For certain artists, "something old, something new," is not just a mantra. Luc¡a Pulido, who will perform at Bowdoin with her trio tomorrow, is one such artist.
Pulido, a vocalist and player of the cuatro and small percussion instruments, works with what Assistant Professor of Music Michael Birenbaum Quintero terms "folkloric" music. Pulido will bring to Bowdoin her expertise on "the process of making [modern] musical arrangements of traditional material," according to Quintero.
Pulido's upcoming performance is particularly exciting for Quintero, an ethnomusicologist, and to community members with an interest in the process of musical composition. However, Quintero added that Pulido's music has "mass appeal."
Pulido draws her arrangements from traditional Colombian music and retains all of the passion, emotion and color of the Latin American cannon in her modern work. She derives inspiration from various Colombian musical genres, including cumbia, bullerengue, currulaos and joropos.
Pulido's compositions are also inspired by Latin American herding songs (cantos de vaquer¡a), funeral laments (alabaos,) harvest chants (cantos de zafra) and songs of broken love (despecho), which lend a narrative quality to her music.
Quintero said that Pulido's arrangements are a testament to the "way in which music circulates and changes, travels and mutates." Her work relates to his seminar "Sound Travels: Mozart to the mp3," in which students explore transnational musical exchange.
Travel and environment is central to Pulido's music. She said her creativity is spurred by "living in New York, listening to a lot of music from all over the world," and from "working with musicians of different backgrounds" in an environment that is "experimental" and "downtown."
According to Quintero, Pulido and her contemporaries are themselves products of music's portability. He described these transnational musicians as "musical cosmopolitans."
"Everybody has something behind them, a background that is unique," Pulido added.
Pulido has performed in Europe, Latin America and all over the North American continent. In the summers of 2007 and 2008, she was an artist in residence in Krems, Austria. While in New York she has participated in the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood concert series. In 2000 she received a grant for New York City resident artists from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Foundation (LMCC).
Pulado will be accompanied by Sebastian Cruz on guitar and Stomu Takeishi on bass. Although she normally plays in quintets or quartets, she said she enjoys the intimacy of playing in a trio and has a special repertoire suited to the size.
The Luc¡a Pulido Trio will perform tomorrow in Studzinski Recital Hall from 7:30 to 9 p.m.