Winner of IFCM International Choral Composition Competition
Version in English

From our vantage point in an age of science, I am in awe of the stories which sought to explain the mysteries of our world. The Kadiweu tribe's myth describing the origin of the colors of birds is full of magical realism, complete with talking animals and the blood of a martyred child. Eduardo Galeano has written an evocative encapsulation of this story, and the music plays on its mystery. The piece wanders without a true key center, and when the harmony finds a pocket of tonality, it skates off again, searching elsewhere.

First performed by La Cantoria de la Merced, August 2011, Puerto Madryn

Text excerpted from MEMORY OF FIRE: GENESIS by Eduardo Galeano. Copyright © 1982 by Eduardo Galeano. Translation copyright © 1985 by Cedric Belfrage. Published by Nation Books, and in Spanish by Siglo XXI Editores, México. By permission of Susan Bergholz Literary Services, New York, NY and Lamy, NM. All rights reserved.