Work songs have always accompanied—and played a vital role in—daily human life.
These are often a cappella songs sung by country folk, laborers, or sailors engaged in shared physical tasks. Filled with poetry and humor, these melodies offer a heartfelt way to navigate everyday life.

Corn-pounding songs, washerwomen’s chants, lullabies, tonadas, cooking songs, love ballads, and invocations to nature have survived through oral transmission across generations. Work songs often have a rhythmic quality, naturally syncing with the physical tasks they accompany.

In this workshop, percussion merges with voice and movement. Participants will explore a repertoire of traditional Latin American work songs while accompanying themselves using diverse percussion instruments—body percussion, quitiplás (struck bamboo tubes), maracas, and more.

Workshop Program

• Vocal and physical warm-ups

• Vocal technique, body and breathing work, interpretive keys (vocal placement, ornamentation)

• Developing internal rhythm

• Learning vocal repertoire through oral transmission (with optional written phonetic support)

• Body percussion exercises: understanding clave patterns and basic rhythms

• Introduction to other percussion instruments: quitiplás, maracas, etc.

• Polyrhythm and coordination/synchronization exercises

• Vocal harmonization and improvisation

• Singing while accompanying oneself

Biography

Rebeca Roger Cruz is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, and musicologist whose work explores the metamorphosis of the voice at the crossroads of oral traditions and classical music. Trained in classical singing in Venezuela and later in France (since 2012), she builds bridges between early music, improvisation, traditional rhythms, dance, and sound experimentation.

She holds a Master’s degree in musicology and combines academic research with the living practice of ancient repertoires, notably through her work on the Cantigas d’Amigo by Martín Codax. Her ever-evolving voice is infused with spirituality, nature, travel, and human connection.

Rebeca performs with ensembles such as AA’IN, Parranda La Cruz, and MAAAR, and was the founder of Trobairitz. She has contributed to numerous projects (Mazalda, The Bongo Hop, Los Wemblers de Iquitos, Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu, among others) and also works as a vocal coach.

Deeply engaged in a wide range of educational initiatives, she collaborates with many cultural institutions (Opéra de Lyon, Royaumont, CMTRA, FAMDT...), as well as festivals including Les Suds, à Arles, where she is an associated artist for the 2023–2024 season.