MIGUEL
ZENÓN
Identities are
Changeable
Miguel Zenón Quartet
Miguel Zenón - alto saxophone • Luis Perdomo - piano
Hans Glawischnig - bass • Henry Cole - drums
“Identities” Big Band
Will Vinson, Michael Thomas – alto saxophones
Samir Zarif, John Ellis (solo on “Same Fight”) – tenor saxophones
Chris Cheek – baritone saxophone
Mat Jodrel, Michael Rodríguez, Alex Norris, Jonathan Powell - trumpets
Ryan Keberle, Alan Ferber, Tim Albright (solo on “First Language”) - trombones
Identities are
Changeable
¿De Dónde Vienes? (Overture) 4:26
2 Identities are Changeable 11:47
3 My Home 11:26
4 Same Fight 12:25
5 First Language 12:29
6 Second Generation Lullaby 11:20
7 Through Culture and Tradition 10:30
8 ¿De Dónde Vienes? (Outro) 1:20
1
All music written by Miguel Zenón (MAZENONMUSIC/BMI)
Thanks
To The Most High, for giving me good health and the opportunity
to do what I love. To Nancy, Kelly, Yocha, Junito, Patri, Aidan,
Lawrence, Vilma, Elliott and to the rest of my family for your love
and support. To Luis, Hans, Henry and to all the amazing musicians
in the Big Band; thank you for being at the heart of this music and
for making it your own. To Mariah Wilkins, for getting us out there.
And to Elga and Elena, I love you very much.
Special thanks to Patricia Zenón, Juan Flores, Sonia Manzano,
Bonafide Rojas, Camilo Molina, Alejandro Rodríguez and Luques
Curtis. This project is about all of you and it would have never
happened without your illuminating words, which you shared
with me in all honesty and truth. I’m eternally grateful.
To the many friends and piers who, in one way or another, helped
this project become a reality: David Dempewolf, Paul Bagin, Steve
Lehman, David Virelles, Jason Moran, Darcy James Argue, Joe
Fiedler, Jacob Garchik, Jonathan Finlayson, Seneca Black, Roman
Filiú and Terran Olson.
To our Honorary Donors Robert Mailer Anderson, Antonio Lucio
and Rick Swig, and to all our Kickstarter backers for their support.
To Jed Wheeler, Randall Klein and SFJAZZ, The SFJAZZ Collective,
Bobby Avey, Jeff Ballard, Lionel Loueke, Nancy Marciano, Max
Ross, Axel Gutzler, Brian Montgomery, Randy Merrill, Laurent
Coq (big thanks to you my friend), Ricky Flores, Ann Braithwaite,
Abdiel Flores, Ned Sublette, all my students at NEC, Rio Sakairi
at The Jazz Gallery, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, everyone
at Rico/D’Addario, to all the promoters and club owners that give
our music a chance.
And to YOU for listening.
Miguel Zenón
Credits
Recorded March 18th & 19th, 2014 at Systems Two, Brooklyn, NY
by Max Ross.
Additional recording at the HR Studios in Frankfurt, Germany by
Axel Gutzler.
Mixed by Brian Montgomery/ Mastered by Randy Merrill.
Cover Photo by Ricky Flores
Studio pictures by Laurent Coq
Still images taken from a video installment by David Dempewolf
Graphic Design by Abdiel Flores, WIGO Design
Associate Producer – Robert Mailer Anderson
Produced by Miguel Zenón
www.miguelzenon.com
For Bookings :
Mariah Wilkins Artist Management LLC
Phone: 212.426.3282
Skype: wilkinsm86
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.mariahwilkins.com
“Identities are Changeable” was originally commissioned in 2011
by Peak Performances at Montclair University / Montclair, NJ.
This recording was made possible in part by a grant from the
Aaron Copland Fund for Music 2014 Recording Program.
Miguel Zenón plays Rico Jazz Select Reeds exclusively
Henry Cole endorses DW Jazz Drums, Vic Firth Sticks &
Zildjian Cymbals.
The music on this recording is inspired by the idea of national identity as experienced by New Yorkers of Puerto Rican
descent. It is a six part song cycle (with an overture and postlude to open and close the piece) and I wrote it to feature my quartet
plus a twelve-piece large ensemble.
