Antología 1: Obras para la Orquesta Experimental de Instrumentos Nativos
Just the most incredible archival record we’ve heard this year - 90 minutes of completely elevated works, 1985-2015, from Bolivia’s Cergio Prudencio and his compositions for traditional instruments from the Andean highlands, like some lost Mica Levi-arranged suite of orchestrations, all bent flutes x quiet-loud dynamics...
What might an orchestra sound like if it were made up of completely different instruments, like the siku, a traditional Andean two-row panpipe, the tarka, a wooden Andean blockflute, the mohoceño, a duct flute, the pinkillo, a bamboo or bone pipe, and Bolivian percussion like the double-headed wankara and the seed shaker? It's this question that Cergio Prudencio, a teacher, researcher and composer, answered when he formed the Orquesta Experimental de Instrumentos Nativos back in 1980. He was motivated by the structural principles that govern Aymara music - the interplay between two musicians; the formation of large ensembles with amplification; and community strength. These notions regulate each of Prudencio's compositions, and although the pieces included here stretch across three decades, we get to hear the ensemble's genesis on 1980's 'La ciudad'. Here, Prudencio walks us through the Andean highlands, with groups of sikus played in peculiarly-tuned bursts alongside slow, rousing drum hits.
He starts by introducing us to the sound slowly, the breathy woodwind blasts forming into whirling, pad-like harmonies that are interrupted by lively high-pitched wails. Soon, Prudencio veers leftward, prompting his orchestra to skew each sound into near chaos, creating a cloud of shrieks and wails that are as unnerving as Ligeti's influential micropolyphony work. When the cacophony subsides, Prudencio teases out the texture of each sound and highlights harmonies - concocted from sikus played in unison - to form a sound that’s pretty much unprecedented for those of us outside the Andes.
It's hardly surprising that Prudencio ended up being an in-demand film composer; the anthology's stunning 20-minute opening piece 'Cantos insurgentes' is assembled from material Prudencio wrote for 2012's 'Insurgentes', a historical feature from revolutionary Bolivian director Jorge Sanjinés, one of his regular collaborators. Here, he escorts us through Bolivia's history of indigenous insurgency, using his orchestra to create tension and release with thickets of woody percussion, flutes and nervous, metallic clangs. It's unashamedly visual music that plays with innovative dynamics, dipping into silence before chanted and sung vocals break the quiet, erupting with reverberating shakes from the instrumentation.
In our opinion completely gamechanging, prescient material - a huge recommendation if you’re into Mica Levi, Debit's 'The Long Count’, or György Ligeti.
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Just the most incredible archival record we’ve heard this year - 90 minutes of completely elevated works, 1985-2015, from Bolivia’s Cergio Prudencio and his compositions for traditional instruments from the Andean highlands, like some lost Mica Levi-arranged suite of orchestrations, all bent flutes x quiet-loud dynamics...
What might an orchestra sound like if it were made up of completely different instruments, like the siku, a traditional Andean two-row panpipe, the tarka, a wooden Andean blockflute, the mohoceño, a duct flute, the pinkillo, a bamboo or bone pipe, and Bolivian percussion like the double-headed wankara and the seed shaker? It's this question that Cergio Prudencio, a teacher, researcher and composer, answered when he formed the Orquesta Experimental de Instrumentos Nativos back in 1980. He was motivated by the structural principles that govern Aymara music - the interplay between two musicians; the formation of large ensembles with amplification; and community strength. These notions regulate each of Prudencio's compositions, and although the pieces included here stretch across three decades, we get to hear the ensemble's genesis on 1980's 'La ciudad'. Here, Prudencio walks us through the Andean highlands, with groups of sikus played in peculiarly-tuned bursts alongside slow, rousing drum hits.
He starts by introducing us to the sound slowly, the breathy woodwind blasts forming into whirling, pad-like harmonies that are interrupted by lively high-pitched wails. Soon, Prudencio veers leftward, prompting his orchestra to skew each sound into near chaos, creating a cloud of shrieks and wails that are as unnerving as Ligeti's influential micropolyphony work. When the cacophony subsides, Prudencio teases out the texture of each sound and highlights harmonies - concocted from sikus played in unison - to form a sound that’s pretty much unprecedented for those of us outside the Andes.
