I MOVEMENT: PRE-JAZZ MUSIC FROM 1800-1924

The first movement of the Panamanian Suite focuses on the music written about Panama in the United States and Europe between 1880 and 1924. This historical reconstruction via sheet music was assembled over a period of five years, drawn from the special collections of libraries all over the world. The pieces were chosen because they had some relationship to Panama—either Panama was named or depicted in their titles, lyrics, or cover pictures, or the music was placed in a special collection that celebrated Panama. This important name, Panama, signified a country that had immense geographical power and, at the same time, was vulnerable to colonization by the superpowers from the Global North.