All of this music was written around a series of interviews I conducted with a diverse group of individuals, all New Yorkers of
Puerto Rican descent. Before conducting these interviews, I allowed each individual to choose the location for our meeting (most
of them chose their homes or places of work). I did this primarily because I wanted them to be as comfortable as possible during
our conversations and to avoid putting them in the potentially intimidating and unfamiliar environment of a recording studio. But I
also made this decision because I wanted to have the possibility of capturing some of the sounds of New York City: the occasional
car or bus driving by; next-door neighbors talking or listening to music; kids playing in the background or in a park right outside
the window. These sounds all ended up finding their place within each conversation, making this project (as was originally my
purpose) as much about the city itself as it is about the people that live in it. During the interviews I asked them all the exact same
questions, which covered topics such as their level of comfort with the Spanish language, places they considered home and their
connection to Puerto Rican traditions. Afterwards, I took their responses and represented them musically in the various sections of
the piece (e.g. “First Language”, “My Home”, “Through Culture and Tradition”). In addition, and as a way to musically express this
unique concept of identity (multiple and changeable), all the sections explore the idea of multiple rhythmic structures coexisting
with each other (e.g., five against seven, three against two, five against three). These structures sometimes appear separately and
sometimes simultaneously within the same section of the piece.
Since the early 1920’s and spanning throughout the rest of the 20th century, Puerto Ricans have become one of the largest
communities in the United States. This is specifically evident in the New York City area, where neighborhoods like “East Harlem”
and “The Lower East Side” (both historical epicenters to the Puerto Rican exodus to the city) became known as “El Barrio” and
“Loisaida” respectively. Eventually the term “Nuyorican” was born and, as of 2012, there are approximately 1.2 million Puerto Ricans
living in the greater New York metro area, making it the largest Puerto Rican community outside of the Island.
Having been born and raised in Puerto Rico, I’ve always been curious about the causes and development for this mass
migration to the United States. When I first came into contact with Puerto Rican communities in this country, I was shocked to
meet second and third generation Puerto Ricans who were as connected to the traditions of their parents/grandparents and as
proud to be Puerto Rican as the people I knew back home. Where was this sense of pride coming from? What did they consider
their first language? Their home? What did it mean to them to be Puerto Rican? What are the elements that help us shape our
national identity? These questions, along with many others, organically pushed me towards exploring the subject further and into
putting together what has now become “Identities are Changeable”.
Thank you very much for listening and I hope you enjoy the music.
Miguel Zenón
Interview Transcriptions
¿De Dónde Vienes? (Overture)
Identities are Changeable
My Home
Same Fight
First Language
Second Generation Lullaby
Through Culture and Tradition
¿De Dónde Vienes? (Overture)
Miguel
Juan Flores
Tell me your name,
Ok, so I’m Juan Flores,
where you were born
I was actually born in Virginia.
and raised and where your family is from
Alexandria, Virginia near DC,
because my father was working in DC.
But within a few years
my family moved to New York.
So my father is Puerto Rican,
Patricia Zenón
My Name is Patricia Zenón,
I was born and raised in the Bronx,
New York
and my family is from Puerto Rico.
Santurce, Puerto Rico,
both of my parents.
from the old school…
He was born in 1900 in Barceloneta.
My Mother is Hungarian,
so I’m a “Hunga-Rican”, as they’re called.
What I found out much more recently
is that there are actually
a lot of “Hunga-Ricans”
because the Hungarian neighborhood
in New York is right adjacent to “El Barrio”
Luques Curtis
“My name is Luques Curtis,
I was born in Hartford, Connecticut.
Windsor, Connecticut
right outside of Hartford.
My Dad was born in New London, Connecticut
so he’s from there
but origins from the West Indies.
And my mother is born in Puerto Rico.
Sonia Manzano
My name is Sonia Manzano,
I was born in Manhattan
but raised in the Bronx.
So I think of myself as a Bronx girl.
My mother is from Caguas (Puerto Rico),
and my father from Manatí (Puerto Rico),
and they came over in the 40’s
Lares, Puerto Rico”
Bonafide Rojas
My Name is Bonafide Rojas.
