Few take time to consider the vibrations from people in comas, or from others in non-mainstream states of consciousness, but Christopher Garcia and his Flower Songs Music are tuned in, especially on the Day of the Dead. Garcia's daughter Alegria, who sings in the group along with his wife, Yolanda, is also an archaeologist of Mesoamerica, bringing more resonances of the departed into play as the trio perform on indigenous drums, flutes, percussion instruments and strings. At this concert in a spacious church, Flower Songs Music augmented selections from their two recordings and newer material with frequent Garcia collaborator Tasha Smith Godinez (harp), Harry Scorzo (violin), and pianist-percussionist Pablo Leñero, who also offered one of his own compositions. They helped us absorb resonances that are always present.
The root of the Flower sound was a tall, carved drum thumped with big mallets by each Garcia in turn to produce a heartbeat big enough to pump a church or a cavern and be felt in every listener's chest. Eerie flute harmonies, nettling percussion, pouring of water and many other sounds of breath and life floated in dynamic surges to tell abstract stories of a sacrifice in the pool of a dim cenote, or the ponderings of the Emperor Moctezuma in his black meditation room after receiving nightmare warnings of destruction. Even the 1531 appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe was commemorated.
Alegria Garcia's renditions in Spanish and ancient Nahuatl of "La Llorona," the classic metaphor-laden ballad of a woman mourning her dead children, required no knowledge of either language to feel the heart-gripping fist of emotion, her dignity, tonal purity and occasional rasp serving as powerful tools. Leñero, often contributing precise percussion accompaniment or piano embellishments, brought out his bold tribute to the Aztecs' defense of the Spaniards' murderous 1521 siege of Tenochtitlan; the composition alternated between thoughtful lyricism and bravura flourishes -- each accented by Godinez, who could pull some intense accents out of that angelic harp when she wanted to.
Godinez's gentle touch was also essential to Flower Songs' closer, "The Arc of Life," whose heartbeat and heartstrings condensed more experience into 10 minutes than many a symphony musters. Scorzo's scored violin parts provided frequent moments of distinct, patient beauty throughout.
Thus do the dead live on. Mesoamerican instruments remain, and Garcia showed they can blend with European ones quite effectively. The history of the dead also remains in what is ironically still not called the 16th-century friars' "Aztec Codex" but "The Florentine Codex," because of where it was hidden for centuries. The story of the Virgin of Guadalupe, first intended as a colonizing wedge, has been remade into a saga of indigenous pride. And of course, there are the bloodlines -- renewed every day.
* * *
A presentation of the Resonance Collective.
* * *
GROUP PHOTO COURTESY OF THE RESONANCE COLLECTIVE.