Description

Javier Farias’ music for Arauco is based on the text “La Araucana”, written by Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga between 1553 and 1557. It is the story of the difficult relationship between the Mapuches (native people of the central-south region of Chile) and the Spanish conquistadores in the 16th century (during the period of the Conquest of Chile). With Arauco, Chilean composer Javier Farias commemorates the heroism of the land itself and the people who live on it.

Racines by Pascal Sasseville Quoquochi is a continuation of Chaman (a piece on the previous Forestare CD), both in its musical spirit and symbolic references. Racines is a journey to the world of trees and to the rebirth of the First Nations. Raphaël Reed’s A path to the woods is the first of three movements. A person discovers a distant and mysterious country which, at first, excites euphoria, but he soon discovers the contradictions that this world offers. Mille pattes (A Thousand feet) composed by François Gauthier (a guitarist in the Forestare ensemble) is an evocation of the working habits of an insect colony.

Founded in October 2002, FORESTARE is the initiative of a young guitarist. As soon as the idea took shape in his mind, Alexandre Éthier sought out conductor Pascal Côté. He also recruited a group of 12 promising young guitarists. Commissioning compositions and building bridges between song and classical guitar are priorities for the ensemble, and thus Forestare has shared the stage with Richard Desjardins, Catherine Major, Samian, Elisapie Isaac, Alexandre Désilets, and Claire Pelletier.