Marta Gómez and Antonio Mazzei Bridge Two Traditions on New Album Arauca:

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Marta Gómez and Antonio Mazzei present Arauca, a duo album for voice and piano releasing on April 10, 2026 via Altafonte. The album takes its name from the river that runs along the border between Venezuela and Colombia, a geographic detail that reflects the project's spirit: two artists finding common ground at the intersection of their traditions.

 

The two musicians, both based in Barcelona, developed their working relationship over several years of concerts and collaborations before recording “Arauca” in the idyllic mountain setting of Barcelona’s UnderPool studios over the course of two days. The sessions were kept intentionally minimal, with few takes per piece. As Gómez explains: "We tried not to do too many takes of each piece. Not to fix too much of what we didn't like, but instead to let that unique moment of making music together remain captured."

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Gómez is a Colombian singer and songwriter based in Barcelona. A magna cum laude graduate of the Berklee College of Music, she has performed alongside musicians from across the world and earned a Latin Grammy Award in 2014 for Best Latin Children's Album for Coloreando: Traditional Songs for Children in Spanish. Mazzei is a Venezuelan pianist, composer and producer who studied at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York. His discography as a leader includes Contrastes (2009), Reveries (2018), and the 2022 Antonio Mazzei Trio album produced by Jean Toussaint. As a collaborator and producer he has worked with artists including Paquito D'Rivera, Antonio Sánchez and Latin Grammy winner Nella, among others.

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The repertoire is built primarily around original compositions by Gómez, spanning older songs such as "Eso Pido Yo" and "Celia," her most recent composition "Ella," and "Pedacito de Esperanza," a song written years earlier that had not previously appeared on a studio record. Several tracks are settings of poetry, with texts by García Montero, Fernando Valverde, and Federico García Lorca. The album also draws on traditional Venezuelan repertoire, including "Todo Este Campo Es Mío," a tonada by Simón Díaz.

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All arrangements on the album were written by Mazzei, who approached the traditional Venezuelan material with a focus on restraint. In his own words, he wanted "to give more space to the melodies that Marta soars through, and for the piano to have a more sober, more contemplative, less leading role." Of the album's sound more broadly, Mazzei describes it as "music you already know, but have never heard before.”

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Arauca is available from Altafonte beginning April 10, 2026.

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Credits:

 

Marta Gómez (voice) (guitar: tracks 2 and 12)

Antonio Mazzei (piano)

Produced by Marta Gómez and Antonio Mazzei

Recorded by Sergi Felipe at Underpool Studios in Barcelona, Spain

Mixed and Mastered by: David Darlington at Bass Hit Recording, New York, NY. USA

Cover art: Silvia Ospina

Graphic Design: Sofia Chopitea

Photo and Video: José David García​​​​