for speaking voice and percussion (1 or 2 performers)
One of the nice things about being a composer in the internet age is that every so often someone just runs across some of your music and is interested in performing it. Percussionist John Lane was looking for repertory for trumpet and percussion duo and came across a piece of mine, and so got in touch. He found some of my music intriguing and eventually interviewed me for his contemporary music podcast and performed one of my pieces with his percussion ensemble at Sam Houston State University.
One of his interests is music which features a percussionist who also speaks, chants and otherwise delivers a text. A composer himself, he has written several pieces for this genre and also commissions other composers to write for him. He asked if I would be interested in writing something for him, and of course, I was. After some back-and-forth we settled on these ritualistic poems by Salvadoran writer Pedro Geoffroy Rivas. Rivas, although not well known outside of El Salvador, was probably that country’s premiere man of letters in the 20th Century. He was also an anthropologist and much of his work deals with pre-Hispanic themes.
At the start of my career, fresh out of college, I lived for several years in Latin America, playing in orchestras and teaching music. As I was preparing to leave El Salvador in 1978 to take a job in Mexico, a friend of mine presented me with a couple of books of Rivas’ poetry as a going away present. I was immediately struck by the rhythmic energy of many of them and have wanted to set some of them to music ever since, and this finally seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so. They almost demand to be chanted aloud rather than read silently and I’ve always heard drumming in my mind’s ear when I read them.
Ritos Elementales has three parts, two short outer movements, which are fast throughout, and a middle movement, the emotional core of the work, which has slow outer sections flanking a faster middle section.
It is performed in Spanish, but I provide simple, literal translations of the texts.
| I. para dormir a una culebra chin chin tor sumba sumba sumba chin chin tor donde andás ta ma gas chin chin tor sumba sumba sumba chin chin tor allí estás ta ma gas chin chin tor sumba sumba sumba chin chin tor ya no comás ta ma gas chin chin tor sumba sumba sumba chin chin tor no te movás ta ma gas chin chin tor sumba sumba sumba chin chin tor dormirás ta ma gas chin chin tor sumba sumba sumba chin chin tor dor mi rás chin chin tor ta ma gas sumba sumba sumba dor mi rás sumba sumba sumba ta ma gas chin chin tor dor mi rás sumba sumba sumba dor mi rás dor mi rás mi rás rás ssssss sssssssssss sssssssssssss II. para enterrar a un muerto ya oye ya ya oye ya ohuaya oye ya que se abra la puerta de turquesa ya oye ya ya se marcha el que estuvo entre nosotros se va el que se vio en nuestros rostros nos deja el que anduvo a nuestra lado el que fue nuestra espejo el que vino a la vida como un canto el que se abrió como corola ohuaya oye ya queda su nombre aquí en la tierra su nombre verdadero que hasta hoy conocemos la gloria que le fue prestada ya oye ya alzad los estandartes de la despida vostotros los que con él hicíesteis reverencia y digamos que no perecerá su fama mientras recorre la región del misterio ohuaya oye ya en pintadas vasijas depositad su alimento llenad de chicha la sagrada cántara para que no desmaye para que no padezca sed en la llanura ya oye ya envolved su cuerpo con el manto amarillo que el nocturno jaguar le alumbre el camino con sus ojos de jade que el buho del presagio guíe sus pasos entre las piedras acechantes que la sagrada serpiente lo defienda del viento y d los hielos que llegue salvo a la casa de mictlantecuhtli ohuaya oye ya esperadlo at la mitad del día vosotras las mujeres que morísteis de parto dadle un atado de plumas para que merezca su alimento que pueda ver al sol que acompañe su marcha golpeando su escudo que cante y baile junto al árbol florido haciendo sonar los cascabeles que adornan sus tobillos ya oye ya te vas te fuiste ya viene a descarnarte el acrecentador de los hombres ohuaya oye ya ve y extiéndete ve y extiéndete espera el diá de la transformación ya oye ya que se cierre la puerta de turquesa ya oye ya ya oye ya ohuaya oye ya III. para matar a un ocelete ojo de la noche míralo nube desatada síguelo agua sin cauce páralo flecha de jade hiérelo míralo síguelo páralo hiérelo que muera ya que muera ya que muera ya ya | I. to put a serpent to sleep chin chin tor sumba sumba sumba chin chin tor where you go ta ma gas chin chin tor sumba sumba sumba chin chin tor there you are ta ma gas chin chin tor sumba sumba sumba chin chin tor you shall eat no more ta ma gas chin chin tor sumba sumba sumba chin chin tor you shall move no more ta ma gas chin chin tor sumba sumba sumba chin chin tor you shall sleep ta ma gas chin chin tor sumba sumba sumba chin chin tor you shall sleep chin chin tor ta ma gas sumba sumba sumba you shall sleep sumba sumba sumba ta ma gas chin chin tor you shall sleep sumba sumba sumba you shall sleep you shall sleep shall sleep sleep ssssss sssssssssss sssssssssssss II. to bury a dead man ya oye ya ya oye ya ohuaya oye ya let the turquoise gate open ya oye ya he who walked among us departs he who we saw in our faces is going he who walked at our side leaves us he who was our mirror he who came to life like a song he who bloomed like a flower ohuaya oye ya his name remains here on the earth his true name that we know to this day the glory that was loaned to him ya oye ya raise the banners of farewell ye who bowed with him and let us say his renown will not perish while he wanders the region of mystery ohuaya oye ya in painted vessels place his food fill the sacred pitcher with liquor so that he does not weaken so that he suffers not from thirst on the plain ya oye ya wrap his body with the yellow cloak may the night jaguar light his way with his eyes of jade may the foreknowing owl guide his steps through the spying stones may the sacred serpent defend him from the wind and snows may he arrive safely to the house of mictlantecuhtli ohuaya oye ya await him at midday ye women who died in childbirth give to him a bundle of feathers so that he might merit his food may he see the sun may he accompany his march beating his shield may he sing and dance next to the flowering tree sounding the bells which adorn his ankles ya oye ya you are leaving you have gone now comes the cultivator of men to strip your flesh ohuaya oye ha go and lie down go and lie down await the day of transformation ya oye ya let the turquoise gate close ya oye ya ya oye ya ohuaya oye ya III. to kill an ocelot eye of the night watch him untethered cloud follow him water without riverbed stop him arrow of jade wound him watch him follow him stop him wound hiim let him die now let him die now let him die now now |
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