How the Bolero provides a loving tribute to Dana Zemtsov’s cultural heritage

Discover more Featured Stories like this in The Strad Playing Hub

Violist Dana Zemtsov lived in Mexico City for the first seven years of her life and has always retained a deep love for the colourful Latin-American culture.

So when she discovered Gabriel García Márquez’s book One Hundred Years of Solitude, in which the vivid literary images of clouds of yellow butterflies precede a forbidden lover’s arrival, it inspired Dana to revisit her earliest musical memories. This led to a unique project embodying the most characteristic expression of love in Latin-American culture: the beautiful boleros presented on her new album entitled Yellow Butterfly.

’The Bolero originates from Cuba in the mid 19th century and was originally performed by single travelling singing troubadours with their guitar,’ says Zemtsov. ’They would for example be hired by lovers to sing serenades under their ladies’ windows.

’Boleros express (often very painful) love, and people from Spanish speaking countries will sing along to many of the songs included on my new Yellow Butterfly album - especially in times of heartbreak or when you are falling in love, with butterflies in your belly.’

With love as the central theme of the album, the release of Yellow Butterfly coincides with Valentine’s Day. How does Zemtsov hope to share this theme, as well as the cultural heritage of her childhood?

’Reading One Hundred Years of Solitude, the love story of Meme and Mauricio Babilonia and the yellow butterflies surrounding their unfortunate love made me dream,’ she says.

’I closed my eyes and heard the sounds of three different groups of busking musicians, singing their hearts out from different corners of the park. Three different boleros simultaneously intertwined with the noises of Mexico City, the birds, couples dancing in the park, the cries of street vendors and the cheerful laughter from the cafés around. This is the atmosphere that I adore and that I want to share with the entire world.

This new album contains arrangements of Latin American favourites by Joan Albert Amargós and Claudio Constantini, who joins Zemtsov on the bandoneon. The rest of the ensemble comprises trumpeter Angelo Verploegen, pianist Anna Fedorova, double bassist Nicholas Schwartz and André Groen on percussion.

Yellow Butterfly is out on Channel Classics on 14 February 2025. Watch Alfonsina y el Mar by Ariel Ramírez below:

Playing

In The Best of Technique you’ll discover the top playing tips of the world’s leading string players and teachers. It’s packed full of exercises for students, plus examples from the standard repertoire to show you how to integrate the technique into your playing.

Teaching

The Strad’s Masterclass series brings together the finest string players with some of the greatest string works ever written. Always one of our most popular sections, Masterclass has been an invaluable aid to aspiring soloists, chamber musicians and string teachers since the 1990s.

Calendars

The Canada Council of the Arts’ Musical Instrument Bank is 40 years old in 2025. This year’s calendar celebrates some its treasures, including four instruments by Antonio Stradivari and priceless works by Montagnana, Gagliano, Pressenda and David Tecchler.