(intense music) (light guitar music) - In the next hour, you're going to travel with us in the many different landscapes of Latin America, not only geographical landscapes with deserts, mountains, jungles, ice-capped mountains and beautiful oceans.

We're gonna go through the landscape of the soul of the Latin American people.

That's why we call it "EscuchARTE," the art of listening, listening to music.

And we're gonna travel from this very south, Argentina, the tango music; the samba from Brazil, Bahia-style from Brazil; the joropo from Venezuela; and Colombia, the cumbia; merengue from the Dominican Republic; guajira and guaracha from Cuba.

All these elements of Latin American music that are not even nearly as relevant, as important as all the rhythm that we have, but it's gonna give you an idea.

It's going to take you to our landscapes in a musical way.

(lively Latin jazz music) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (speaking foreign language) (audience clapping) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (audience clapping) John Benitez.

(lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (audience laughing) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) Roberto Quintero!

(audience cheering) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (audience cheering) They reached the country of Colombia where three cultures met, but in a very strong and very specific way in the northern part of the continent.

African elements, Spanish, European elements and Native American.

All this you can see in this beautiful rhythm called cumbia.

This cumbia is called "El Pescador", beautiful composition by the great, very prolific composer José Barrios.

(lively Latin jazz music) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Hector speaking indistinctly) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) One, two, one, two... (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Hector speaking Spanish) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (audience cheering) So now that we are touching on the subject of tango, we have our very own Hofstra faculty member, Andres Maldonado.

He wrote this beautiful piece.

It's a tango for string quartet with members of our student body here at Hofstra Music Department.

It's called "Desafiante."

(tango music) (tango music continues) (tango music continues) (tango music continues) (tango music continues) (tango music continues) (tango music continues) (tango music continues) (tango music continues) (tango music continues) (tango music continues) (tango music continues) (tango music continues) (tango music continues) (tango music continues) (audience cheering) So now that we are in the area of the Caribbean, we're going to play tunes from the Dominican Republic.

And the rhythm that comes to mind when you talk about the Dominican Republic is meringue.

One by Luis Alberti called "Compadre Pedro Juan," and this is very lively music, very beautiful music to dance, very joyful music that I especially enjoy.

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(audience clapping) (lively meringue music continues) (lively meringue music continues) (lively meringue music continues) (lively meringue music continues) (lively meringue music continues) (lively meringue music continues) (lively meringue music continues) (lively meringue music continues) (lively meringue music continues) (lively meringue music continues) (lively meringue music continues) (lively meringue music continues) (lively meringue music continues) (lively meringue music continues) (lively meringue music continues) (lively meringue music continues) (lively meringue music continues) (lively meringue music continues) (audience cheering) You can't do justice to the music from Cuba in just one or two pieces.

We're gonna do an example of the eastern part of the country of Oriente, from the mountains, from the peasants that are very strongly Spanish-influenced, but also African.

It's called the guajira, guajira rhythm.

And I wrote this tune for a friend of mine called Rita, and the tune is called "Guaji-Rita."

We also enter into a faster-paced guaracha in the middle of the performance.

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(audience cheering) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (audience clapping) Ethan Helm.

(audience clapping) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (audience clapping) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) Roberto Quintero!

(audience cheering) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) (lively guajira music continues) One, two, three.

(lively guajira music continues) (audience cheering) It is now my honor to present the amazing talent that got here together today to play, perform, distribute to Latin American music.

We have amazing students from Hofstra, the music department.

On violin, we have Jarred Mercado, Devlin Boyajian.

On cello, we have Phineas Bennett.

We have also faculty members that I work along with every day when I'm here at Hofstra.

We have Ethan Helm on alto and soprano sax.

Andres Maldonado, guitar and piano.

Alejandro Aviles, tenor sax and flute.

And myself, Hector Martignon on piano.

And we have some amazing guests from outside of Hofstra, from New York City.

On bass, we have John Benitez.

Latin percussion, Roberto Quintero.

Brazilian percussion, we have Valtinho Anastacio.

And on violin also Alan Grubner.

(audience cheering) Just as the size of Brazil is humongous, the reservoir of music is also all encompassing.

Also elements from native nations of Native Brazilians.

The rhythms of this country cannot be summarized in a few minutes or in a few songs, but we're gonna try our best with these three tunes.

The first one is "Beija Flor," "Beautiful Flower."

This is a slow, very sensual type of samba, bossa nova music from Brazil.

Then we're going to "Bebê."

It's a composition of Hermeto Pascoal, one of my favorite composers of Brazilian music in the 20th century.

It's a Bahia-type of music from Northeastern Brazil.

And then we end up with another Bahia-style song, but also samba.

It's called a "Bala com Bala."

(sensual samba music) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) John Benitez!

(audience clapping) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) Andres Maldonado!

(audience cheering) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (sensual samba music continues) (audience clapping) (triangle ringing) (triangle ringing) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (audience cheering) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (audience cheering) Alejandro Aviles.

(audience cheering) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (audience cheering) (audience clapping) - Relax, you guys.

(audience laughing) Don't have it to run, okay?

(audience laughing) (berimbau playing) (berimbau playing continues) (berimbau playing continues) (berimbau playing continues) (berimbau playing continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (berimbau playing continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (berimbau playing continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (berimbau playing continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (berimbau playing continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (berimbau playing continues) - Valtinho Anastacio.

(audience cheering) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (Valtinho singing in Brazilian) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) Alejandro Aviles!

(audience clapping) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) Ethan Helm!

(audience cheering) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) (lively Latin jazz music continues) John Benitez!

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