I was born a woman, and I never...ever thought so much about it, until, it's always mentioned. You know? I mean the minute you walk into a place: Oh! You are a woman! Oh, really? You know? I mean, it's like...Ha! Big news.
No one, including myself, thought that I was going to end up being a real musician. In fact, as I was studying music my family encouraged me to study another career, just in case. So, I'm also an accountant.
In Cuba, as I was studying in the conservatory, in terms of the American composers, the only two that I heard were Bernstein and Copland. It was West Side Story, the first thing that I heard of Leonard Bernstein. And the rhythms and the verve that it spoke about American music was something that attracted me a great deal.
—Tania León, from the film The Sensual Nature of Sound: 4 Composers, Laurie Anderson, Tania Leon, Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros, Directed by Michael Blackwood (1993).
Indígena (1991)
Commissioned by New York City's Town Hall
Duration: 8:00
Instrumentation:
flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, percussion (2 roto-toms, 2 tom-toms, 2 porcelain mugs, 1 shaker on stand, 1 small bass drum, maracas), piano, (2) violins, viola, cello, bass
A human male. White complexion. Born in Northeastern Massachusetts. A human female. Black complexion. Born in Havana, Cuba. Both driven by innate rhythm. The pulse of life. A sense of community. A connection to place. Both trained in modernist, classical techniques. Both understand and move through space kinetically. Mambo.
Both become inextricably entangled with New York City. One composes the quintessential American musical about European and Latin American immigrants struggling to learn how to live, love, and work together with one hand, one heart. The other experiences that production as a first impression of “American” “classical” music and eventually immigrates to New York to become the first musical director of the Dance Theater of Harlem.
Both have stood on the podium and conducted the New York Philharmonic.
Perhaps I am overstating Tania León’s connection to Leonard Bernstein, but her story lifts us ALL up at a time when our country is in desperate need of a reminder of what truly makes it great. Cynics will try (and have) to label her contemporary successes as a political stunt. It’s a time-honored way of tearing down the truly gifted. But I believe her music stands firmly and proudly on its own and has no need for affirmative action if you open your hand and your heart.
and your mind.