It's hardly surprising that Prudencio ended up being an in-demand film composer; the anthology's stunning 20-minute opening piece 'Cantos insurgentes' is assembled from material Prudencio wrote for 2012's 'Insurgentes', a historical feature from revolutionary Bolivian director Jorge Sanjinés, one of his regular collaborators. Here, he escorts us through Bolivia's history of indigenous insurgency, using his orchestra to create tension and release with thickets of woody percussion, flutes and nervous, metallic clangs. It's unashamedly visual music that plays with innovative dynamics, dipping into silence before chanted and sung vocals break the quiet, erupting with reverberating shakes from the instrumentation.
In our opinion completely gamechanging, prescient material - a huge recommendation if you’re into Mica Levi, Debit's 'The Long Count’, or György Ligeti.
Just the most incredible archival record we’ve heard this year - 90 minutes of completely elevated works, 1985-2015, from Bolivia’s Cergio Prudencio and his compositions for traditional instruments from the Andean highlands, like some lost Mica Levi-arranged suite of orchestrations, all bent flutes x quiet-loud dynamics...
What might an orchestra sound like if it were made up of completely different instruments, like the siku, a traditional Andean two-row panpipe, the tarka, a wooden Andean blockflute, the mohoceño, a duct flute, the pinkillo, a bamboo or bone pipe, and Bolivian percussion like the double-headed wankara and the seed shaker? It's this question that Cergio Prudencio, a teacher, researcher and composer, answered when he formed the Orquesta Experimental de Instrumentos Nativos back in 1980. He was motivated by the structural principles that govern Aymara music - the interplay between two musicians; the formation of large ensembles with amplification; and community strength. These notions regulate each of Prudencio's compositions, and although the pieces included here stretch across three decades, we get to hear the ensemble's genesis on 1980's 'La ciudad'. Here, Prudencio walks us through the Andean highlands, with groups of sikus played in peculiarly-tuned bursts alongside slow, rousing drum hits.
He starts by introducing us to the sound slowly, the breathy woodwind blasts forming into whirling, pad-like harmonies that are interrupted by lively high-pitched wails. Soon, Prudencio veers leftward, prompting his orchestra to skew each sound into near chaos, creating a cloud of shrieks and wails that are as unnerving as Ligeti's influential micropolyphony work. When the cacophony subsides, Prudencio teases out the texture of each sound and highlights harmonies - concocted from sikus played in unison - to form a sound that’s pretty much unprecedented for those of us outside the Andes.
It's hardly surprising that Prudencio ended up being an in-demand film composer; the anthology's stunning 20-minute opening piece 'Cantos insurgentes' is assembled from material Prudencio wrote for 2012's 'Insurgentes', a historical feature from revolutionary Bolivian director Jorge Sanjinés, one of his regular collaborators. Here, he escorts us through Bolivia's history of indigenous insurgency, using his orchestra to create tension and release with thickets of woody percussion, flutes and nervous, metallic clangs. It's unashamedly visual music that plays with innovative dynamics, dipping into silence before chanted and sung vocals break the quiet, erupting with reverberating shakes from the instrumentation.
In our opinion completely gamechanging, prescient material - a huge recommendation if you’re into Mica Levi, Debit's 'The Long Count’, or György Ligeti.
Just the most incredible archival record we’ve heard this year - 90 minutes of completely elevated works, 1985-2015, from Bolivia’s Cergio Prudencio and his compositions for traditional instruments from the Andean highlands, like some lost Mica Levi-arranged suite of orchestrations, all bent flutes x quiet-loud dynamics...
What might an orchestra sound like if it were made up of completely different instruments, like the siku, a traditional Andean two-row panpipe, the tarka, a wooden Andean blockflute, the mohoceño, a duct flute, the pinkillo, a bamboo or bone pipe, and Bolivian percussion like the double-headed wankara and the seed shaker? It's this question that Cergio Prudencio, a teacher, researcher and composer, answered when he formed the Orquesta Experimental de Instrumentos Nativos back in 1980. He was motivated by the structural principles that govern Aymara music - the interplay between two musicians; the formation of large ensembles with amplification; and community strength. These notions regulate each of Prudencio's compositions, and although the pieces included here stretch across three decades, we get to hear the ensemble's genesis on 1980's 'La ciudad'. Here, Prudencio walks us through the Andean highlands, with groups of sikus played in peculiarly-tuned bursts alongside slow, rousing drum hits.
