UPDATE:

King Mangoberry has been nominated for two Latin Grammy awards!
 

How does one define musical language?

How does one describe, compartmentalize, or build walls around a music that knows no borders and yields to no conventions? To experience the music of Ricardo Lorenz is to enter an inimitable sound world governed by confounding rhythm, inhabited by rich color, with a brilliant and at times foreboding formal landscape. His musical message emerges from the fog of the mind’s ear with a clarity that rings loudly in the very depths of the musician’s soul. By allowing Ricardo’s music into our minds and hearts, we discover musical lessons essential for a well-lived life. Expectations are exceeded. Barriers are broken. It is a richer, more vibrant experience than ever dreamed.
 
At once sincere, cryptic, poignant, and raw, this collection of works celebrates the artistic symbiosis between composer and performer. Each note of this music, whether directly or indirectly, is the result of a decade-long collaboration between Ricardo Lorenz, Kevin Sedatole, and the Michigan State University Wind Symphony. King Mangoberry challenges us to celebrate an identity different from our own while questioning the very notion of identity itself. Pataruco teaches us to reimagine the possibilities of an instrument we think we know. El Muro builds, and subsequently tears down, walls. In music, as in life, the understanding found behind these walls leads to an appreciation of sounds we never heard, concepts we never considered, and people we never knew. Deep within Ricardo’s music lies a sincere message of struggle, opportunity, and love. Fortunate are those gifted to enter his world.

— Introduction written by MSU college of Music alumnus Cormac Cannon, director of bands, University of South Carolina.

For composer notes, artist bios and more details about the CD, click here (view or print PDF).

Listen to King Mangoberry via Spotify