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country.
Talent Seekers
"Little by little," Llerenas says, "the music was taking up more and
more of my time. It slowly took over.
"For an entire year before I finally decided, I had nightmares every
night. I had a very good position at the institute and I had had a
rewarding career in science. But there were a number of circumstances
that had come together by that time: the important impetus of the
Rolex Award, the fact that we had produced and sold records, and my
growing feeling that I didnt want to be a passer-by on the music
scene," he says.
The decision is one that Llerenas has never regretted. He finds his
dedication to music both interesting and challenging from an
intellectual point of view, and he also finds he does not miss science.
Corasn, his independent label, is doing well and finding its own niche
in the world of music. "There really isnt any label on the market like
them," comments a spokesman for the company distributing Corasns
releases in the United States. "Theres no one doing what theyre doing
with Mexican music."
Sounds from the Heart
years that the music seems safe and sound in the hands of a younger
generation. "Traditional music is not, as we had feared, dying out. It
remains stubbornly resistant to change and an important source of
regional identity. The verses, the context and in some cases the
repertoire and instrumentation are changing in the face of the cultural
homogeneity promoted by the mass media, but structurally, the music
remains intact," says Llerenas.
Musical Archive
His status as director of the independent label has not meant that he
has abandoned the continued expansion of the musical archive. In fact,
that has become a job that Llerenas now views as unending.
"The project turned out to be much more dynamic than Id imagined
since I discovered the importance of returning to regions we had
already explored in order to see how the music was evolving." In
addition, Llerenas now conducts personal interviews with the
musicians so that the archive includes biographical information and
visual support for the sound recordings.
Outside of Mexico, Corasn has also featured sounds from the
Caribbean and Central and South America and one of its releases
features African-influenced music from 19 different countries. Over the
years, Llerenas has recorded in Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Belize,
Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Martinique,
Guadeloupe, St Kitts, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.
Key to the success of Corasn today is what distinguished Llerenass
original winning project quality. "This isnt music for museums,"
Llerenas says. "Its not souvenir music for tourism. Its good music."
Published in 1997
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