He starts by introducing us to the sound slowly, the breathy woodwind blasts forming into whirling, pad-like harmonies that are interrupted by lively high-pitched wails. Soon, Prudencio veers leftward, prompting his orchestra to skew each sound into near chaos, creating a cloud of shrieks and wails that are as unnerving as Ligeti's influential micropolyphony work. When the cacophony subsides, Prudencio teases out the texture of each sound and highlights harmonies - concocted from sikus played in unison - to form a sound that’s pretty much unprecedented for those of us outside the Andes.
It's hardly surprising that Prudencio ended up being an in-demand film composer; the anthology's stunning 20-minute opening piece 'Cantos insurgentes' is assembled from material Prudencio wrote for 2012's 'Insurgentes', a historical feature from revolutionary Bolivian director Jorge Sanjinés, one of his regular collaborators. Here, he escorts us through Bolivia's history of indigenous insurgency, using his orchestra to create tension and release with thickets of woody percussion, flutes and nervous, metallic clangs. It's unashamedly visual music that plays with innovative dynamics, dipping into silence before chanted and sung vocals break the quiet, erupting with reverberating shakes from the instrumentation.
In our opinion completely gamechanging, prescient material - a huge recommendation if you’re into Mica Levi, Debit's 'The Long Count’, or György Ligeti.
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Deluxe 2LP set, edition of 300 copies, comes with an insert of liner notes by Cergio Prudencio and archival photographs, plus a download dropped to your account. Mastered by Gustavo Navarrete. Art and design by Gonzalo de Montreuil.
Just the most incredible archival record we’ve heard this year - 90 minutes of completely elevated works, 1985-2015, from Bolivia’s Cergio Prudencio and his compositions for traditional instruments from the Andean highlands, like some lost Mica Levi-arranged suite of orchestrations, all bent flutes x quiet-loud dynamics...
What might an orchestra sound like if it were made up of completely different instruments, like the siku, a traditional Andean two-row panpipe, the tarka, a wooden Andean blockflute, the mohoceño, a duct flute, the pinkillo, a bamboo or bone pipe, and Bolivian percussion like the double-headed wankara and the seed shaker? It's this question that Cergio Prudencio, a teacher, researcher and composer, answered when he formed the Orquesta Experimental de Instrumentos Nativos back in 1980. He was motivated by the structural principles that govern Aymara music - the interplay between two musicians; the formation of large ensembles with amplification; and community strength. These notions regulate each of Prudencio's compositions, and although the pieces included here stretch across three decades, we get to hear the ensemble's genesis on 1980's 'La ciudad'. Here, Prudencio walks us through the Andean highlands, with groups of sikus played in peculiarly-tuned bursts alongside slow, rousing drum hits.
He starts by introducing us to the sound slowly, the breathy woodwind blasts forming into whirling, pad-like harmonies that are interrupted by lively high-pitched wails. Soon, Prudencio veers leftward, prompting his orchestra to skew each sound into near chaos, creating a cloud of shrieks and wails that are as unnerving as Ligeti's influential micropolyphony work. When the cacophony subsides, Prudencio teases out the texture of each sound and highlights harmonies - concocted from sikus played in unison - to form a sound that’s pretty much unprecedented for those of us outside the Andes.
It's hardly surprising that Prudencio ended up being an in-demand film composer; the anthology's stunning 20-minute opening piece 'Cantos insurgentes' is assembled from material Prudencio wrote for 2012's 'Insurgentes', a historical feature from revolutionary Bolivian director Jorge Sanjinés, one of his regular collaborators. Here, he escorts us through Bolivia's history of indigenous insurgency, using his orchestra to create tension and release with thickets of woody percussion, flutes and nervous, metallic clangs. It's unashamedly visual music that plays with innovative dynamics, dipping into silence before chanted and sung vocals break the quiet, erupting with reverberating shakes from the instrumentation.
In our opinion completely gamechanging, prescient material - a huge recommendation if you’re into Mica Levi, Debit's 'The Long Count’, or György Ligeti.