So I was born and raised in the Bronx in October of 1977,
and grew up in the Grand Concourse
Section of the Bronx.
My mother was born in Guánica (Puerto Rico)
in 1950
and my father was born in Santurce (Puerto Rico)
in ‘48
Camilo Molina
My name is Camilo Ernesto Molina Gaetán.
I was born and raised in East Harlem New York,
better known as “El Barrio”.
My family: I’m a third generation Puerto Rican in New York.
My grandparents are originally from Bayamón,
Puerto Rico
and Santurce, Puerto Rico.
And my parents were born here in New York
Alejandro Rodríguez
My name is Alejandro Rodríguez,
but everyone calls me Alex,
and I was born in New York.
My parents are both from Puerto Rico.
I should know
what parts of Puerto Rico they’re from,
and they’ve told me before,
but I don’t remember
Identities are Changeable
Patricia Zenón
I definitely consider myself Puerto Rican
even though i wasn’t born there.
Juan Flores
It can be multiple,
and its also changeable.
It might not always be the same all your life,
you might be more one thing
Camilo Molina
at one stage
Personally my relationship
and become something else
with Puerto Rico has always been;
or something maybe a little different
I’m not from there,
or think of it differently
but I do consider myself Puerto Rican.
than you did in an earlier stage.
I consider myself a Puerto Rican
You can be different things.
who lives in New York.
To say that you’re a New Yorker
I was born in New York
and to say that you’re Puerto Rican
but I still consider myself Puerto Rican.
doesn’t necessarily have to contradict.
A lot of people think that way,
but I don’t believe that,
I think more and more people are realizing
Bonafide Rojas
that you can be more than one cultural self
One of the things
at the same time,
people told me
and you’re at the crossings of those.
as i got older,
Rather than being just squarely in one,
is that I don’t strike them as a Puerto Rican.
you’ll be at the crossings.
I strike them as a New Yorker.
Juan Flores
Luques Curtis
There was a stage
where being Puerto Rican was really,
But I look, you know,
I’m sure to everybody else I’m Puerto Rican,
not something i denied
I’m Newyorican or whatever,
but something that really wasn’t that
but…I don’t know.
important to me,
It’s an interesting question,
it wasn’t that relevant
I’ve never even thought about
and it didn’t matter that much to me.
classifying myself into a certain thing.
And then I realized at a certain point
that it really does matter and should
matter.
Alejandro Rodríguez
It’s where I’m from, right?
It’s where my family is from.
I might not live and breathe that,
but it’s still inside of my blood
and I think is important
to be proud of who you are.
Juan Flores
Because the Diaspora
has forced that on the nationality,
to realize that is not territorially defined.
That territory
is only one aspect of things
and language
is only one aspect of things
Patricia Zenón
I actually
technically don’t really use the word I’m American,
I always say like I’m a New Yorker
or Newyorican.
I just never really identified with being completely American
because my roots
were so soiled in from the beginning,
Bonafide Rojas
The separation of nationalistic identities
should just get erased,
because at the end of the day
the umbrella of Latinidad
and Latino can embrace us all.
Spanish was alway my first language.
Juan Flores
That Identities are not fixed
Juan Flores
and permanent and identical throughout.
I think that the young Puerto Ricans
They’re transformative,
they often…
they’re changing,
their first answer would be Soy Puertorriqueño,
they’re multiple, they’re chameleon-like.
I’m Puerto Rican.
And that’s not just opportunism,
Not Puerto Rican- American,
that’s what life and society is about.
Puerto Rican.
You have a different role,
They reject the hyphen.
you have a different self-perception
and as time goes on you can CHANGE.
My Home
Patricia Zenón
I’ve thought about moving to Puerto Rico
maybe like in my older age,
I’m definitely a New Yorker at heart.
And I love how busy it is
and it’s just where
Camilo Molina
I was born and raised and it’s just a part of me.
If I want my kids
So, maybe when I’m in an older age
to experience what I’ve experienced here in New York;
I’ll give up the busy New Yorker life
If I want them to experience something different;
for a more peaceful island life.
If I want to move to California
But I’ve definitely given it thought
and have them experience that;
that maybe in the future
If I want them to move to Puerto Rico
I will move back to my homeland
and experience that
even though I wasn’t born there
upbringing that I didn’t experience
living in Puerto Rico.
