Fuensanta Méndez (Ensamble Grande)

Fuensanta: “Voices, drums, horns and strings are like different organs in a breathing animal that invents cornfields, jungles, ruined statues, breakfast. Poetry is the silver guiding principle, improvisation and texture execute.”

Even though it’s not their intention to make fusion, the flexibility and richness of contemporary music, rawness and freedom of avant-garde and lyrical and rhythmical aspects of Latin American folklore is combined.

Fuensanta Méndez was born and raised in the water forest of Veracruz. She moved to the Netherlands in 2015 and studied at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. This is where she met most members of the Ensamble Grande. Their songs are a homage to the colourful beauty, amongst roughness and brutality, of growing up in Mexico. The solitude of childhood and the inherent surrealism to that place. Poetry and music share a flat hierarchy. Fuensanta: “The songs become accurate by leaving room for improvisation, the kindred minds in the ensemble make choices based on their intuition and not only interpretation. I want to transform the reality of the listener into wonderful by stirring something sacred while questioning it.”

Fuensanta Méndez – vocals, double bass and compositions
Laura Polence – vocals
Marta Arpini – vocals
Isabel Mirallas – vocals
Sanne Rambags – vocals
Sun-Mi Hong – drums and percussion
Guy Salamon – drums
Alistair Payne – trumpet
José Soares – alto saxophone
Teis Semey – guitar
Young-Woo Lee – piano