The world music duo Correo Aereo made up of Abel Rocha & Madeleine Sosin performs traditional music of Venezuela, Mexico, Argentina, and Peru. Rocha's high falsetto to lush mid-range voice combines with Sosin's rich, smokey vocals to create an emotional journey to countrysides and urban spaces.

Correo Aereo’s recent independent release, Lo Que Me Dijo El Viento, (What The Wind Told Me) perfectly captures the talents of this incredible partnership as it is joined by the artistry of Rob Halverson (bass guitar/engineering and mixing) and Rosie Ochoa (bass).

Correo Aereo’s second release has made constant headway into the hearts of the everyone who hears it. The City of Austin included the song “La Mariquita” on On Any Given Evening, a limited edition CD featuring Austin’s most renowned musicians including Don Walser, Bob Schneider and The Gourds. Putumayo Records included “Fiesta Llanera” on its international release Music of the Coffee Lands II.

Universal Pictures used “Pena Huasteca” in the feature film, The Life of David Gale, directed by Alan Parker, produced by Alan Parker and Nicolas Cage and filmed in Austin, Texas. The Life of David Gale, starring two-time Academy Award®-winner Kevin Spacey, and Oscar®-nominees Kate Winslet and Laura Linney opened February 21, 2003. The film’s soundtrack features “Pena Huasteca” from Lo Que Me Dijo El Viento as well as a track from another legendary Austin artist, Toni Price. Jake and Alex Parker (sons to Alan Parker) composed the score to the film.

While Lo Que Me Dijo El Viento mounts its share of critical acclaim, Austin audiences have also voiced their appreciation of the world music duo. Correo Aereo was voted the Best Traditional Mexican/Latino Act in the Austin Music Awards and runner up for Best World Music Band in 2001.

Additionally, while playing in Austin in 1999, the group was discovered by Joey Burns and John Convertino of Calexico. The fortuitous meeting resulted in Burns and Convertino recommending Correo Aereo to play in Holland's prestigious Moondive, an international media project produced by VPRO Television & Radio, Amsterdam. The annual project brought together Correo Aereo, Calexico and five other musicians from around the globe for four days of collaboration that culminated in a two hour nationally televised and webcast concert with a soundtrack that followed. Listen to the Moondive concert online.

Correo Aereo was drawn to Austin in 1993 after performing at South By Southwest (SXSW) and being hailed by Joe Compton from Dirty Linen as ”the real discovery of the [SXSW] World Music Showdown.” The SXSW showcase came on the brink of their debut release, Provinces, which received accolades from local and international press. The warm reception by Austin audiences and press persuaded Correo Aereo to relocate that year from Santa Fe, New Mexico where the group first formed.

Madeleine Sosin was born and raised in Minneapolis where, by the age of nine, she was a violin prodigy and Concert Mistress of the St. Paul Youth Orchestra. Around the same time, Abel Rocha was growing up in Mexico City performing bombo (drum), guitar and singing, inspired by his father's folk music group, Lacantun. Following nearly parallel paths of solo-navigation into Latin and world music, Abel and Madeleine crossed paths in 1991 at a flamenco party in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Abel was in Santa Fe touring with his traditional Mexican band, Quetzalcoatl, and Madeleine was performing with the underground Compost Theater Group. The two quickly became friends sharing an admiration for some of the pioneers of Latin folk music-Mercedes Sosa, Los Cantores del Pánuco, Soledad Bravo-and fostered a musical partnership that would last more than a decade.

Correo Aereo relocated again in 2001 to Seattle, Washington where they have been busy discovering the musical landscape of the Pacific Northwest. In 2002 they began composing music for the soundtrack to Shipibo, a documentary on the Shipibo Indians of the Peruvian Amazon by filmmaker Willem Malten of Kanseki Productions. Most recently Correo Aereo’s music can be heard on nationally syndicated broadcasts of Democracy Now! on Pacifica Radio and they opened for Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) at an anti-war event in Santa Fe, NM on February 28, 2003.

Joe Compton of Dirty Linen writes, “the musical skill of this couple complements the impressive reach of their pan-Hispanic musical repertoire and marks Correo Aereo as one of the most exciting acoustic ensembles to appear in many years." Be sure to check them out in May at the Northwest FolkLife Festival or at any of theirother performances.