So that has definitely crossed my mind
Bonafide Rojas
Sonia Manzano
I would love.
The very first time
I’m definitely going to spend some time in Puerto Rico
I visited Puerto Rico I was fourteen,
when I get a little older,
so I had no understanding
probably like in a couple of years,
of what Puerto Rico was like
where I want to live on the island to see:
except from what
Ok, what’s gonna happen here,
my parents talked
let me live in Bayamón,
around the kitchen table
let me live in Viejo San Juan,
and the music that they listened to
let me live in Río Piedras,
let me see what’s going on.
Let me see, how is this going to affect
my outlook on things
Alejandro Rodríguez
I definitely went there a lot
when I was younger
and have some really fond memories
of being out there.
And kind of think
and regret not being able to
go out there as much as I’d like to
Luques Curtis
Well, maybe when I’m older
I could go out there.
I’ve been trying to get my parents to go out
there ‘cause it’s almost like paradise,
especially on the country side
Camilo Molina
I’ve seen Boricuas
and personal friends and family
who were born here
and decided to go back there
to live,
even if it was for four or five years,
they felt sort of that connection
and it kind of made them stronger
within their identity
as being Puerto Rican.
It didn’t change that they were born here,
they’d all say I was born in New York,
but those four years
I spent in Puerto Rico
kind of helped me
experience something else,
helped me experience the island,
not just going to visit
Juan Flores
So you could have different homes.
Luques Curtis
This is home
I feel like my home is here,
in the sense that
yeah. Just because, you know,
these are the streets
I haven’t spent as much time.
I grew up in,
I’ve never really spent
this is where my friends are.
more than a week and a half,
But that’s home
two weeks in Puerto Rico at a time.
because that’s where my parents came from
So I would definitely say
and they always talk about that
my home is here.
and I dream about it
Patricia Zenón
New York is definitely my home.
Even in the US
I wouldn’t see myself living
anywhere else besides here
Alejandro Rodríguez
Being born a Puerto Rican
but being born in New York,
I call home New York”
Same Fight
Alejandro Rodríguez
Juan Flores
That act of going from the Upper East Side
Even the way they dress,
one weekend
the way they look,
to going to Harlem on the next weekend
the way they talk,
just depending on what I wanted to do,
everything about them.
it was a total different lifestyle.
It becomes almost impossible to tell them apart,
And I think, at least in my time,
the Puerto Rican and the Black American part,
African-Americans and Puerto Ricans
and see which is which
shared a lot of the same interests
and “where are the seams here”.
and a lot of the same joys in life.
And it was almost like “Seamless”
At least I think
that’s where the connection might come from
Camilo Molina
If I didn’t say anything,
if I didn’t speak Spanish,
they automatically assume
that I was African-American
Bonafide Rojas
For being as light as I am
Bonafide Rojas
I always thought I was the blackest Puerto Rican.
And I understood that
Because I was a Black Panther
I read Huey Newton first.
before I was a Young Lord,
Bobby Seale,
because I liked Hendrix
Otis Cleaver,
before I liked Hector Lavoe
Malcolm.
I read all of them before
I ever touch a book on Albizu
Juan Flores
And look at the music,
Puerto Rican music.
Sonia Manzano
When The Young Lords
took over that methodist church in 1969,
they were inspired by the Black Panthers,
who were helping the community
This complicated relationship
between Afro-Puerto Rican and Spanish
and other ingredients
that go into what Puerto Rican music is.
The Afro-Puerto Rican
and the Haitian
and the Cuban
influences are so strong in Puerto Rican music.
Camilo Molina
There are African-Americans
who enjoy Bomba
and there are Puerto Ricans
who enjoy Hip-Hop.
And with everything:
There are Puerto Ricans
who enjoy Merengue
and there are Dominicans
who enjoy Bomba and Plena.
And that knowledge that
we are fighting the Same Fight
kind of connects us even more
First Language
Luques Curtis
My grandmother
speaks a little bit of English,
it’s like I always
have to speak to her in broken down English.
