Rapson Collaborative Logo

Esteban and the Children of the Sun

Esteban and the Children of the Sun is a suite of 14 songs that tell the story of Esteban, the first African to travel across North America.

Painting of two figures. The first is a small figure wearing a robe in the bottom center with their eyes closed. Behind that, a larger figure wearing a head scarf with a feather looks off to the right. A stylized sun is depicted in the center above both of their heads. Painting by Gary Kelley.
Artwork by Gary Kelley
“Esteban The Moor” Esteban & the Children of the Sun Daniel "Nielo" Gaglione, orch. by John Rapson
Audio Player
  1. Esteban The Moor
  2. Hija Mia Mi Querida
  3. Whats Your Real Name
  4. Atlantic Crossing
  5. 5 Sawgrass and Marsh
  6. Conquistadors
  7. Portents in the Sky
  8. Resolve
  9. Ill Stand Up
  10. Bereft
  11. You Cant hold Me Down
  12. Children of the Sun
  13. Home Goin Time
  14. Azemmour
{"type":"audio","tracklist":true,"tracknumbers":true,"images":true,"artists":true,"tracks":[{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/1-Esteban-The-Moor.mp3","type":"audio\/mpeg","title":"Esteban The Moor","caption":"Esteban The Moor,"description":"\"1 Esteban The Moor\".","meta":{"artist":"Daniel \"Nielo\" Gaglione, orch. by John Rapson","album":"Esteban & the Children of the Sun","length_formatted":"5:46"},"image":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Esteban_Artwork_4_UIWEB.png","width":3300,"height":3286},"thumb":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Esteban_Artwork_4_UIWEB-150x150.png","width":150,"height":150}},{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/2-Hija-Mia-Mi-Querida.mp3","type":"audio\/mpeg","title":"Hija Mia Mi Querida","caption":"Hija Mia Mi Querida","album":"Esteban & the Children of the Sun","length_formatted":"4:16"},"image":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Esteban_Artwork_4_UIWEB.png","width":3300,"height":3286},"thumb":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Esteban_Artwork_4_UIWEB-150x150.png","width":150,"height":150}},{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/3-Whats-Your-Real-Name.mp3","type":"audio\/mpeg","title":"Whats Your Real Name","caption":"","description":"\"3 Whats Your Real Name\".","meta":{"length_formatted":"3:52"},"image":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64},"thumb":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64}},{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/4-Atlantic-Crossing.mp3","type":"audio\/mpeg","title":"4 Atlantic Crossing","caption":"","description":"\"Atlantic Crossing\".","meta":{"length_formatted":"2:35"},"image":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64},"thumb":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64}},{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/5-Sawgrass-and-Marsh.mp3","type":"audio\/mpeg","title":"Sawgrass and Marsh","caption":"","description":"\"Sawgrass and Marsh\".","meta":{"length_formatted":"4:51"},"image":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64},"thumb":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64}},{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/6-Conquistadors.mp3","type":"audio\/mpeg","title":"6 Conquistadors","caption":"","description":"\"6 Conquistadors\".","meta":{"length_formatted":"5:29"},"image":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64},"thumb":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64}},{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/7-Portents-in-the-Sky.mp3","type":"audio\/mpeg","title":"7 Portents in the Sky","caption":"","description":"\"7 Portents in the Sky\".","meta":{"length_formatted":"5:08"},"image":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64},"thumb":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64}},{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/8-Resolve.mp3","type":"audio\/mpeg","title":"8 Resolve","caption":"","description":"\"8 Resolve\".","meta":{"length_formatted":"7:58"},"image":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64},"thumb":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64}},{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/9-I_ll-Stand-Up.mp3","type":"audio\/mpeg","title":"9 I_ll Stand Up","caption":"","description":"\"9 I_ll Stand Up\".","meta":{"length_formatted":"4:59"},"image":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64},"thumb":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64}},{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/10-Bereft.mp3","type":"audio\/mpeg","title":"10 Bereft","caption":"","description":"\"10 Bereft\".","meta":{"length_formatted":"2:06"},"image":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64},"thumb":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64}},{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/11-You-Can_t-hold-Me-Down.mp3","type":"audio\/mpeg","title":"11 You Can_t hold Me Down","caption":"","description":"\"11 You Can_t hold Me Down\".","meta":{"length_formatted":"3:23"},"image":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64},"thumb":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64}},{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/12-Children-of-the-Sun.mp3","type":"audio\/mpeg","title":"12 Children of the Sun","caption":"","description":"\"12 Children of the Sun\".","meta":{"length_formatted":"9:32"},"image":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64},"thumb":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64}},{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/13-Home-Goin_-Time.mp3","type":"audio\/mpeg","title":"13 Home Goin_ Time","caption":"","description":"\"13 Home Goin_ Time\".","meta":{"length_formatted":"3:04"},"image":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64},"thumb":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64}},{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/14-Azemmour.mp3","type":"audio\/mpeg","title":"14 Azemmour","caption":"","description":"\"14 Azemmour\".","meta":{"length_formatted":"6:12"},"image":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64},"thumb":{"src":"https:\/\/rapsoncollaborative.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.png","width":48,"height":64}}]}
1. Esteban The Moor
5:46
2. Hija Mia Mi Querida
4:16
3. Whats Your Real Name
3:52
4. Atlantic Crossing
2:35
5. Sawgrass and Marsh
4:51
6. Conquistadors
5:29
7. Portents in the Sky
5:08
8. Resolve
7:58
9. Ill Stand Up
4:59
10. Bereft
2:06
11. You Cant Hold Me Down
3:23
12. Children of the Sun
9:32
13. Home Goin Time
3:04
14. Azemmour
6:12

