Native Angels

Editorial Reviews
About the Artist
Led by Christopher and Covita Moroney the San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble specializes in re-creating forgotten forms of spiritual music. The group has been featured repeatedly on National Public Radio and makes regular concert tours in the U.S. and Latin America.

Album Description
Eight voices and percussion instruments recreate spirtually and stylistically powerful music that Native American and African converts sang 400 years ago in the cathedrals of the New World Their voices sing in intricate ahd harmonious EUropean-styled polyphony, while in the background an array of authentic Native American and African percussion instruments interweave intoxicating rhythms.

Native Angels, Music, Savae, Folk, Latin Music, New Age

Average customer rating: Like a soothing cup of Chamomile! CHANTS for a New World 'Native Angels' is REALLY roots music Choir yields CD discoveries

Native Angels Savae , and San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble Manufacturer: Iago Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | International | Styles | Music General | Latin Music | Styles | Music General | New Age | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music General | New Age | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Guadalupe: Virgen De Los Indios La Noche Buena: Christmas Music of Colonial Latin America El Milagro de Guadalupe ASIN: B000001D3J Release Date: 1996-06-18

Tracks:

1. Hanacpachap cussicuinin
2. Oh Se!
3. Sui turo zente pleta
4. En un portalejo pobre
5. Dame albri mano Anton
6. Xicohi xiochi conetzintle
7. Eso rigor e repente
8. A siolo Flasiquiyo
9. Tururu farara con son
10. Jacara
11. Hoy es dia de placer
12. Tleycantimo choquiliya
13. Convidando esta la noche
14. Si tanta gloria se da - Victoria victoria
15. Magnificat sexti toni
16. Las estreyas se rien

Customer Reviews:

Like a soothing cup of Chamomile!.......1998-12-04

The harmonious euphony created by these performers more than balances the anemic emotional diet required by my constant search for cadence in every step, breathe and heartbeat.

Thanks!

CHANTS for a New World.......1998-10-29

By Bill Minutaglio, Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News

The feeling, at first, is as if you were in a cathedral, with the spiraling, echoing harmonies of sacred music by 17th-century European masters washing overhead. But from somewhere outside, somewhere "over there," comes an insistent, throbbing counterpoint. The juxtaposition is jarring initially--there is a percussive, rhythmic urgency on one side, a stylized mixture of sopranos, altos and tenors on the other.

The "Native Angels" recording by the San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble begins with a piece of polyphonic processional music sung on feast days in honor of the Virgin Mary. First published in 1631 in Lima, Peru, it literally sets the tone for the rest of this recording project--an attempt to recreate the music most likely sung in the 16th-to 18th-century New World missions by the Spanish colonialists, their slaves and conquered Indians.

There is a muscular underpinning to the "traditional" music as it was imported by the Spanish friars and taught in the old missions, and that drive is provided by Aztec log drums, African bata drum and a simple, boxy instrument called the 'cajon'.

The 16 selections, culled from church and museum archives, are all defined by the marriage of cultures. A piece written in the 17th century by Juan Garcia de Zespedes in Puebla, Mexico--"Convidando esta la noche"--has an Afro-Cuban flavor that seems light years removed from the singular, high harmonies probably then being heard in Spanish cathedrals. Musicologists affiliated with the project have suggested that the song's refrain is tied to deep-rooted African dances.

It could even be suggested that some of the pieces were among the early New World versions of 'corridos'--the popular Hispanic tunes that often blend the real world and news of the day into their lyrics. There are lyrics devoted to throwing parties, giving tobacco as gifts and playing games on horseback--but all usually done as a way to worship the Lord.

"Native Angels" is, in some ways, fusion church music--where the airy, ethereal choir meets the conga drum. And it is, at least, a partial window into how--even in the painful, historical context of the Spanish conquest--church music served as a bittersweet common language in the New World.

--Bill Minutaglio, The Dallas Morning News, Saturday, September 14, 1996

'Native Angels' is REALLY roots music.......1998-10-29

In a cover letter that accompanied the new CD, "Native Angels: Musical Miracles From the New World," by the San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble (SAVAE), Iago/Talking Taco label owner Ben Tavera King wrote, "Here's a CD of true San Antonio roots music. It doesn't get any older than this--I don't believe."

King is likely on-the-mark.

With "Native Angels," the octet delivers a compelling collection of the vocal-with-percussion music that was the result of American Indian and African slaves fusing their traditional sensibilities with songs taught by the Spanish missionaries of the Roman Catholic church.

The songs on "Native Angels" date from the early 16th century to the early 18th century. The ensemble has done its homework. The music was found in manuscripts in cathedral archives in Mexico, Central America and South America. Roots indeed.

The spare style, which showcases the sheer, pure instruments that are the ensemble's voices, was originally performed in church outposts from the American Southwest to Lima, Peru.

Religious affiliations of listeners to "Native Angels" will not matter. Like the chants of the Benedictine monks, surprise hits a couple of years ago, the songs on "Native Angels" come pretty close to being a sound that strikes universal chords.

San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble is Kathy Mayer, soprano; Phil Zamora, bass; Christopher Moroney, bass; Cathy Crosby-Schmidt, soprano; Tanya Moczygemba, alto; Covita Moroney, alto; Chris Crosby-Schmidt, tenor; and Lee P'Pool, tenor.