Camilo Molina
Just having to communicate
with my family
and not wanting there to be
that barrier
kind of made me
and helped me
And of course
I would love to relate to her,
I’d love to talk to her
and just find out everything
I could know about her.
But yeah, I guess I’m lazy or something,
I don’t know
understand the language
Sonia Manzano
I have trouble,
and this kills me,
speaking to my father sometimes.
I mean, isn’t that remarkable?
That a daughter and father
would have difficulty conversing.
I don’t remember that
when I was a kid,
I could always speak to my tíos
Bonafide Rojas
When I started having multiple jobs
where I’m “The Puerto Rican”.
Do you know how to speak Spanish?
I go: “You know, I could try to wing it”
I got better
just because I kept trying to talk to some people
Patricia Zenón
I definitely feel like
English is my first language
now more so than when
I was younger
because when I was a child
I would speak more Spanish
than I did English
Camilo Molina
Luques Curtis
It happened a lot
Like, I play with Eddie Palmieri.
in Puerto Rico and,
So, playing with Eddie,
you know,
I’m expected to know a lot of things.
coming back to New York,
To know how to speak Spanish fluently,
I found myself speaking
but I don’t.
more in Spanish
Of course I grew up listening to the music,
than speaking in English.
so I kind of lucked out on that sense,
Because I felt like
but the Spanish thing,
I had more of a connection
I think that kind of separates me
with people speaking in Spanish
from being a
than speaking in English
“true (in a lot of people’s eyes) Puerto Rican”.
Second Generation Lullaby
Patricia - Aidan - Miguel (In Conversation)
Hey Aidan, say hi to the camera
Say Peace… Say: Yo Soy Boricua!!!… Where are you from?
Patricia Zenón
The Bronx!!!
Well, you know,
The Bronx, you’re from the Bronx
with Aidan my son
and where is Güelita from?
I definitely feel a responsibility
What island is Güelita from?
to engrain the culture into him
Do you remember?
because it’s essentially
Puerto Rico!!!
where he comes from,
Puerto Rico!!!
even though he didn’t actually come from there literally.
Puerto Rico!!!
But it is my responsibility
Puerto Rico!!!
to keep that alive in him
That’s where Güelita is from?
because it’s part of him
And Güelito? Yeah?
and being that he is
Puerto Rico!!!”
a second generation New Yorker
it is a lot more difficult to incorporate that,
but it is my responsibility
and I won’t give up
Through Culture and Tradition
Patricia Zenón
Camilo Molina
Puerto Ricans do love their music
And through the music
and it’s kind of what the celebration
I was able to understand my family
always gets surrounded by,
and understand the language
Puerto Rican music
and understand the food,
but music was the starting point.
Understanding Bomba and Plena
and Música Jíbara and other...
not only folkloric stuff
but all the stuff that’s come out of Puerto Rico,
Maelo’s music,
everybody’s music.
That kind of opened the door for me
understanding my family
and understanding my past.
And understanding myself eventually
Sonia Manzano
I absolutely feel that Puerto Ricans
here were more interested
in holding on to Aguinaldos
and Plenas
and folkloric music
Luques Curtis
Jazz too which is an American art form
Sonia Manzano
I love,
I used to think that all Puerto Ricans sang,
but I probably have in that case
that’s how much my family sang.
more of an attraction to the Puerto Rican art form.
It was three guitars, un güiro
Just because, when I was younger
or a fork on a grater
that’s what I heard a lot more
and we were the only ones,
school would say??
“I hope it’s white christmas and it snows”
and my mother would say
“I hope it doesn’t snow”
Camilo Molina
because we would have to go
My mother would tell my sisters
all over the Bronx
“If you wanna be all into Hip-Hop”
from one house to another,
and she had no problem with it
holding on to this tradition.
but she said
And it was so wonderful
“but you have to understand your culture”
and I felt so strongly
about how wonderful the music was that,
yes, when I went back to Puerto Rico
I thought I would hear
that music all the time.
Camilo Molina
My first kind of experience with music
was through Bomba and Plena
and I feel like it’s completely shaped me
Camilo Molina
What led me to Blues
and Jazz
and Rock & Roll
and Salsa
was Bomba and Plena
MIGUEL
ZENÓN
Identities are
Changeable
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