The smell of smoked sugar cane, corn and coffee; mysterious noises of strange creatures in the night, heavy rains, colibris around deep green-colored plants and powerful sharp colored flowers… All of this and so much more is to be heard in the rhythms and melodies of Latin American boleros. It was the familiarity of this colorful, almost surrealistic, atmosphere that struck me when I started discovering the literature of Gabriel García Márquez. One day, all these motives came together in one simple yet timeless moment while I was reading One Hundred Years of Solitude in the beloved Parque México in my place of birth, Mexico City. This is where it all began. I was sitting and reading surrounded by plants and birds, in my quiet oasis in the middle of this noisy and chaotic city, on one of those green ornamented benches that are so typical in the gardens of Mexico and are so dear to me since the times of my childhood. – Dana Zemtsov, October 2024

Born in Mexico City, violist Dana Zemtsov has always retained a deep love for the colorful Latin-American culture. The discovery of Gabriel García Márquez’s book One Hundred Years of Solitude, in which the vivid literary images of clouds of yellow butterflies precede a forbidden lover’s arrival, inspired Dana to revisit her earliest musical memories.

This led to a unique project embodying the most characteristic expression of love in Latin-American culture. The beautiful boleros presented on this album entitled Yellow Butterfly: Latin American Favorites. They are so well known that practically every Spanish-speaking person can sing them by heart.

With arrangements by the legendary Joan Albert Amargós and Claudio Constantini, the recording conjures the surreal atmosphere of the Americas: melancholy, roughness, poetry, vitality and joy. These ‘recomposed’ boleros were arranged for solo viola and a small ensemble that consists of pianist Anna Fedorova, trumpeter Angelo Verploegen, bandoneonist Claudio Constantini, double bassist Nicholas Schwartz and percussionist André Groen.

Dana Zemtsov, Viola
Angelo Verploegen, Flugelhorn & Trumpet (Tracks 1, 3, 6, 8, 13-15)
Claudio Constantini, Bandoneon (Tracks 1, 4, 9, 11, 14)
Nicholas Schwartz, Double Bass (Tracks 1, 3-8, 10, 11, 13-15)
Anna Fedorova, Piano (Tracks 1-3, 6-8, 12-15)
André Groen, Percussion (Tracks 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 15)