International Influences

Gustavo Dudamel and Osvaldo Golijov discuss Latin American composers including the visceral Revueltas, the "unselfconscious genius" Villa-Lobos, Ginastera, and Estévez.

Evan Ziporyn discusses his immersion in Balinese music and how it influenced his compositions for gamelan.

Artistic advisors of Carnegie Hall's "Voices of Latin America" festival Gilberto Gil and Osvaldo Golijov discuss the influence of music from the US, England, and Africa on the popular music of Brazil.

Using examples such as Chucho Valdés, Gustavo Dudamel, and Astor Piazzolla, Osvaldo Golijov discusses the lack of a hard divide between so-called high and low art in Latin American culture.

Citing Afro-Cuban jazz and bossa nova in particular, Carnegie Hall's "Voices of Latin America" festival Artistic Advisor and 2012-2013 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair Osvaldo Golijov discusses how Latin American popular and jazz music has had a far-reaching influence on music globally.

Gilberto Gil reveals the deep debt his career owes to the folk and pop music of northeastern Brazil—forró—and its founder Luiz Gonzaga. He urges to have "faith in the feast!"

Many Japanese art forms—Noh theater, dance, Japanese court music, film—incorporate the Japanese concept of "ma." Here, Mr. Isao Tsujimoto, former director general of The Japan Foundation in New York, explains "ma" and how it manifests itself in Japanese life and culture.

Dating back to the 1920s, tango has been hugely popular in Finland—not simply as a quirky cultural import, but as a style that songwriters have embraced and made their own. Kaija Saariaho—holder of the 2011-2012 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair—reveals that, unlike its Argentinian progenitor, themes of lost love and nostalgia pervade Finnish tango.

Cuban jazz legend and Carnegie Hall "Voices from Latin America" festival Artistic Advisor Chucho Valdés discusses how, inspired by Art Blakey, he developed Afro-Cuban jazz through his work with the seminal Irakere and the Afro-Cuban Messengers.

Composers Tan Dun and Chen Qigang discuss the importance of the Central Conservatory of Music's "Class of 1978," the first post–Cultural Revolution graduates.

Angelique Kidjo discusses the spread of African music and the importance of music over ego.