I heard the Austin band Correo Aéreo on Austin's radio program Live Set not long ago. Their music was the first in a long, long time to compel me to go out to a gig after hearing songs on the radio.
The tall, wooden harp from Venezuela that Abel Rocha plays is enough to stop any passerby in his tracks. To my ear, Abel is the equal of a classical harpist with a symphony. He is from a family of professional
musicians—his father was a member of the Mexican folk group Lacuntun, and Abel has been on stage since he was a child. Besides his family, his training includes study at an anthropological institute and work
with masters of classical guitar and harp.
Abel Rocha has the same magic that caused the medieval Irish to declare the house and grounds of a harp
player to be sacred. During Ireland's times of war, a harp player's house might be the only one left standing in a ravaged neighborhood. After listening to Abel's thirty-three strings, I can see the reason for
the Celtic superstition. No soldier would risk being haunted by the avenging spirit of a harp player.
Abel's partner, Madeleine, has also been on stage since she was six—as is evident to anyone who hears
her play the violin. In addition, she is a hypnotist with percussion. Michael Crockett, the KUT DJ who sponsors the public radio program Horizontes, gasped at the end of one number and said Madeleine Sosin
was "the best maracas player living". She does have the finesse and control of dynamic of a fine jazz drummer using brushes on a cymbal.
Both musicians sing superbly. The Austin Chronicle reviewer got so carried away that he declared,"Together, their vocal harmonies are locked in carnal embrace." Amen.
After listening to them, I'm of the mind that Bach might ask for his next reincarnation to be in Venezuela. The music is complex, passionate, and so technically accomplished that it could cause a mediocre
musician to cut off a hand or two.
The liner notes for their '92 effort include the following quotation from Pablo Neruda:
To the lips of the Forgotten Jug,
the taste of Earth rises with the water.
Lesser musicians could choose mystic verse and appear to be straining for an image. But the quotation is entirely appropriate for Correo Aé
reo. Their musical vision comes from the same mental space that was the origin of these lines.
Their repertoire from the traditional music of Venezuela, Mexico and Argentina is one far, far outside the
stereotype of Latin music. The harp and violin and vocals of Correo Aéreo are a serene mental alternative to a lot of drivin' music in red and yellow lights. the duo has the ethereal, yet charged, spirituality of
Sunday mornings that smoothes out the rock-hard energy of Saturday midnights, and both types of music have a substantial appeal, even to the same person.
—Dr. Jane H. Thorne
Austin, Texas
