Columbus' arrival to America triggered a series of reflections upon the european man's role into a cosmic narrative. The New World was conceived, in one hand, as a kind of Paradise, a New Atlantis, an Utopia inhabitated by an untouched race of pure and inocent men (genus angelicum). On the other hand, it was seen as a tabula rasa, a blank canvas for the realization of social, urbanistic and architectonical experiments.
The foundation of Puebla de los Ángeles, in Mexico, was one of the most noteworthy exemples of the edification of a Metropolis with an Utopic model in mind: an archetipic imitation of the Heavenly Jerusalem. During Juan de Palafox y Mendoza's bishopric (1640-1649), Puebla went into a period of remodeling to become an ideal Christian Republic. This project was conceived under Palafox' complex moral, social and political system of beliefs, centered around protecting the natives' rights, and in which the music played a fundamental role. At the time the Cathedral was completed, just before Palafox' return to Europe, Puebla's chapel was at its peak, and had a budget and a personnel that exceeded greatly any other Spanish chapel in both sides of the Atlantic Ocean (it almost doubled the budget of Mexico City's Cathedral at the moment.)
This programme is Dichos Diabolos' most ambitious project to date: bringuing back to life one of the most important musical events in latin-american history.
13-18 Musicians: singers, cornetto, dulcian, sackbutt, violin, viola da gamba, organ, harp, guitar and percussion.
