Ensemble Musica Ficta

The Colombian early music group Música Ficta specializes in Baroque works from Latin America and Spain. The group has a substantial research function, having unearthed, performed, and recorded works from church archives in several Latin American countries. Founded in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1988, Música Ficta is one of the few groups from South America with a specialty in Renaissance music. The term música ficta, meaning unwritten alterations of notes in Renaissance music to produce chromatic harmonies, has been used by at least two other groups, but Colombia's Música Ficta is the only one to use the Spanish spelling, with an accent mark. (It has sometimes been known as Música Ficta Colombia). The group has had some changes in personnel, but its current members are Jairo Serrano (voice, percussion), Carlos Serrano (early woodwinds), Julián Navarro (vihuela de mano, baroque guitar), Regina Albanez (theorbo), Bárbara Cerón (baroque harp), and Elisabeth Wright (harpsichord). Música Ficta made its recording debut in 2000 on the Jade label with the album De Antequera Sale un Moro: Musique de l'Espagne Chrétienne, Maure et Juive, vers 1492. An album of Spanish music from Christian, Moorish, and Jewish traditions around the year 1492, the album set the pattern for Música Ficta's future recordings of unusual Renaissance works. Música Ficta has performed across Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, and East Asia, attracting reviews in such publications as the Washington Post, Goldberg Magazine, and Le Monde de la Musique. In all, it has appeared in some 30 countries, as well as performing on radio stations in the Americas and Europe. Música Ficta has engaged in direct musicological research in major church archives in Latin America, visiting church archives in Bogotá, Mexico City, Guatemala City, Lima, and Chiquitos, Bolivia. There, the group has unearthed unedited pieces by various Latin American composers as well as those by 17th century Spanish composers, including Sebastián Durón, Juan de Navas, and José Marín. These, in turn, have shaped Música Ficta's recording catalog, which has appeared on the Centaur, Lindoro, and EtCetera labels as well as Jade and the group's own imprint. The group has investigated the relationship between sacred and vernacular traditions on several recordings, including 2005's Sepan todos que muero: Music of Peasants & Courtiers in the Viceroyalty of Peru, 17th-18th Century. In 2021, Música Ficta released the album Si a la Muerte imita el Sueño: Tonos Humanos de José Marín.
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