Caballito Negro

Caballito Negro , based in Southern Oregon and New York City, is known for its creative and compelling performances, generating a fearless, ecstatic blend of modern and traditional aesthetics. Multi-flutist Tessa Brinckman and multi-percussionist Terry Longshore draw their name (“dark little horse”) from Federico García Lorca’s poem, Canción de Jinete (1860). They collaborate with visionary artists, using an arsenal of instruments to push the artistic experience to new heights, and always in the spirit of duende.

Heralded for their “wildly personal, intercultural, modern music…vivid, expressive music that could be performed anywhere” (Oregon Arts Watch), the duo melds narratives, images, and themes in imaginative curations, ranging from Timbuktu libraries, Turkmen jazz, and speculative-science fictions, to visions of resistance and dissent. Caballito Negro envisions true cultural exchange through inclusive and innovative projects with local, regional, and international artists.

Numerous music collaborations, commissions and arrangements include the work of artists such as the “mad-scientist-of-music” Mark Applebaum, Palestinian-American oud-master Ronnie Malley, Mexican-American percussionist Ivan Trevino, Xhosa composer Bongani Ndodana Breen, and former LA Philharmonic composer-in-residence William Kraft.

Caballito Negro also composes as a duo, synthesizing their eclectic musical dialects. Their work as resident artists has been featured at the Ashland Independent Film Festival, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Festival of New American Music, Britt Music & Arts Festival, as well as in many university, theater, and house concerts in the U.S. They share years of musical and life experience, in giving joint masterclasses to explore questions of intercultural exchange and hybrid forms.

Their first recording, the EP Songlines (2016), was praised for its “absolutely gorgeous tone”, “understated virtuosity” (Joshua Cheek) and being “expertly produced and played” (NFA Quarterly), featuring the music of William Kraft, David P. Jones and Ivan Trevino. Caballito Negro has ongoing recording projects for CD and video release in the near future.