Two spaces for the wind

"Two spaces for the wind" is inspired by the multiple sounds of the wind that emanate from nature, a metaphor that for this composition is transferred to three instruments that are the poetic source for the structure of this piece: the clarinet in Bb, the clarinet bass in Bb, and “gaitas”, aerophone musical instrument from the Colombian Caribbean coast, that are originally from the indigenous Kogui of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, in Colombia. The work proposes an approach between contemporary creation and the ancestral musical sounds of the indigenous Kogui of Colombia, based on the relationship with the sonorous and metaphorical richness of the wind, as a vital impulse of the life of all living beings on earth.

In the dialect of the indigenous Kogui the word "kuisi" means "gaita". In the music of the Colombian Caribbean coast "kuisi bunsi", it is the female gaita, that is in charge of performing a melodic interpretive role; while the "kuisi sigi" or male gaita, performs a heterophonic harmonic instrumental accompaniment. In this piece, both types of gaitas were used as an integral resource for the realization of the electronic sounds. The structure of the piece is essentially a transit through different sound textures that are fostered at particular moments by electronics, and enhanced by the immense possibilities of timbrical transformation that such a wonderful instrument as the clarinet possesses. This textural process of the piece takes place from within the sound universe of the gaita and clarinet, until finding the origin of its vital energy present in the acoustic and sound spaces that surround our existence in the world: the breathing of living beings, their growth, their energetic activity that we feel through our listening, and their cyclical rest that generates everything living. For this reason, Two spaces for the wind" is the expression of that vital energy gesture of inhalation-exhalation, in which all living beings participate in the deep breath of the earth, in which we all share the same air.

Performers: Splinter Tongue Clarinet Ensemble:

Andrea Tiffany (Bb soprano clarinet).

Cassie Kossmann (Bb soprano clarinet).

Kyle Kostenko (Bb bass clarinet).

Taylor Barlow (Bb bass clarinet).

Recording: Robin McLaughlin.