Ecuador

A 31-minute instrumental journey across Ecuador in one continuous arc, from the Afro-Pacific marimba of Esmeraldas to the river-port pasillo of Guayaquil. No vocals; pure instrumental storytelling.

Each track is composed from the music of its place: the Afro-Ecuadorian marimba esmeraldeña of the Pacific coast, all rolling palm-wood tremolo and polyrhythmic hand-drums; the montubio amorfino of Manta on the Manabí coast; the Indigenous Kichwa sanjuanito of Otavalo, quena and rondador over a market plateau; the rare Afro-Andean bomba del Chota, an African-highland fusion that lays major melody over a minor valley; the salon pasillo and sanjuanito of colonial Quito; the Amazonian Kichwa yumbo of Tena, violin and turtle-shell deep in the Napo rainforest; the festive pasacalle of Cuenca and the melancholic pasillo lojano of Loja in the southern highlands; and the warm coastal pasillo costeño of Guayaquil, romantic guitar dissolving into the Malecón at dusk.