About Esteban

A multi-media production combining music with dialogue, images and projected text, Esteban & The Children of the Sun was a multi-genre collaboration between composer, musician, and educator, John Rapson; composer/musicians Daniel “Nielo” Gaglione; Iowa City blues musician and songwriter, Kevin Burt; and Denver-based flamenco guitarist and composer, Miguel Espinoza. Writer and spoken-word artist, Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey, offered contemporary insights and reflections through a series of dialogues interspersed with the Rapson-orchestrated tunes and the improvisatory contributions of Mektoub Arkestra. 

Esteban & The Children of the Sun invited the audience to sonically explore Esteban’s travels from his birthplace in early 16th-century Morocco to enslaved servitude in Spain, a transatlantic journey as part of the 1527 Narváez expedition to Florida, and his eventual multiyear crossing of the American southwest as one of only four survivors from Narváez’s failed attempt to colonize the Gulf coast. 

Combining imagery with music from multiple times, styles, and cultures, Estaban is a testament to Rapson’s practice of what he called “communal composition.” It also speaks to his ability to locate echoes in history with current issues. As Eric Neel wrote in his liner notes: “John was drawn to the story because its recovery and retelling might enrich our understanding of the story of America, in all its imperfect collaborative origins and experiments.”

Esteban was performed at The Englert Theatre on October 3, 2021, with Dave Hagedorn filling the role of conductor in his friend’s absence. Thirteen musicians filled the stage for a sold out show that was the theatre’s first major event following the outbreak of Covid-19. The performance was filmed and the recording is available to purchase.

Prior to Rapson’s death, he and the musicians recorded Esteban, which can be found on Spotify, Apple Music, and CD Baby. A full video recording is also available.

Press

Little Village: John Rapson’s final work to premiere at Englert Theatre

“Over and over we forget what being American means,” Kathryn Schulz writes in a 2016 New Yorker essay about Zarif Khan, an immigrant to the U.S. in 1907 from the mountains of Afghanistan who built a tamale empire in Wyoming — yes, a tamale empire. Freely based on Schulz’s essay, UI jazz professor John Rapson’s new multimedia suite Hot Tamale Louie will be performed at the Iowa City Jazz Festival on June 29 at 9 p.m. on the main stage. It’s a stunning reminder of what being an American means in all its weirdness, stupidity and glory…

Read More

Obermann Center: John Rapson’s Communal Composition: Esteban and the Children of the Sun

Sometime between chemo and radiation, John Rapson was struck by inspiration. It came in the form of a New Yorker article. The long piece, “Citizen Khan” by Kathryn Schulz, is as meandering and rich as its subject: Zarif Khan. After reading the article last June, Rapson, a jazz professor in the School of Music, immediately knew that he’d found the subject for a new piece. Not only would it include jazz compositions, but it would be a vehicle for connecting the music of two of Rapson’s friends, one a troubadour of western ballads, and the other a player of the mandole, a North African instrument…

Read More