NOTAS DE HUMOR

Fabián and his longtime collaborator, pianist Claire Harris—a New Zealand–born artist now based in Canada—are preparing to perform Cancionegro, an ambitious and highly theatrical song cycle. To deepen their understanding of the piece, the duo reunites with Maestro Mario Gómez Vignes, the Chilean-born composer who became a towering figure in Colombian contemporary classical music and academia.
Together, they explore the emotional, theatrical, and physical demands of the unique work. Through rehearsal, conversation, and experimentation, Cancionegro evolves into a multi-sensory experience—music that must be seen as much as it is heard.
Along the way, Fabián reflects on his life as an artist, sharing how music has served as a vital thread throughout his journey. The film also introduces other notable Colombian artists—many of whom, like Fabián, studied under Maestro Gómez Vignes and have since built their careers around the world. Each offers their own perspective on the lasting influence of mentorship and the power of art to shape a life.
Through these stories, the film touches on themes of displacement, adaptation, and cultural identity, grounded in a simple but powerful idea: we carry our art with us. As Fabián says, “Art is not something we leave behind. It evolves with us. It carries memory, longing, and transformation.”
At the center of the film is Cancionegro, an eight-part song cycle that uses dark humour to explore the grotesque, the political, the poetic, and the painfully human. Drawing on an eclectic mix of texts—from Renaissance satire and Shakespearean sonnets to contemporary Latin American poetry and even a fifteenth-century ode to bodily functions (!) —Mario Gómez Vignes blends avant-garde classical composition with irony, theatricality, and biting social commentary.
The result pushes the art song form to its limits—demanding not only vocal mastery but deep emotional and physical commitment. Fabián meets that challenge head-on, using voice, movement, and storytelling to break traditional performance conventions and bring this extraordinary work vividly to life.