The Squid's Ear Magazine


Alcorn, Susan / Septeto del Sur: Canto (Relative Pitch)

Recording in Maria Pinto, Chile, steel guitarist Susan Alcorn combines Chilean folk and nueva cancion with free improvisation and contemporary classical in an expansive set of 5 original compositions and a group arrangement of the Victor Jara's "El Derecho de Vivir en Paz", the achingly beautiful themes paying tribute to the victims of Augusto Pinochet's regime.
 

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Personnel:



Susan Alcorn-pedal steel guitar

Luis 'ToTo' Alvarez-guitar

Claudio 'Pajaro' Araya-drums, cuatro

Francisco 'Pancho' Araya-charango

Rodrigo Bobadilla-flute, quena, zampona, vocals

Amanda Irarrazabal-double bass, vocals

Danka Villanueva-violin, vocals

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UPC: 5904224872069

Label: Relative Pitch
Catalog ID: RPR1170
Squidco Product Code: 34140

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2023
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Estudios Del Sur, at Maria Pinto, Chile, on November 19th and 20th, 2022, by Ron Saint Germain.
Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

Artist Biographies

"Susan Alcorn (born 1953) is an American composer, improvisor, and pedal steel guitarist. Having started out playing guitar at the age of twelve, she quickly immersed herself in folk music, blues, and the pop music of the 1960s. A chance encounter with blues musician Muddy Waters steered her towards playing slide guitar. By the time she was twenty-one, she had immersed herself in the pedal steel guitar, playing in country and western swing bands in Texas.

Soon, she began to combine the techniques of country-western pedal steel with her own extended techniques to form a personal style influenced by free jazz, avant-garde classical music, Indian ragas, Indigenous traditions, and various folk musics of the world. By the early 1990s her music began to show an influence of the holistic and feminist "deep listening" philosophies of Pauline Oliveros.

Though mostly a solo performer, Alcorn has collaborated with numerous artists including Pauline Oliveros, Eugene Chadbourne, Peter Kowald, Chris Cutler, Joe Giardullo, Caroline Kraabel, Earl Howard, Le Quan Ninh, Sean Meehan, Joe McPhee, LaDonna Smith, Mike Cooper, Walter Daniels, Ellen Fullman, Jandek, George Burt, Janel Leppin, Michael Formanek, Ellery Eskelin, Fred Frith, Maggie Nicols, Evan Parker, Johanna Varner, Zane Campbell and Mary Halvorson."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Alcorn)
10/8/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Amanda Irarrazabal was born in Santiago de Chile in 1982, currently living in Buenos Aires, Argentina; is a bassist, bassist, singer, improviser and composer. in 2002 he began his musical career, going through different genres (classical, experimental, jazz, rock, tango and Latin American music); and choosing free improvisation and original music as what most identifies her. has been part of projects such as Inciertario, Jorge Campos Grupo, Cardias, Arre!, Dactilar, Cátodo Dúo, De Escamas, Eriza, Entre Otros. among others."

-Pany Rosas Discos (http://www.panyrosasdiscos.net/amanda-irarrazabal/)
10/8/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

Danka Villanueva is a Mexican violinist, a member of Golosa La Orquesta.

-Danka Villanueva Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/dankavillanuevabono/?hl=en)
10/8/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:
Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Compositional Forms
Chamber Jazz
Guitarists, &c.
Mexico, Central & South Americas + Islands
Septet recordings
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