Vision-Into-Art
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Con Alma is an album and live digital experience of original works by composer Paola Prestini and vocalist and composer Magos Herrera, along with some classics from the Mexican and Jazz songbook.
“Nature and mysticism inform the creative flow that Herrera and Prestini draw upon; science and spirit fuse together in potent alchemy.
Con Alma is a result of the impulses that arrested the minds and hearts of two extraordinary artists – the gifted singer-songwriter Magos Herrera and the protean composer Paola Prestini, who also happen to be dear friends – at a time when they were prevented from being together with each other, and with the broader community of fellow artists they work with regularly and love. Drawn from and enriched by timeless passions, historic musical practices, and contemporary responses to a world teetering on the brink of drastic transformation, Con Alma is a document absolutely of its moment.
“Con Alma is a sonic painting representing a 15-year friendship through a collaborative process of writing, telling the story of shared ambitions and triumphs, love, trials, hope, and losses. The artists we worked with form our international musical family, and it’s a joy to be able to connect through this album, leaving an artifact of this time, and our response to the pandemic, alone, but together.”
– Paola and Magos
Music by Paola Prestini, Magos Herrera, Vinicius Gomez and more (see the tracklist for full details)
Performed by Magos Herrera
Sjaella (vocals)
Jeffrey Zeigler (cello)
Gonzalo Grau (multi-instrumentalist/arranger)
Vinicius Gomez (guitar)
The Young People’s Chorus of New York City
Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería...
...and more.
For a full list of artist biographies, visit the Con Alma website.
Magos Herrera and Paola Prestini - Producers
Alex Venguer - Audio Edit and Mastering Engineer
Oscar Zambrano - Audio Mastering
Jeffrey Zeigler - Label Director
Steve Smith - Liner Notes
Kevork Mourad - Album Cover Art
Zan Emerson - Album Design
Emre Özyetiş - Album illustrations
Alexander Sanger – commissioner
Jill and Bill Steinberg - commissioners
with additional support from The Virginal B. Toulmin Foundation, Morgan Stanley, the Alphadyne Foundation, and Casa Cuervo
Deeply engaged...a genre-crossing blend of Mexican folk staples, American jazz standards and original musical meditations on isolation.
— Michael Brodeur, Washington Post
Paola Prestini and Mexico-based singer-songwriter Magos Herrera (plus a crew of musicians) used the lockdown to collaborate at a distance, and the result is a melancholy but uplifting quasi-cantata full of bird calls, phone calls, and calls across frozen borders.
— Justin Davidson, New York Magazine
