Liberación
(by Pamela Goddard of the Ithaca Times - October 2002)

Purity. Simplicity. Power. All of these words describe Amy Glicklich's newest project, "Liberación". Subtitled "The Sounds of San Lucas", this recording features the voices of 600 Guatemalan children led by five notable musicians from the United States and Guatemala, singing Latin American songs of devotion, justice, and peace. The recording presents 20 beautiful songs, and is accompanied by a full-color booklet with the Spanish lyrics and their English translations as well as many vivid photos of the children, community, and landscape of San Lucas Tolimán.

While the main voices are those of Amy Glicklich and Guatemalan music teacher Juan Coz Asunción, the real stars are the children. As Glicklich observes in the liner notes, "They sing with such innocence and joy, and they bring us a message that we all need to hear."

In "Yo Canto Amor/I Sing Love" the children's joy is palpable when they sing, "I sing love, the birds repeat my song. I want to shout, leave hatred behind and come walk with me". The powerful poetry of this song contrasts with the playful traditional song, "Alegría Amigo/Happiness Friend". When the children join in with playful clapping and innocent voices on the words "You were not born friend to be sad, although it may be raining in your heart" you can't help but be lifted up.
"Liberación" features a number of songs by Juan Coz Asunción - "Santo" - with power and joy, "El Buen Pastor/The Good Shepherd" - with strength and love of a guardian of his flock, "Mas Por Amor/More For Love" - with haunting beauty. Songs of devotion are interwoven throughout, as is appropriate for songs springing from a school founded by the Catholic Bishops of Latin America. A school requested by the Mayan people of San Lucas, who knew that education was as important as food.

"Liberación" has a remarkably natural sound. Glicklich and Asunción blend their voices in stirring harmonies, and lead the children with confidence. The children sing in turns with gentleness ("Todo Cambia" and "Mi Pensamiento Eres Tú") and exuberance (such as in "Santo" and "O Pecador"). "Liberación" is about love. Love of spirit. Love of music. Love of the children.

All of the proceeds from "Liberación" will return to the children of San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala. For more information, visit: www.Liberación-cd.com <http://www.Liberación-cd.com/> .



GIFT OF MUSIC
(By Pamela Goddard of the Ithaca Times - September 2002)

Amy Glicklich is a singer with a life dream of travelling to distant lands, learning songs, and bringing them home to share on stage and in classrooms. She's recently realized a piece of this dream in her second CD, "Liberación". This fresh, beautiful recording features the voices of 600 Guatemalan children led by five notable musicians from the United States and Guatemala, - singing Latin American songs of devotion, justice and peace. The recording presents 20 beautiful songs, accompanied by a full-color booklet. The booklet includes the Spanish lyrics and their English translations, as well as many vivid photos of the children, community and landscape of San Lucas.

Five years ago, as a recent graduate of Ithaca College with a degree in Music Education, Glicklich wanted to travel and challenge herself rather than jump right into the American education system. With the help of a friend and some intensive Spanish lessons, she found herself in San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala.

Glicklich knew she wanted to help out. "It's economically a very poor place. There are millions of opportunities for people to help, in gardens, coffee processing, health clinics and orphanages." What she didn't know was how generously she'd be brought into the community. A music teacher invited her to co-teach his students, even though Glicklich had very little experience and sketchy Spanish. For three months she worked with children in grades one through six. "I had no idea at that point that I would make this recording. My thoughts were mostly to record some of what we were doing, just as a memento to bring home."

Over the next several years, Amy and her partner, Tenesí found themselves drawn back to this special place. Last year, while Glicklich was at work on her CD, "Mosaic", Tenesí was back in San Lucas. She asked him to get a recording of the school children singing "Espiritu de Dios". Through the magic of the recording studio, her voice was mixed with the children's. "It sounded like we were in the same room. I got a lot of favorable response to that one song. It gave me the extra push to do this larger recording."

