The six Sarabandes are the emotional heart of each of the Bach Cello Suites, and have come to be almost spiritual in nature. Because of their power and grace, they are frequently performed stand alone for memorial services or to bring solace to moments of gravitas. As a result of this take on Sarabandes, the humble and eccentric origins of the dance form have become obscured from their study and interpretation. 

The Sarabande as Bach composed, came from the German and French derivations of the 15th Century Zarabanda that originated in the Spanish New World, a social dance with castanets and copious amounts of sensuality-- causing it to be banned in Europe at first for its "sinful" nature. In the 1600s Cervantes wrote that Hell was the Zarabanda’s birthplace and breeding place, coining the phrase (origen y principio). Presently, we can take a deeper look into the Sarabande's origins and reflect on the unique combinations of cultural assimilation, appropriation, colonialism, moral shaming, and eroticism that shaped the Sarabande’s transformation over the centuries.

Across the Atlantic, where the Zarabanda was birthed, the music of Paraguayan guitar master Augustín Barrios harkens to its original textures of strummed instruments such as guitarras, and vihuelas. Although the composer who lived 1885-1944 wrote much of his music in the late romantic style, there is the undeniable influence of JS Bach in much of his output. Barrios as a composer brought to a head elements of his Guaraní culture through folk elements, classical structures from Europe such as from JS Bach and Chopin, and Trova culture in the New World (traveling guitar playing troubadours) melding the sounds and stories of many different cultures into pure musical poetry.