The composer says: Folklorists have determined that the quintessential national Honduran dance is the Xique. The Xique (or Sique) is a very simple popular peasant couple dance with a definite European influence and tempo of a fast waltz. Though some of these dances are strictly for the salon, the majority of Honduran folkloric dances are of indigenous roots and have many elements that tie it to the Creole imitations of European musical styles. The onomatopoeic name of the dance, Xique, is an abbreviation of Xixique, the sound that is produced by the caites (sandals), the dancers wear as they scrape the floor while dancing. The dancers are accompanied, as is in most Honduran folkloric music, by the Marimba. These dances evoke times long past when young couples would fall in love while dancing to the music as portrayed today by the dancers in their skirt work, foot work and coquettish glances. In the Xique, the dance may come to an abrupt halt when a dancer interrupts with the cry of 'Bomba' or 'Bomba pa' yo!' (Bomba for me!). One dancer then proclaims a set of two to four 'coplas' (couplets) to the spectators or to one another. The other dancer then responds to these Bombas with some 'coplas' of their own and shows off their wit and grace in their replies before the dance resumes. I revisited the echoes of some of the music from my boyhood in the Caribbean beach town of Tela, Honduras. This is my response to the Xique music that I first delighted in as a boy. Carlos Barrientos was born on June 25, 1954 in Tela, Honduras. He began his formal music studies at the National Music Conservatory in Guatemala City, Guatemala C.A. His training with Maestro Elias Barreiro, Director of Guitar Studies at Tulane University, was supplemented with Master Classes with Manuel Barrueco, Leo Brouwer, Juan Mercadal, Michael Newman, Tommy Tedesco and Carlos Barbosa-Lima. He studied composition under the tutelage of Dr. Jerry Sieg, University of New Orleans, and Dr. Roy Johnson, Florida State University. He consulted with Michael D. Martin, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Music, Albany State University, Albany, GA in the creation of a recordings library that reflects Western Art Music and American Jazz for the students at Albany State University. The New York Premiere of the First Movement of his Second Guitar Sonata was dedicated to and performed by Classical Guitarist Maestro Carlos Barbosa-Lima in 2003 at Carnegie Hall. At the request of U.S. Senator Bob Graham one of his compositions, Si Tu Te Vas (If You Go Away), was included on a recording to promote The Everglades Trail. In 2004, at the American Church in Paris, France the World Premiere of his Romance for Flute and Guitar was performed by the award-winning Serenade Duo, flutist Michelle LaPorte and guitarist Gerry Saulter. He has performed with such legendary musicians as Herbie Mann, Donald Byrd and Debbie Reynolds, led an on stage Renaissance Trio in a University of New Orleans production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and played incidental music for their production of Bertold Brecht's The Good Woman of Sichuan. He has performed Carulli's Guitar Concerto in A, Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story and Marvin Hamlish's A Chorus Line with the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra and Okaloosa-Walton Community College, Niceville, FL, and with the Southern Art Music Ensemble, a Jazz/Latin Fusion Sextet, including an Honors Convocation in Atlanta for Mr. Ted Turner. He has been a guest performer with the Albany State University Jazz Ensemble at The Fletcher Henderson Jr., Macon and Atlanta Jazz Festivals, and played the banjo in the Albany State University /Albany Symphony's co-production of George Gershwin's Opera Porgy and Bess. Acknowledgement: On the front cover, 'El Xique' (1986) by Moisés Becerra (b. 1926) from the Banco Atlántida's collection of Honduran Painters. Composer and publisher wish to thank the Staff at the Banco Atlántida for providing us with a copy of this painting and for their permission to use it.
