Adriana Camacho and Stefan Christoff presents Un Pájaro Azul [mix]

Stefan: This recording Años y Minutos happened as a result of an encounter in Mexico City. I was viewing a mural by artist Antonio Gritón called El Mural del Origen del Mundo y del Universo and met musician Adriana Camancho on location. In the car ride back to La Condesa we talked about music, particularly around the impacts of spiritual Jazz players on the improvisational music scene in Mexico, including Don Cherry. During the drive the idea of organizing a musical encounter was born and in the next few days we organized a session together in Adriana’s home studio. This collaboration is about listening and also creating space to allow for a musical encounter to unfold. When listening to the album consider the pauses and moments of tension, which are really about the ways that two musicians who are meeting for the first time in a live improvised context stretch their ears, hearts and minds to both play and listen. 

Adriana: During the conversation it was such a surprise to find out that Stefan was a musician interested in improvisation. I guess the world is woven with some invisible fiber and keen spirits are meant to interact at some point. We talked about how with free improvisation music, all the voices count, all adds but there is no imposition. Improvisation is a way to build a new world, a sort of window to escape a world sometimes filled with injustice and violence. We decided to get together with that spirit and the result is Años y Minutos. 

Stefan: This mix reflects some of the influences on Años y Minutos, there are tracks from the album and also other works by Adriana from the album Loope, which involves a collaboration with Anne Waldman and Zazil Collins. Also there are tracks that reflect a network of free players in North America, both on the Jazz side, but also within ambient and experimental musical networks. This mix is about creating an atmosphere of reflection but also to reflect on the ways that manifesting both creative spirit and a capacity for dialogue speaks to the healing power of free music as a language that easily travels across borders. 

And finally, anything else you want to plug that either of you have coming up?

Stefan: Totally, yes, Adriana and I are launching the album on September 19, 2023 with a live performance at Casa del Lago Juan José Arreola, UNAM in Mexico City. This will be an opportunity to share our musical dialogue with a live audience within the Mexican context. Also I would mention on my end that I continue to seek to find ways to bridge my musical practice and activist organizing at both a local and global level, this including projects like #MusiciansForPalestine, and locally efforts to support migrant justice movements surrounding spaces like the Immigrant Workers Centre, where I sit on the board. 

Adriana: Yes, the upcoming launch of the album at Casa del Lago! And for my part I´ll keep on playing around the world meeting musicians to keep on weaving a free and inclusive world, a better and more loving world.