Cristina Pato and the Galician gaita

San Antonio.- A member of the Silk Road Ensemble, Pato explains her instrument and evolution as an artist, particularly how making music with the Silk Road Ensemble helped resolve her musical dilemma.

 By Angela Covo, angela.covo@gmail.com

To understand the beautiful, sometimes haunting sounds that emerge from Christina Pato’s
instrument, one has only to listen.

The gaita is a traditional folkloric instrument of the region of Spain, Galicia, where Pato was born, and a mesmerizing addition to the Silk Road Ensemble in 2006.

“It was growing in popularity when I was a little girl, after Franco,” she explained. "People were
returning to their roots, expressing the cultures of the regions again, because for so many years, they were not allowed to," she said. said.

Pato is also an accomplished pianist – she received her doctorate in collaborative piano at Rutgers University.

“But I love the gaita,” she explained.

About seven years ago, Pato came to the United States to study at Rutgers. During the course
of her study, she had a Master Class with Osvaldo Golijov, the Argentine composer, who was
creating a piece for the Silk Road Project.

“We talked and he learned about my gaita, and later he introduced me to Yo-Yo Ma at
Tanglewood ... and I started to play with The Silk Road Ensemble,” she explained.

Like echoes of distant Silk Road connections, Ma, Pato and Golijov reflected the connections
from hundreds of years ago. The Silk Road Project would be just a little richer now, with the
extraordinary music of this artist and her instrument.

The gaita is a kind of bagpipes – it is an ancient instrument with roots as far back as the
Romans, Greeks and Celtics, except the gaita is imbued as well with the cultural influences of the northwestern corner of Spain.

The Silk Road Project was a magical situation for Pato, because for her entire musical career, she felt somewhat torn between two drastically different directions.

“On the one hand, I was a classical pianist, on the other I played the traditional bagpipes, and all this time I had been trying to find a language, music, that would connect these two worlds,” she explained.

“It was important for me to discover what language I was going to use, because it would represent everything I am,” she said.

The Silk Road Ensemble came to be that common ground she was seeking.

Pato has played the gaita since she was four years old; she has her own style and approach. Like Yo-Yo Ma, she is intrigued by the sound and the language of the music, not the genre.

“The gaita is from the earth, it is a very powerful instrument, but it is also very versatile,” she explained.

“With Golijov’s piece, Air to Air, the understanding of cultures comes through in the choice of
instruments,” she said.

Even she was surprised at the result.

“You tend to play always what comes from tradition, and this was different,” she explained.

“It is so easy to see how we are all connected and speak the same language when it comes to the music. The energy builds during a performance, and I value the energy that flows between me, the audience and the other players, that is a moment of pure magic,” Pato said.

The sense of continuity and the joyful sound of the combination of instruments in the Silk Road
Ensemble is very meaningful to Pato.

“Not only do we enjoy playing together – we learn so much from one another because of the
instruments, which creates even deeper connections,” she said.

The first female professional bagpiper from Galicia, Pato says it is not the most feminine
instrument, but it has become very popular in her country and many more women are playing it
now.

Pato is thrilled to be playing with Yo-Yo Ma, and is also exploring jazz and improvisation. She is
based in New York City and lives with her husband, a Spanish professor at the United Nations.

At the end of the day, Pato says her joy comes from sharing. “Communicating with each other
through the music and sharing it with everyone - this is what makes me happy.”

To learn more about the artist and her instrument, visit www.cristinapato.com. For more information about the Silk Road Project, visit www.silkroadproject.org. To see Yo-Yo Ma and the Ensemble play March 31 at the Majestic Theater, visit www.artssanantonio.com.