Three Dances for Bassoon and Piano: Tanxibanera, Habanxixera, Mabanxixango.

PROGRAM NOTE

Sometime in the 19th century, the Cuban musical genre Habanera traveled to Latin American giving birth to new variants that eventually became independent musical entities. Such is the case of the Milonga and Maxixe, which later developed into Tango and the Brazilian Samba respectively. 

Each dance in this cycle is influenced by the rhythm, way of dancing, and culture representative of Tango, Habanera, and Maxixe. Tanxibanera is a sonic representation of a move/figure of tango dancers known as “giros,” a circular gesture that permeates much of tango way of dancing. Habanxixango depicts home for me and is full of nostalgia. Finally, Mabanxixera alludes to Samba parades. 

The titles for each of the dances are made up words that combine the terms Tango, Habanera and Maxixe. The title of the first dance, “Tanxibanera,” comes from the combination of Tango, Maxixe, and Habanera. The title of the second dance, “Habanxixango,” combines Habanera, Maxixe and Tango; and the title of the last dance, “Mabanxixera,” combines Maxixe and Habanera.

–Ivette Herryman Rodríguez