The Sounds of the Archives: Compositions Inspired by the CENTRO Archives

Our Archives are an incredible source of inspiration, not just for scholarly research but also for artists of all disciplines. Recently, two composers: our Artist in Residence, Gabriel Bouche Caro and Guarionex Morales Matos, produced two contemporary compositions based on their research. Join us on May 30th for a very special musical performance and witness the rebirth of archived sounds into innovative musical arrangements.

Gabriel Bouche Caro's piece is a new performance for solo instrument and narrator/singer. It resembles a stream-of-consciousness/musical theater monologue with the vocalist representing the complexities of the Puerto Rican identity and current situation. The performance’s narrative is constructed by taking highly specific texts from the collections of Tato Laviera, Victor Hernandez Cruz, Pura Belpre, and more and making them into a dramatic reading that brings forth conflicts within the ‘diasporican’ identity, the duality of being a nationalist living in the colonizer’s land, and the image of an artist who wishes to bring forth the intricacies and beauty of their culture to the world. This is Puerto Rican music, not as folk, but as a synthesis of sound, experience, tradition, difficulties, and successes that come from living life square-rooted in a richly complex and demanding cultural situation.

Guarionex Morales Matos' project, Pedro Pietri: An Aesthetic Collision Between His Poetry and Puerto Rican Art Song explores the exclusion of diasporic poets from the Puerto Rican art song genre through the work of Pedro Pietri. Pietri's poetry constitutes the perfect compositional material for this genre, despite the euro-centrical criteria that have historically marked the latter's development and approach towards the public. Morales Matos strives to transgress said conventionalisms to crumble the artificial barriers between art forms, as well as those that divide the popular, folk, and classical music spheres. The lyrics and music will derive from three of Pietri's least-known texts to create a powerful triptych for mezzo-soprano, clarinet, and piano.

About the Musicians

Bouche Caro is a New York City based composer and PhD candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center. Gabriel explores his personal and musical identity by responding to language and literature, external artistic expressions, and the elements of other cultures seen through the filter of life as part of a colonized people and society. His music has been performed in North America, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia.

Morales Matos, a Puerto Rico based composer, arranger and choral conductor, holds a bachelor’s degree in public communications and a master’s degree in Cultural Management and Administration, both from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. In 2001, Morales-Matos established Orfeón San Juan Bautista, a professional choir currently under his co-direction.