CUARTETO DE SAXOFONES ZIRYÂB – Four for Flamenco (performance)

Biography

The Ziryâb Saxophone Quartet was founded in 1998 and his members are saxophone teachers at Conservario Superior “Rafael Orozco” in Córdoba, Conservatorio Superior “Manuel Castillo” in Sevilla and Real Conservatorio Superior “Víctoria Eudenia” in Granada.
Together to Pedro Iturralde they have played and toured Spain performing his arrangements and compositions based on Spanish classical music, flamenco and jazz fusion.
Among recognitions, the Ziryâb Saxophone Quartet was awarded 2nd Prize at the Concurso Permanente de Jóvenes Intèrpretes of Jeunesses Musicales Spain (1991) and 1st Prize at the “Francisco Salzillo” Chamber Music Contest (Murcia, Spain, 2007)
Ziryâb has recorded 2 Cd´s called “Miscelanea” (1997 ) and “Tetraphone” (2007).
Ziryâb has toured Spain, Italy and Morrocco.

More information

On November 16, 2010 UNESCO declared flamenco one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. From the last 50 years a lot of musicians and composers have seen on this art a source of inspiration and they have tried to fusion any of his elements to their musical style.
The flamenco in its original form was only voice, a primitive cry or chant accompanied only by the rhythm which would be beaten out on the floor by a wooden staff or cane.These styles are known as Palo Secos, or dry styles, and they are the oldest forms of song known today.
The Tonas are the family of songs which represent these style and they include the tona, one of the oldest known styles, the martinetes, which are the songs of the blacksmiths, the rhythm being supplied by the hammer beating on the anvil, the carceleras or prison songs, and the debla, which at one time was thought to have had connections with a gypsy religious rite.
Cante jondo means “deep song,” and these are the styles of which most of the other forms derive. Flamenco is made up of four elements, Cante-Voice, Baile-Dance, Toque-Guitar, and the Jaleo, which roughly translated means “hell raising” and involves the handclapping, foot stomping, and shouts of encouragement.
It whichever way jaleo presents itself, it is performed by the audience as well as the artiste and anyone else who feels the urge to participate. The handclapping or Palmas is an art in itself, and although it may look easy, it is not, and the palmeros will weave intricate rhythms around the bases of the song, and in the tablaos this is used in conjunction with the zapateado.
The zapateado is the tap dance style of footwork, the dancers show piece where he will demonstrate his skill with his feet, and the noise created by this and the palmeros will be ringing in your ears long after you have left the tablao.
All these elements are used on this project created by Manuel Ureña but using the extended saxophone techniques as tools to create the own language.
For some people can be surprising that, on the flamenco we find often elements like the microtonality, unequal temperamented escales, improvisation and a complex meter of rhythm that are close to the comtemporary music language.
The idea of Manuel Ureña, one the members of the quartet and composer of this work, is to create a sort of contemporary collage in one movement of different palos of the flamenco with a new contemporary language included all the extended techniques of the saxophone quartet playing.