Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Nathan Salazar, Sutanu Sur, Joshua Habermann - Roots & Rivers (2026) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. The Tipping Point
02. Caminante
03. Northland: I. The Tropics in New York
04. Northland: II. America
05. Northland: III. On Broadway
06. Northland: IV. To One Coming North
07. The American Road: I. Prepare Me One Body
08. The American Road: II. Little Cuckoo
09. The American Road: III. He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
10. The American Road: IV. Left Foot, Peg Foot (Follow the Drinking Gourd)
11. The American Road: V. Shall We Gather at the River
12. The American Road: VI. Shine! (This Little Light of Mine)
13. Sweet Rivers

On ROOTS & RIVERS, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale expands the American choral canon with a curated selection of commissioned works. The album features Reena Esmail’s The Tipping Point, which infuses Indian classical music into Western forms to depict light overcoming darkness, alongside Jocelyn Hagen’s Caminante, a bilingual piece reflecting Santa Fe’s multicultural identity. The program also explores the immigrant experience of poet Claude McKay in Kile Smith’s jazz-influenced Northland and reimagines folk songs, hymns, and spirituals in Shawn E. Okpebholo’s major six-movement suite, The American Road. Concluding with a specialized arrangement of Shawn Kirchner’s Sweet Rivers, the release stands as an offering of gratitude for the outpouring of new American choral music.

Santa Fe Desert Chorale
Joshua Habermann conductor
Nathan Salazar piano
Sutanu Sur tabla

Reena Esmail composer
Jocelyn Hagen composer
Shawn Kirchner composer
Shawn E. Okpebholo composer
Kile Smith composer