Santa Fe Desert Chorale Gets to the Roots

The Santa Fe Desert Chorale’s newest recording, Roots & Rivers, has just been released. It features five works, four of which were commissioned world premieres performed by the chorale in its recent summer seasons.

Minnesota-based composer Jocelyn Hagen’s premiere, “Caminante” (“Traveler”), was performed during the chorale’s 2022 season. Two groups of travelers, one singing in English and one in Spanish, sing independently at first, then come together with gratifying results.

In Kile Smith’s four-movement Northland, which premiered in 2023, a Jamaican immigrant arrives in New York, first experiencing homesickness and discrimination, then eventually arriving at acceptance and affection for his new homeland. Smith’s musical palette includes syncopation and elements drawn from blues and jazz.

The chorale’s most recently performed commission is The American Road. Shawn Okpebholo’s six-movement pieces draw on African American spirituals, hymns, and gospel music, including “The Drinking Gourd” and “This Little Light of Mine,” to explore themes of sacrifice, oppression, freedom, warfare, healing, and strength.

The new CD’s final selection is Shawn Kirchner’s “Sweet Rivers,” which the composer describes as “a newly created ‘traditional song’ that pairs an old hymn text with an original melody.” The text dates from the early 1800s and was coupled with an anonymously composed melody in shape-note hymnbooks such as The Sacred Harp and The Southern Harmony.