Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
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Leeds Arts Research Centre
Latin music performance aesthetics, practice and history
Uncovering new knowledge on Latin music history and practice, and demonstrating new insights into Latin music production and performance history and performance aesthetics.
The main aim in this work was to bring to light the hidden histories of Latin music production to accompany Dr Miller’s written research. Insights have been gained in terms of Latin music performance aesthetics, use of older music technology and the importance of liveness in Cuban dance music recording. These experiments have helped to shed light on the benefits and problems of the live recording process and have provided findings which question how we narrate music history and how we capture ‘liveness' in the recording studio.
“Pachanga Time is an important work keeping alive the tradition of this timeless style of music. Sue Miller’s passionate commitment and love for this great music comes across dynamically through her wonderful flute playing and with great joy! Enjoy!” - Nestor Torres
The interactive nature of the band’s music, the cultural codes of performance (a liveness aesthetic) and the internal dynamics of the group were analysed following live recording sessions using ribbon microphones and specific layouts and recording set ups of the period. The benefits of combining traditional research methods with the more experimental practice-led approach included a deeper understanding of how music technologies compromise or enhance musical performance in the context of interactive and collaborative Latin music recording processes. The findings of this research were shared with the public in the British Academy Showcase June 2020 via videos and a special event dinner party and are also available to the public online.
The new album recording Pachanga Time resulting from this project is being used by Latin music DJs (UK, Europe, USA, Latin America and Cuba) who particularly appreciate the live take recordings on side B of the vinyl LP. The album is reviewed in Songlines Magazine’s June 2021 edition alongside an interview with Sue Miller.
Dr Miller’s publications (including recordings) are being used to support the teaching of Latin music and Cuban flute performance around the world, and is acting as a bridge between the generations for young Cuban musicians wishing to learn this style. Similarly her recordings with her band Charanga del Norte are being used by DJs and radio presenters internationally to educate the public about the Cuban charanga tradition. Further artistic collaborations with music industry specialists have resulted from her research including a Sony Entertainments commission for two charanga flute recordings of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s compositions for the animation film Vivo.
Cuban Flute Style: Interpretation and Improvisation was the first book worldwide on Cuban flute improvisation and performance practice presenting a practice-informed history of the Cuban charanga dance band tradition. Miller’s article ‘Pacheco and Charanga: Imitation, Innovation and Cultural Appropriation in the Típico Tradition of New York City’ (Latin American Music Review, Spring 2020), and her second monograph Improvising Sabor – Cuban Dance Music in New York (University Press of Mississippi, 2021), expanded on this work through a detailed ethnographic study of Cuban music performance practice in the USA. Dr Miller’s professional performance with her band Charanga del Norte (which she founded in 1998) informs these publications and further disseminates the new research findings to non-specialist audiences worldwide via concerts and pre-concert talks.
Building on these works, the British Academy funded research project (2018-2020), ‘An Investigation of Mid-Twentieth-Century Recording Techniques and Aesthetics in Latin Music Performance and Production’ was a practice-led collaboration between musicians, producers, sound engineers and historical music technologists. The research team included the lead applicant Dr Sue Miller, co-applicant Dr Paul Thompson, sound engineers Barkley McKay and Michael Ward (also from Leeds Beckett University), industry specialists (Stewart Tavener of Xaudia/Extinct Audio), music documentary film maker Tim Blackwell and leading performers (Eddy Zervigón, Nestor Torres, and the band musicians of Charanga del Norte).
The main aim in this work was to bring to light the hidden histories of Latin music production to accompany Dr Miller’s written research. Insights have been gained in terms of Latin music performance aesthetics, use of older music technology and the importance of liveness in Cuban dance music recording. These experiments have helped to shed light on the benefits and problems of the live recording process and have provided findings which question how we narrate music history and how we capture ‘liveness' in the recording studio.
“Pachanga Time is an important work keeping alive the tradition of this timeless style of music. Sue Miller’s passionate commitment and love for this great music comes across dynamically through her wonderful flute playing and with great joy! Enjoy!” - Nestor Torres
The interactive nature of the band’s music, the cultural codes of performance (a liveness aesthetic) and the internal dynamics of the group were analysed following live recording sessions using ribbon microphones and specific layouts and recording set ups of the period. The benefits of combining traditional research methods with the more experimental practice-led approach included a deeper understanding of how music technologies compromise or enhance musical performance in the context of interactive and collaborative Latin music recording processes. The findings of this research were shared with the public in the British Academy Showcase June 2020 via videos and a special event dinner party and are also available to the public online.
The new album recording Pachanga Time resulting from this project is being used by Latin music DJs (UK, Europe, USA, Latin America and Cuba) who particularly appreciate the live take recordings on side B of the vinyl LP. The album is reviewed in Songlines Magazine’s June 2021 edition alongside an interview with Sue Miller.
The UK's only authentic Charanga Orchestra still making great music two decades on. Respect to flautist and band leader Sue Miller for keeping Charanga music alive in the UK since 1998.
Performances of Dr Miller’s arrangements in Charanga del Norte have taken place over a twenty year period and 20th anniversary events took place across the UK in 2019. The recordings Pachanga Time and Charanga Time feature music analysed in the second monograph and journal article.
Research Outputs
- Cuban Flute Style: Interpretation and Improvisation, Scarecrow Press, 2014. ISBN 978-0-8108-8441-0
- [Improvising Sabor: Cuban Dance Music in New York, University Press of Mississippi, forthcoming February 2021. ISBN Hardcover: 9781496832153 ISBN Paperback: 9781496832160]
- ‘Activating Improvisational Creativity in the Performance of ‘World’ and ‘Popular’ Music’ in Activating Diverse Creativities for Changing Higher Music Education: Contemporary Research and Practices edited by Pam Burnard and Elisabeth Haddon. Bloomsbury 2015.ISBN 9781472589132
- ‘Innovation, Creativity and the Típico Tradition in New York’ accepted for publication in Latin American Music Review, Spring 2020.
