Heerenhuyskamerconcert - Notas y Letras

Notas y Letras is the new program of singer Juliana Martina and guitarist Jean-Jacques Rojer. The title refers to the Spanish magazine of the same name that was published in Curaçao, in which Latin American poetry and literature was described with the aim of stimulating the love of art among the youth on the island.

Like many Curaçaoans, Jean-Jacques Rojer is (partly) of Latin American origin with a Venezuelan mother, Spanish used to be one of the most important languages on the island. The cultural landscape of the island changed drastically after the arrival of Shell in 1918. There was a large influx of workers from other parts of the world, such as Madeira, Suriname and the West Indies.

However, the island has always retained a strong Latin American identity, 'Notas y Letras' is an attempt to revive that cultural connection.

Jean-Jacques Rojer has immersed himself in music from the first half of the 20th century by composers such as Carora Antonio Lauro and Simón Diaz from Venezuela and the Cuban Ernesto Lecuona. You will hear his arrangements of Venezuelan styles such as pasaje, golpe, aguinaldos and gaitas, but also filin, a jazz-influenced subgenre of the bolero that emerged in Cuba in the late 1940s.