Choir yields CD discoveries.......1998-10-29

Reviewed by David Hendricks, San Antonio Express-News, Sunday, October 13, 1996

Six years after its debut, and after already appearing on National Public Radio's "Performance Today," SAVAE (San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble), has a first compact-disc recording that is out with a blast.

Eight voices and percussion. Music from colonial Latin America in the 1500s and 1600s. It's that simple and that beautiful. The Spanish missionaries brought their music to the villages of the U.S. Southwest on down to Peru. The Indians and slaves added their rhythms.

The scores of the 16 works performed on the 50-minute CD came out of the churches where they were composed and ritually played long ago. The European-Indian-slave cultural mix in those centuries may not have been smooth. There were diseases and wars. But the musical blend was harmonious. The music beams with joy, hope and life.

The performances by the San Antonio musicians are astonishingly perfect whether in unison or in supple, blended layers.

The singers are Kathy Mayer, Phil Zamora, Christopher Moroney, Cathy Crosby-Schmidt, Tanya Moczygemba, Covita Moroney, Chris Crosby-Schmidt and Lee P'Pool. Eric Casillas is percussionist, helped on rainsticks by Ben Tavera King, the producer of Talking Taco's Iago CD label distributing the new disc.

Average customer rating: Fantastic!!!!!!

Sweet Seraphic Fire Manufacturer: New World Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Early American Choral Music, Vol. 1 Early American Choral Music, Vol. 2 The Norumbega Harmony: Historic and Contemporary Hymn Tunes and Anthems from the New England Singing School Tradition (American Made Music Series) ASIN: B000AA4L8W Release Date: 2005-08-02

Tracks:

1. New Canaan (Oliver Holden, 1793)
2. Maryland (William Billings, 1778)
3. Bethlehem (William Billings, 1778)
4. Lynn (Oliver Holden, 1793)
5. Funeral Hymn (Oliver Holden, 1792)
6. An Anthem for Easter (William Billings, 1787/1795)
7. Walpole (Abraham Wood, 1786)
8. Beauty (Jacob French, 1789)
9. Happiness (Jacob French, 1793)
10. Woburn (Jacob Kimball, 1793)
11. Montague (Timothy Swan, 1801)
12. Newport (Daniel Read, 1785)
13. Hatfield (Thomas Baird, 1800)
14. Attention (Asahel Benham [?], 1790)
15. Crucifixion (M. Kyes, 1798)
16. Mechias (James Lyon, 1774)
17. St. Paul's (Supply Belcher, 1794)
18. Transition (Supply Belcher, 1794)
19. Jubilant (Supply Belcher, 1794)
20. The Lilly (Supply Belcher, 1794)
21. Buckfield (Abraham Maxim, 1802)
22. Pennsylvania (Nehemiah Shumway, 1793)
23. Sounding Joy (J. P. Storm, 1795 )
24. Redemption (Jeremiah Ingalls, 1805)
25. Consolation (Lucius Chapin, c. 1812)
26. Liberty-Hall (Lucius Chapin, 1813)
27. Babe of Bethlehem (Southern Harmony, 1835)
28. Convoy (M. L. Swan, 1867)
29. Hallelujah New (Roland Hutchinson, 1996)
30. Nativity (Bruce Randall, 1990)
31. Cortona (M. R. Truelsen, 1996)
32. Great Divide (Stephen Marini, 1998)
33. Arinello (Dennis O'Brien, 1997)
34. Ev'ry String Awake (Glen Wright, 1996)
35. Ten Thousand Charms (Hal Kunkel, 1996)

Product Description

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic!!!!!!.......2006-03-15

Average customer rating:

Bad Boys & Angels Mike Gouchie Manufacturer: Arbor Records Ltd ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Alt-Country & Americana | Country | Styles | Music General | Contemporary Country | Country | Styles | Music General | Country | Styles | Music General | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music Contemporary | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music General | International | Styles | Music Native American | North America | International | Styles | Music Country Rock | Rock | Styles | Music Country | Imports | Stores | Music International | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B000GFLE3G Release Date: 2006-08-07

Tracks:

1. Somethin' Bout A Bad Boy
2. What It All Comes Down To
3. To Hell With Love
4. Troublemaker
5. Angels Unaware
6. Picture Daddy With You
7. How Can I Love You
8. If Only
9. Long Way Over You
10. Who I Ain't
11. New Mountain To Climb
12. Whole Lot A Love

Album Description

Average customer rating:

Native Angels Savae Manufacturer: Talking Taco/Iago ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Folk | Styles | Music General | Latin Music | Styles | Music General | New Age | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music General | Folk | Indie Music | Stores | Music General | New Age | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: El Milagro de Guadalupe Guadalupe: Virgen De Los Indios La Noche Buena: Christmas Music of Colonial Latin America ASIN: B000068GRF Release Date: 1996-06-18

Tracks:

1. Hanachpachap cussicuinin
2. On Senora
3. Sa qui turo zente pleta
4. En Un Portalego pobre
5. Dame albricia mano Antonon
6. Xicochi xicochi conetzintle
7. Eso Rigor e repente
8. A siolo Flasiquivo
9. Tururu facara con son
10. La xacara xacrilla
11. Oy es dia de placer
12. Tleycantimo choquiliya
13. Convidando esta la noche
14. Si tan gloria se da/Victor victoria
15. Magnificat sexti toni
16. Las estreyas se rien

Product Description

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