Berta Rojas – The Journey of Strings

by Bill Heck

Santiago de Murcia: La huella del Códice; El Canario (traditional); Ángel Mislán: Sara; Daniel Saboya: Bambuco Pá Billy; Popi Spatocco and Sebastián Henríquez: Tierra Mía; Elodie Bouny: El Mar, La Montaña, Los Llanos; Félix Pérez Cardozo: Che la Reina; Gustavo Santaolalla: The Last of Us. Berta Rojas, guitar; multiple artists.

In my reviews for Classical Candor, I seem to be on a roll, or rather two rolls: music for guitar and musical “projects”. This release combines both streams: Berta Rojas and colleagues have given us a history of stringed instruments, those in what we might call the guitar family, using a book, an app, multiple videos and, of course, music. Naturally, producing such a work – one that Rojas and her colleagues mean to be a living, breathing history – involved research, but it involved so much more: traveling internationally, especially in Latin America, to find instruments and the musicians who play them and recording the performances that bring their history to life.

Most readers will know that the musical instruments that we hear today evolved over the last few centuries. This is especially true of stringed instruments, and even today we see multiple versions that are strummed or plucked like the guitar, such as the ukulele and mandolin, not to mention guitar variations such as twelve- and even seven-string versions. What is less widely known is that there are many more variations of guitar-like instruments, both historical and present day, primarily associated with Spain and various Latin American countries. Instruments such as vihuela and the charango not only were but, in many cases, still are played. This project identified no fewer than thirteen such instruments in addition to the modern classical guitar!

With that capsule summary in mind, if learning and hearing more sounds appealing – and it should, especially if you have a particular interest in classical guitar – a good place to start is the project website. Scroll down and look at the “full documentary” video, which provides a 33-minute project overview and background. (Most of the interviews are in Spanish or Portuguese, but well-translated English subtitles are there as needed.)

Berta Rojas

The musical heart of the project is a series of 10 selections, each in the four-to-five-minute range. All the pieces are “Latin” in flavor, but that includes a range of styles from several periods, including the present. Each piece features Rojas, usually on a standard guitar, plus one or more stringed instruments that derive from or are related to the guitar. The selections are superbly played, excellently recorded, and eminently listenable. You can experience them in the form of music videos, which can be found project website or on a YouTube playlist here. But if you want to hear them in their full glory, you can find them on major streaming service services (although not on Qobuz, an omission that I hope is remedied soon), or purchase and download them from the usual sources, or go for the project boxed set that includes an LP (see below for details on that last option).

But that’s by no means all. Scrolling down further in that YouTube playlist, you’ll find a series of “Behind the Scenes” videos. Each of these provides background discussions about the corresponding musical selection, with topics ranging from history and construction of the instruments to musical analysis and much more. I found these invariably interesting; most are longer than the musical selections themselves.

I’ve mentioned videos a couple of times. Unlike some simple classical music videos that use a static camera or perhaps a few random cutaways, these are quite well produced and visually interesting. Thoughtful editing helps to focus not only on techniques used by the players but also show the joy that the musicians obviously have in playing their instruments and their music.

Finally, to bring multiple threads together we have a single package comprising a book, an app, and an LP. The book is a large format, lavishly illustrated 60+ pages with introductions to each musical work, the instruments used, and the musicians performing the work, all with text in both Spanish and English. (I reviewed a preproduction electronic copy.) The app, which is downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, is keyed to the book: in the app, you scan markers in the book to launch 3-D illustrations of the instruments described. You can move the instruments around virtually with your fingers to better see their construction, and you can even strum the strings by swiping. Finally, the LP contains all the musical selections. This package is available for purchase on Amazon and Strings by Mail. (As an aside, I hope that at some point the book may be available with a CD or as a standalone product for those don’t have turntables to play LPs.)

Now that we have all the components, and because Classical Candor reviews musical performances, let’s return to the music itself. As I mentioned earlier, the performances are excellent. Rojas is a well-known and respected guitarist, so virtuosity is hardly a surprise. It (almost) goes without saying that tone and intonation are impeccable. But I was even more impressed with the fluidity of her playing, how even the most difficult passages just seem to flow forward, a combination of technical mastery and an obvious love for what she is doing.

Playing "El Canario" (The Canary)

Then again, Rojas’s capabilities are a given. What may be even more gratifying is that the musicians who accompany her are virtuosos in their own rights. This applies not only to those who play the stringed instruments of note, but to every musician involved, including those playing in what amounts to a chamber orchestra accompaniment for the last three selections of the series. The compositions here, while immediately appealing, are also musically complex and demand a high degree of skill. If by any chance you imagined that finding lesser-known instruments and their players would involve hobbyists plucking out simple melodies or just strumming a few chords on instruments made from found materials, forget it. Everyone and everything here is, as they say, professional grade. That applies to the entire range of music, whether from earlier periods (such as the 15th century piece attributed to guitarist Santiago de Murcia) or our current time (such as the South American Triptych, commissioned by Rojas and composed by Elodie Bouny).

At this point, I’ve run into a dilemma: on one hand, this review is getting on in length; on the other, I feel as though I’ve only scratched the surface. I suppose that’s the occupational hazard of taking on a review of a multi-part project like this one. So I’ll summarize: Rojas’s project offers something for everyone. Those who simply want to listen can enjoy the music via download, streaming, or the LP, and hearing the unique sounds of lesser-known stringed instruments will be a welcome bonus. Those who are more curious about the instruments, the music, and the musicians can watch the videos, particularly the behind-the-scenes ones. And those who are ready to take a deeper dive can do so with the book and app. With all the options and components, you have a project to which you can return repeatedly, finding something new each time.