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By Dan Olson
December 21, 2000
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RealAudio |
Musicians who try give familiar Christmas tunes a fresh sound face long odds. Nearly every carol has been done in nearly every style. Minneapolis-based harpist Nicholas Carter, born in Minnesota but raised in Paraguay, has beaten those odds. He plays one of Paraguay's most popular instruments, the folk harp, on a new Christmas CD which includes a blend of several South American musical traditions.
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There are choral treatments, brass variations, a jazz piano exploration, and even an interpretation by Simon the golden retriever, for dogs and their owners.
The blizzard of Christmas music can be claustrophobic. So it feels like a breath of fresh air to hear Nicholas Carter and friends play God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen on Paraguayan harp, Andean flute and percussion.
You can hear both Minnesota and Latin America in 35-year old Nicholas Carter's music and voice. He was born in Minneapolis, but landed in Paraguay at six months of age. He was raised there by his parents - church workers who have spent their lives in the country. Carter returned to Minnesota to attend college.
Harps brought from Spain by Jesuit priests 400 years ago, Carter says, took Paraguay by storm. The cedar and pine wood instruments are made by Paraguayans who work more from memory than from drawings.
"It's crafted by people who do their work by instinct, rather than by scientific knowledge of what is exactly the right length for each string," Carter says.
Carter returns to Paraguay over Christmas to pick up a new harp. Minnesota's climate takes a heavy toll on instruments made in the land of perpetual summer, just south of the equator.
On Christmas Eve day, Carter says, electric fans hum to move Paraguay's hot summer air around. By evening, people take their walks to view the neighbors' Nativity scenes, made from green plants and decorated with watermelon, pineapple and other fruits. Then the fireworks begin.
"A lot of noise is in the air, a lot of music is in the air. You visit your neighbors and you talk for a while and you share a little sangria, a drink with all those fruits and a little wine. We call it clarico," Carter says.
Nicholas Carter collaborates on his new Christmas music compact disc with people from Argentina and other South American nations. He says they've borrowed rhythms and added them to familiar tunes.
"Another thing that we thought worked pretty well was introducing the Colombian kumbia, an African influenced music. It's a very popular sort of music. It's so groovy, everyone just jumps up and starts dancing to it. It seemed like a perfect introduction to Joy to the World, Carter says. (Listen)
Carter says he and his Latin American friends living in Minnesota like the stability and efficiency of upper Midwest culture. But they hope to add a dash of warmth to Minnesota's frozen landscape, with music that stirs the blood.
"There's that energy of people talking, yelling, hugging, kissing and really rejoicing, and I think that is one of the contributions Latins can make to this part of the world," says Carter.
Nicholas Carter's new CD, with Renato Lombardi and other artists, is called Christmas Melodies.
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