- ‘An Investigation of Mid-Twentieth-Century Recording Techniques and Aesthetics in Latin Music Performance and Production’
Website: https://www.charangasue.com/british-academy-research-project/
- ‘Capturing Liveness’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxafNVrbb9Q&feature=emb_logo
- ‘The Cuban Flute Sound’: https://www.charangasue.com/2020/04/the-cuban-flute-sound-documentary-film/
- Live Take Recording: https://www.charangasue.com/2020/05/charanga-del-norte-live-recording-bronx-pachanga/
- Sue Miller and her Charanga del Norte, Pachanga Time, CDN00LP14, June 2020 https://youtu.be/VF-yuwBbdPg
- 2019 Sue Miller and her Charanga del Norte, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield, 28 July 2019.
- 2016 Charanga del Norte, The Big Weekend, Cambridge and Cambridge Jazz Festival.
- 2009 Charanga del Norte in Victoria Park, London with Orquesta Aragón & Changüi de Guantánamo (Barbican booking).
- 2003 Performance with Charanga del Norte at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester supporting Buena Vista Social Club’s Eliades Ochoa on 2 July 2003.
- Miller, S. ‘Cuban Son’ in The Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World (EPMOW Part 3 Genres (Caribbean and Latin American Genres). Bloomsbury 2014, pp. 782-794, ISBN 978-1-4411-4197-2)
Recognition
- Are older music technologies better at capturing ‘liveness’ in recordings? - https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/blog/summer-showcase-2020-are-older-music-technologies-better-capturing-liveness-in-recordings/
- My Research in 3 Minutes: Was Latin music performed differently in the past? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJA7MG6zGOk&feature=youtu.be
- Sony Entertainments:
Dr Sue Miller was recently commissioned to record charanga flute tracks for music composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda (composer/director of Hamilton) for his 2021 animation film Vivo. Sue has recorded flute parts (composed and a short improvisation) for the ‘Vivo’ theme which will represent the character of a South American kinkajou. She has also recorded a Latin flute track as part of a horn section on a salsa/reggaeton song called ‘One of a Kind.’ The film Vivo is due for release in June 2021. - Radio Features and Radio/TV Interviews:
Sue has given interviews on La Troja Radio in Barranquilla Colombia (2020), Rádio 97.1FM Parana Educativa (Brazil 2020), BBC Radio Leeds, Radio York, Gondwana Sound (Sheffield), The Latin Train (Canada), Rádio 97.1FM Parana Educativa (Brazil 2020), the legendary Montuno Sessions with DJ Al Angeloro, (New York 1999), and WDNA Radio Show ‘Fusion Latina (Miami, 2016). She has also been featured on Radio Rebelde and national TV in Havana (a 2009 concert with Orquesta Sublime at the Cabaret Nacional). Charanga del Norte’s music has been played by Verity Sharp on BBC Radio 3 Late Junction and on the BBC TV Food Programme. - Recent radio plays and features on UK and international stations include:
Presenter Kiko Helguera Radio 3, Radio Nacional de España "Atrapados en la tormenta" Programa del 27 de septiembre de 2020
https://www.charangasue.com/2020/09/charanga-del-nortes-new-album-pachanga-time-features-on-spanish-radio/
Detroit’s ‘Freedom Principle’ https://www.charangasue.com/2020/09/charanga-del-norte-in-detroit-riding-the-freedom-principle/
DJ Chris Welch ‘Sounds Like This’ Radio https://www.charangasue.com/2020/08/charanga-del-nortes-new-album-pachanga-time-aired-on-sounds-like-this-radio/
DJ Ritu ‘A World in London’ https://www.charangasue.com/2020/08/djritu-features-charanga-del-nortes-pachangatime-in-a-world-in-london/
Global Radio https://www.charangasue.com/2020/09/charanga-del-nortes-music-aired-on-global-soul-radio/
DJ Si Cheeba’s ‘Ship Full of Bombs’ https://www.charangasue.com/2020/09/si-cheeba-feature-new-charanga-del-norte-release-on-his-ship-full-of-bombs-radio-show-4-september-2020/
Global Village Radio https://www.charangasue.com/2020/09/charanga-del-norte-featured-on-global-village-radio/
Totally Radio (4 programme features on Latin music programme Aracataca by DJ and Latin music historian John Child)
https://www.charangasue.com/2020/08/aracataca-radio-showcases-charanga-del-norte/
The Basic Soul Show
https://www.charangasue.com/2020/08/charanga-del-norte-feature-on-the-basic-soul-show/
Groovement Review of Pachanga Time https://www.charangasue.com/2020/08/review-of-pachanga-time-album-by-groovement/
- Dr Miller’s article ‘Cuban Son’ in The Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World (EPMOW Part 3 Genres(Caribbean and Latin American Genres). Bloomsbury 2014, pp. 782-794, ISBN 978-1-4411-4197-2) has been viewed 2,500 views on www.academia.edu (accessed 13 November 2020), and is used for school projects particularly in the USA. The positive reception of her work internationally demonstrate impact in the wider public domain as well as within the scholarly community.
- Translation and conversion of ‘‘Qué Suene La Flauta, Richard’ from Cuban Flute Style in La Clave, Havana, 2020. Translators: Daylen Rodríguez Hernández and Deyanira Rodríguez Hernández.
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