ORIGINALS
Odelia’s Originals are co-production projects developed in collaboration with artists and organizations throughout the Americas who are pushing the boundaries between music, heritage and social discourse. Through these projects we look at research, live, and participatory arts as mediums in which performers, audiences and the story are not only interconnected but also inform, impact and ultimately transform each other in order to create social change.
CANTORAS
A co-production between Odelia Artists, The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland and Archivo Lares. This album, and set of historical connected contents brings to the present the works of rural Venezuelan singers between 1972 and 1983.
Cantoras was curated by folk singer Betsayda Machado and ethnomusicologist Oswaldo Lares, who between the 1960’s and 1980’s recorded nearly 2,000 tracks of folk music genres by endogenous performers and composers throughout the plains, coast and Amazonic territories of Venezuela.
PAPÁ CUATRO
Created in residency at Drama League awardee company Miami New Drama. Papá Cuatro is a journey through the ages, and a tale about the music that encompasses a culture.
This interactive concert illustrates the origins of the Cuatro, an iconic Latin American string instrument transformed through centuries of immigration - forced, and willing - defining a culture.
The show combines amusing historical accounts, the personal stories of migrant musicians and live music.
VIVA LA PARRANDA
This immersive musical theater documentary brings together an exceptional group of musicians from rural Venezuela and singer Betsayda Machado around a participatory communal home-spun stew for an evening of music, storytelling, dance, and flavors so unique that you will be transported.
Developed in collaboration with Miami New Drama, the touring version of Viva La Parranda is equally suited for well-equipped theaters and community spaces, involving live cooking, a community meal, live music, and a set of eight monologues (a mix of heartbreaking and inspiring) one delivered by each artist.