“Desvíos a Santiago” is a musical pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, inspired by Cees Nooteboom’s book «Roads to Santiago», where he writes: The word “road” in my case will never mean anything other than a detour, the eternal labyrinth made by the traveller that allows himself to be lured by a side road and then by the side road of that side road, by the mystery of the unknown place name on a road sign.

This interest in veering off the beaten track and losing oneself in promising horizons is also the driving force of our work. Applying these ideas in music means turning off the motorway of orthodox performance and accepting that our instincts will sometimes take us to idyllic and surprising places, sometimes to the middle of nowhere. These detours also allow us to bring out our playfulness, mixing styles and genres and to embrace the influences and experiences within us. The spirit of the traveller is the link between our work and Nooteboom’s and was the original inspiration that has accompanied us on our creative journey.

Most of the songs of this programme were and are still sung today on the multiple pilgrim tracks that lead from all over Europe to the mythical cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. We chose pieces ranging from 13^th to 20^th century, with medieval Spanish Cantigas (Martín Codax, Alfonso X the Wise, Llibre Vermell de Montserrat), Renaissance and Early Baroque tunes from Juan del Encina and Étienne Moulinié, and melodies from the last century by Galician and Basque composers.

 

Just like tales of the oral tradition, these tunes with its easy yet stunningly beautiful melodies were frequently transmitted by ear and by heart with lots of variations. Just like our travelling and singing ancestors, we played with the material and developed our own versions that - like Taracea itself – are a mixture of influences from quite diverse musical spheres.

Between these pilgrim songs we have interwoven a view of the instrumental pieces from our first album “Akoé”, like Dowland´s “Come again”, Isaac´s “Innsbruck, ich muss Dich lassen” or the traditional “Cuchilleros” from 18^th century Madrid.