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| Roque Cordero |
Pop quiz, name three Panamanian musical greats.
Let’s see there is
Billy Cobham, the drummer who played with Miles Davis.
There is Danilo Perez, the pianist who played with Dizzy Gillespie
and saxophonist Wayne Shorter.
Oh, and let’s throw
in Igmar Thomas, the trumpeter who played with Lauryn Hill and Esperanza
Spalding. (Thomas is really from San Diego, California, but of Panamanian
descent.)
In a pop quiz, few people would come up with the granddaddy
of them all Roque Cordero, ‘universally acknowledged as Panama’s finest
composer’, according to his biographer Marie Labonville.
That’s why it is fitting that Texas Christian University is paying
tribute to Roque Cordero during its 11th Latin Music Festival,
October 9-12, 2017.
‘Roque Cordero successfully captures the essence of Panama’s
popular musical culture and at the same time transforms it into something more
enduring, Marie Labonville said about him.
‘He gave Panamanian flavor to his rhythmic materials by incorporating
rhythms of folk dances such as the mejorana, the punto, the cumbia, the pasillo,
and the tamborito.’
‘He was an energetic and visionary man of multiple
compositions based on the twelve-tone technique to which he imparted Panamanian
flavor to many of these works by use of folk rhythms and careful choice of
pitch materials.’
His mature works include approximately twelve pieces for
piano, 14 for orchestra, five for string
orchestra, three for soloist and orchestra, 32 for chamber
ensemble, five for chorus, one for chorus
and orchestra, two for ballet dancers, and one film score.
He worked as a professor of music in the United States and
also served as a music editor of sheet music. In his capacity as music editor
he recruited a lot of Latin American composers to be published.
His success in America made him a legend back in Panama. He
would always sign his letters, ‘Roque Cordero, Panamanian composer.’
While the world is thankful for Billy Cobham, Danilo Perez
and even Igmar Thomas, Roque Cordero may be Panama’s greatest musical gift to
the world.