"Liberación" was not an easy recording project, but they had a lot of help. When they approached Alex Perialas at Pyramid Studios with the idea, much to their surprise he said, "Ok, let's do it." Glicklich says, "He donated all his time and equipment. I can't believe how well he captured the music." In San Lucas they did all they could do to prevent street noise from marring the recording. The townspeople closed the road nearby the church, and hung huge banners around the building, asking for quiet and cooperation. "Everyone was so behind the project", Glicklich says.

Juan Coz Asunción provides both lead and harmony vocals as well as a wide range of instrumental support to Glicklich's vocals and Tenesí's guitar. "He is such a well of musical knowledge", says Glicklich. She says that Asunción has done remarkable things with practically no resources. Singing is a way of life in the region around San Lucas, but this music teacher has a unique teaching skill. "You can hear it in that amount of kids singing with that much power," Glicklich says.

Glicklich and Tenesí are giving all of the profits from "Liberación" to the people of San Lucas Tolimán. Glicklich described this plan to the children on the recording, and asked them what they would like. They immediately let her know that they want guitars. "Everyone wants to play, and no one can afford instruments," says Glicklich. In fact, many children can't even afford $5 a year to go to school. The children's next requests were for books and scholarships to the kids who can't afford to go to school. "Now we can share some of our wealth", says Glicklich. "We can show them what they can do, and that something more is possible."

Glicklich's spirit of generosity extends to Ithaca's school children as well as those in Guatemala. On Saturday, September 14, she and Tenesí will be part of a benefit concert including Oculus, Sim Redmond, and Donna the Buffalo. The concert will be held at 7:30pm at the State Theatre, to support building an amphitheater for the Alternatives Community School. Part of Glicklich's performance will be a multi-media program of music and photos from "Liberación" focusing on the children, their music and their community.

Later in September, Glicklich and Tenesí are returning to San Lucas to bring the music back to the children. Each of the school children who sang on the recording will get their very own copy. "I think they'll be kind of shocked", says Glicklich. "This isn't something that happens in their town. The kids are going to feel so much inspiration and self worth." Glicklich and Tenesí hope to use proceeds form "Liberación" to build a music room for the school in San Lucas.

Glicklich calls "Liberación" a work of love, open for all to share. She says, "I knew it would be appreciated, but I didn't know how good it would be. This record is an incredible gift. I feel so blessed with the opportunity to make it possible. Those who buy it are getting the gift of music, and giving a gift to the community." It's a rare gift indeed, one where everyone benefits. Copies are available in local music stores, and on the Internet at: www.amyglicklich.com <http://www.amyglicklich.com/> and www.Liberación-cd.com <http://www.Liberación-cd.com/> .




MUSICAL RICHES
(by Renee Gearhart Levy of the Ithaca College Quarterly - Fall 2002)
Alex Perialas '80 and Amy Glicklich '96 make a music CD starring 600 children from a poor village in Guatemala.

Singer Amy Glicklich's 2001 CD, a compilation of songs from around the world, was a huge hit with her listeners, but it was the last song on Mosaic - Songs of Many Traditions that everyone asked about - the one with the children singing.

"It's very powerful," says the 1996 grad about "Espíritu de Dios", which features the voices of 600 children from the Guatemalan village of San Lucas Tolimán. "Many of the songs are moving, but that is the one that moves people most."

But the children weren't actually singing with Glicklich on the album. Their voices had been recorded by Amy's partner, Tenesí, earlier that year on a mini disc recorder, and months later layered with Amy's voice at an Ithaca recording studio owned by another IC alumnus. Glicklich, who earned her degree in music education at Ithaca and now divides her time among volunteering, performing, substitute teaching, and giving voice lessons and music workshops, first travelled to Guatemala the winter after graduation to volunteer in the village of San Lucas Tolimán, an opportunity she'd heard about from a friend.

