By Tania Castro Govea
The Electropercussion Music Project began its activities in 2014 in Toluca, Mexico. Its main goal is to introduce the sound of the marimba (a traditional keyboard instrument from the south of Mexico made with tropical woods) and the double bass as its main melodic instruments. The two performers in the duet also make all the arrangements and compositions and perform the traditional styles and rhythms from Mexico together with jazz, improvisation, classical, and contemporary music. They use the latest technology available in their instruments, creating a mixture that is new and imaginative.
In their concerts, we get to hear the sound of the marimba, the vibraphone, and the glockenspiel, with the inclusion of the MalletKat, an electronic keyboard played with two pairs of mallets, and also the sound of the orchestral double bass or its electronic version, called the baby bass, combined with traditional drums and percussion.
The music performed by the Electropercussion duet sounds like musical landscapes that tell us a story with each interpretation. They are inspired by their native places in Mexico and their surroundings, villages, people, weather, traditional holidays and costumes, historical moments, remembrances, and emotions of everyday life. Musical styles such as pre-Hispanic music, zapateado, huapango, bolero, jazz, contemporary, and fiesta music are brought by the sounds you’ll hear. We call our concept “Música Mexicana Fusión.”
Tania Govea is a multi-instrumentalist in percussion keyboards, drums, and Latin percussion. She studied at the UNAM National School of Music in Mexico City and orchestral percussion at Temple University in Philadelphia; she is a music therapist. Arturo Mendoza Díaz comes from a musical family where, together with his brother and parents, he started playing guitar and electric bass and performing in public events at a very young age. He studied orchestral double bass at the Superior School of Music from the Fine Arts Council in Mexico City; he is also a composer, musical director, arranger, and audio engineer.
The Electropercussion duet has two recordings currently available to the public. The first one was released in 2020 and is entitled “Acuarela Mexiquense,” a musical homage to the State of Mexico with 10 original compositions in huapango, bolero, jazz, and danzón. In November 2021, “Tlaxcalli, la música del maíz,” was released. It is a historic recording dedicated to Tlaxcala and also in commemoration of the 500 years of Mexico’s conquest. At the December 21 concert at the Public Library, they are performing for the first time in San Miguel (and they are programming a series of concerts here with the different musical programs they perform), and they have prepared a Christmas program performed in their own style, where you can hear their versions of Christmas carols such as “Greensleeves,” “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “Silver Bells,” excerpts from “The Nutcracker,” and also Spanish carols or villancicos traditionally sung in the Mexican posadas.
Concert
Electropercussion Concert
“Carols and Villancicos: Christmas with the Sound of Marimba”
Tue, Dec 21, 5:30pm
Patio of the Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25, Centro
300 pesos (Christmas gift included)
