In Venezuela the colour red has been stripped of beauty and power
mainThe pianist Gabriela Montero has published a statement with her new recording of South American music, delicately explaining her opposition to the Hugo Chávez regime in terms of colour coding. A passionate and courageous performer, Montero regrets her country’s decline under its showboating Castroist president. Here’s her sleeve-note in full:
I make records because I want to share my
own and others’ creativity, emotional world and
personal souvenirs through sound. I believe
everything we do and say is a testament to
who we are. A fingerprint. A statement. Usually,
the very recognisable EMI logo is red and
white. You’ll notice that in this record, the EMI
logo is black and white. I’ve chosen to exclude
any red in SOLATINO, except for the letter ‘O’,
because in Venezuela, the colour red has been
stripped of its passionate beauty and power,
and is now associated with repression, fury
and control. You’ll also notice that the title is
coloured by Yellow, Blue and Red. These are
the colours of the Venezuelan flag. Red is the
last colour on my flag and, coincidentally, ‘O’
is my blood type. I find the symbolism in this
quite beautiful. We all share that same source
of life: blood. It is the red blood cells that carry
oxygen through our bodies. Without them, we
perish. With the right balance, we thrive. I’d like
this ‘O’ to be coloured by a peaceful shade of
red. The red that belongs to all of us. The red
that is beautiful in its intensity, and not hurtful
in its grip. The red that belongs in this world
and not the type that separates and
extinguishes us. There is no space for the
wrong kind of red, and I choose to remove
it from this record. It is my statement.
Gabriela Montero
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