpachap cussicuinin (3:05); Dame albricia mano Anton (3:30); Tarara yo soy Anton (3:34); Eso rigor e repente (3:16); Magnificat tertii toni (4:53); Conceptionem virginis Mariae (2:15); DXiochi, xiochi conetzintle (2:14); AQ siolo Flasiquiyo (4:18); En un portalejo pobre (2:49); Los coflades de la estrella (4:45); De carambanos el dia (3:29); and Convidando esta la noche (2:54).

A unique and very highly recommended addition to any multicultural Christmas music collection, "La Noche Buena: Christmas Music Of Colonial Latin America" is an outstanding compilation of sixteen superbly performed pieces drawn from the decades between 1570 to 1680 where it was played in Spanish Catholic cathedrals throughout Latin America. Drawing from Mayan, Incans, West African, and Spanish sources, these pieces told the Nativity story through music in celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. SAVAE (San Anstonio Vocal Arts Ensemble) blends its seven voices with pre-Colombian, African, and European instruments to recreate these flawlessly recorded selections which include: Hoy es dia de placer (2:03); Christus natus est (2:15); Serenissima una noche (3:20); Hanacpachap cussicuinin (3:05); Dame albricia mano Anton (3:30); Tarara yo soy Anton (3:34); Eso rigor e repente (3:16); Magnificat tertii toni (4:53); Conceptionem virginis Mariae (2:15); DXiochi, xiochi conetzintle (2:14); AQ siolo Flasiquiyo (4:18); En un portalejo pobre (2:49); Los coflades de la estrella (4:45); De carambanos el dia (3:29); and Convidando esta la noche (2:54).