San Lucas is located in the highlands of Guatemala, a striking contrast of beautiful countryside and desperate poverty. The focal points of village life are the church and the school, both of which are supported as mission projects by the members of the Roman Catholic diocese of New Ulm, Minnesota. "There are many projects that use volunteers," explains Glicklich, "including the reforestation project, coffee harvesting and production, working in the new health clinic or in the organic and medicinal gardens, tending bees and harvesting honey, and helping doctors and dentists who visit regularly. Some people come as a part of a church, school or other group, while others go on their own, as I did." During her stay in the town Glicklich approached the music teacher at the school and volunteered to teach a song or two to the children. After the first session, she became a regular volunteer, coteaching the music classes at the invitation of the regular teacher, Juan Coz Asunción.

"The village is very poor, but musically rich. The music that they sing and the spirit they sing with are the most beautiful things I've ever heard," says Glicklich, who returned over the next several years to work with the children for months at a time.

During the winter of 2000-2001, Glicklich remained in Trumansburg, where she lives, to work on Mosaic. The project stemmed from her passion for learning songs from different places, times and cultures; the 14 songs on the CD, each from a different country, range from an ancient Latin chant to traditional songs from Tibet, Palestine, India, and Ireland, and each is performed in its original language. It was only natural to include a song she had learned in Guatemala. Glicklich asked Tenesí, who was at the time in San Lucas volunteering, to see if he could get a recording of the children so that she might include them on the song.

After Mosaic was released (it was called "a musical tour de force" by the Ithaca Journal, which also named her the best female singer of 2001), Glicklich decided to find a way to produce a CD that would not only showcase the children's music, but raise money to help them and their village as well.

She knew immediately where to turn for help.

Alex Perialas '80, the owner of Pyramid Sound Studios in Ithaca, had recorded Mosaic for Glicklich and was the one who had blended the tape of the children's voices with hers. He would know what might be possible.

"I went to him and said, 'Let me tell you my idea. Don't talk. Just listen,'" she recalls. "I thought it was going to be a hard sell, but he just listened and said, 'Okay, let's do it.'"

So this past April, Glicklich and Perialas travelled to San Lucas. "For me," says Perialas, "this began as a challenge to go to a remote location and make music. I didn't realize I would come away from it feeling a connection to the area and the people. When I came home I realized I won't have anything to complain about in my life for a long time."

The two hauled 200 pounds of recording equipment, including an Apple G4 laptop computer, several FireWire hard drives, digital software, microphones, and cables. "This was a lot easier than it would have been five years ago, due to the advent of digital technology," says Perialas, who had majored in TV-R. "The software allows you to interface small components, and we basically built a studio in the church."

His extensive experience didn't hurt, either. Perialas' Ithaca studio, Pyramid Sound, is state-of-the-art and has recorded national artists ranging from Anthrax to Aaliyah. During his years as a producer, he's done more than his share of remote work. "I've worked in the major studios across the country, as well as lots of nonconventional venues," he says.

The biggest challenge was to keep his equipment secure. The recording was done in the village church every morning. But the church is a hub of village activity, and Perialas couldn't leave his equipment set up there overnight. "I'd be up at 5:00 every morning to lug the stuff there and set it up, and then I had to break it down and take it out every afternoon," Perialas explains.

For 10 days he and Glicklich recorded the children, who range in age from 5 - 13. Some songs feature the first, second and third graders - about 300 children - while others feature the fourth, fifth and sixth graders, and some feature all 600 of them singing at once. The resulting CD, Liberación, features 20 traditional Guatemalan and Latin American songs, sung in Spanish by the children, with Glicklich and Coz providing lead and harmony vocals. "The project was also Tenesí's," says Glicklich. "We worked on it together from the moment we asked Alex to record it, to learning the songs, and on and on. He plays guitar on the entire record, along with others.

Perialas volunteered his services, and Glicklich and Tenesí are funding other costs of the production - nearly $18,000 - through benefit concerts and private donations. The CD is available now in Ithaca-area stores and via Glicklich's website. All proceeds from sales of the CD will go directly back to San Lucas - to the school and the church, and to fund scholarships.

Glicklich hopes to return to San Lucas in October to share the finished product with the community. "When they hear it, they're going to be absolutely amazed," she smiles. "Seeing their faces will be the greatest reward."