Bach to the Roots

In the sixteenth century three cultures met in Latin America: indigenous peoples, Spanish conquerors and African slaves. Italian violins and theorbos mingled with Argentinian charangos, Mexican jaranas and African drums; from Argentina to Mexico, explosive new dances emerged with exciting names: sarabanda, chacona, zamacueca, pasacalle and folia.

As stowaways these dances travelled back to Spain with the colonial booty and quickly conquered Europe – first Italy and France, then England and Germany. While the fiery dances soon fell into oblivion there, they live on in Argentina as refined folk music and teach us a great deal about the original way of making music and building instruments in the Baroque era.

The Argentinian conductor and instrumentalist Rubén Dubrovsky brings these musical roots to the stage with the Bach Consort Wien and sets out on an entertaining search for clues from Leipzig all the way to Africa. The mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink and the tenor Francisco Brito sing Baroque works in the South American tradition and Argentinian music according to European performance practice. The film was shot at the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Hofburgkapelle and the Zacherlfabrik in Vienna.