Otherlands Collaboration #3
Location: Pontecaldelas, Spain • Date: October 10, 2019
After leaving Andalucía, we drove north through the pig growing area of Extremadura (stopping for jamón, of course), and rested for a night in Salamanca before continuing on to Galicia in northwest Spain. On my first solo trip to Spain over five years ago, I was introduced to Galicia's music and a few of it's great musicians while teaching at the fiddle/music camp Crisol de Cuerda. Being less informed about Spanish music back then, I was surprised to find out how much it reminded me of Ireland or Scotland. I felt Celtic overtones in instrumentation (bagpipes, bouzouki, fiddle) and ornamentation, and they had tunes in 6/8, but to generalize the music as Celtic is oversimplifying. Having spent the last 4+ years in Spain, I feel Galician music now as it’s own thing, and I’d describe it to someone unfamiliar as a beautiful intersection of Spanish and Celtic music—Spanish muiñeiras and xotas meet Celtic instrumentation with a taste of gypsy harmony. I love it.
My collaboration with Xosé Liz and Hugo Franco unfolded in a very organic way. I was asked to play a gig while in Galicia and thought I'd do it solo. But, the promoter wanted something with a bigger instrumentation for more impact and asked if I'd like to make a trio with these two fine musicians. I knew Xosé from my trip to that fiddle camp many years back and already wanted to collaborate with him, so it was an easy decision.
*To learn more about Xosé and Hugo's music and projects, please visit: Xosé’s Facebook and Hugo’s Facebook
For the gig, I needed to put together one set of material. I chose a mixture of American tunes and Galicia ones I was listening to in preparation for my trip to the area. “A Miña Burriña” is one of those Galician tunes.
Coincidentally, it's the first Galician tune I learned, and I learned it before ever setting foot in Spain. (Serendipity, anyone?) I was teaching at the Mike Block String Camp in Florida, and Mike arranged for a Skype/call/jam with another camp happening at the same time, San Simone Fiddle in Galicia. Via Skype, they taught us “A Miña Burriña” in Florida. When I later came to Spain for my tour, I dusted this one off and made a solo arrangement. It seemed only fitting that we should rework it with our new trio.
This arrangement began at our rehearsals in Cangas, Spain and was recorded outside of Pontecaldelas (both in the general vicinity of Vigo). It's a traditional Galician jota (spelled xota in Galician) and can be found on other recordings with lyrics. Two excerpts of other music we worked on can be heard in this video—”A Bruixa” by Antón Seoane (during the intro) and the traditional “Mirandesa” (during the outro).
I loved the energy of playing with Xosé and Hugo. Needless to say, our gig was extremely fun.
Casey
CREDITS
Song: A Miña Burriña (traditional)
Music Arranged by: Casey Driessen, Xosé Liz, Hugo Franco
Bouzouki: Xosé Liz
Guitar: Hugo Franco
Fiddle & Audio/Video: Casey Driessen
Production Assistant: Emmette Driessen
Special Thanks: Alfonso Franco
To follow along the Otherlands project, please visit the Otherlands webpage, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube.
