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Richard Jernigan -> RE: Semana Santa and Happy Easter (Apr. 1 2013 23:22:48)
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Thanks for the link, Mark. A very emotional scene.
A couple of bonus points for a guy like me who was a kid trumpeter.
Just before turning the last corner to reenter the basilica, the band plays La Macarena's slow pasodoble. The tune was made into a solo by the great Mexican trumpet virtuoso Rafael Mendez. I learned the solo myself, though I must admit i slurred some scales that Mendez played staccato. His incredibly rapid double-tongued scales were as big a shock to us horn players as Sabicas' picado was to guitarists, followed by the further shock of Paco's even faster picado.
Just as the Señor de la Sentencia leaves the basilica, followed by rank after rank of Roman soldiers, the drum and bugle corps strikes up his fanfare. This fanfare preceded the first saeta I ever heard, a recording by Pastora Pavon, La Niña de los Peines. The braying bugles and slow beat of the drums still send shivers down my spine.
For a long time I wondered why the corps used those beat-up old bugles, and why they didn't get some guys who played in tune. Then a few years ago I began to wonder whether that was something like the Roman army sounded, with a band of snarling trombas and hollow sounding drums, striking fear into the hearts of the barbarians.
RNJ
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