PROGRAM NOTES
“Hearth” explores the essential, often invisible work of carrying culture across generations. Our songs, celebrations, food, games, craft, spoken language - the things that give us a sense of home and belonging - have largely thrived over centuries thanks to the ingenuity and tenacity of women who remain anonymous to us. Here, we meet six composers encountering the gifts and burdens of this legacy while finding their own ways to carry a fire forward.
Aeryn Jade Santillan (b. 1990)
RECALL
Aeryn Jade Santillan is a composer with remarkable range, able to move between the worlds of the DIY punk scene and more traditional forms with movingly evocative results. AJ is a member of an experimental screamo quartet, Massa Nera, and the experimental mathcore duo, this place is actually the worst, and has been musically mentored by artists such as Gabriela Lena Frank, Julia Wolfe, Marcos Balter, and others. AJ has also been a fellow at internationally renowned festivals such as Bang on a Can Summer Institute, the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, and the Toronto Creative Music Lab.
Recall, a work for solo violin shimmering with transcendent beauty and laced with nostalgia, was written in 2020.
Hawa Kassé Diabaté (b. 1974)
TEGERE TULON*, ARR. JACOB GARCHIK
Tegere Tulon revisits the handclapping songs of Hawa Diabaté’s childhood, which were such formative experiences for her, and which are gradually dying out except in remote villages. Performed exclusively by girls outdoors in a circle, usually on moonlit nights, the handclapping songs are normally very short, consisting of one or two phrases repeated in call and response, often involving counting, each one with its own dance. Children make them up spontaneously, using the rhythms of language to generate musical rhythm, with playful movements, some individual, some coordinated by the whole circle.
Building on her own memories of the handclapping songs she used to do as a young girl in Kela, Hawa has created four new pieces in handclapping style, which she hopes will encourage Malians not to abandon this rich cultural heritage. The lyrics are humorous and poignant—they talk about the importance of family, the teasing relationship between kalime “cross-cousins” (a man’s children and his sister’s children are cross-cousins), a girl who loves dancing so much she falls into a well and then climbs out, and how long it takes to get to Funtukuru, her husband’s village, where she went to film handclapping.
I. Funtukuru
This song is made up of three short call and response songs whose lyrics are built around counting, which is a characteristic component of the tegere tulon tradition. It was inspired by a trip to film handclapping songs in Funtukuru, a village located deep in the rolling savannah countryside of western Mali, where Hawa’s husband, Demba Kouyaté, is from. Funtukuru is inhabited almost entirely by Mande jelis (griots, or hereditary musicians), and they carry on traditions that are mostly lost in the bigger towns and cities of western Mali, including tegere tulon.
The song plays on the name of the village, which is made up of two words in Maninka (the main language of the region). “Funtu” means “to arrive” and “kuru” means “hill”. Funtukuru is indeed surrounded by hills of big red boulders that rise sharply out of the earth. To get to Funtukuru, you drive northwest from Bamako, Mali’s capital along a pot-holed road for 170 kms, passing through the historic town of Kita—a place famous for its music—and then onwards down a dirt road for another 30 kms, past cotton fields and many small villages. It’s a long and dusty journey, along which our car had several breakdowns. So the song celebrates our arrival there in the late afternoon, where we were treated to some truly wonderful and creative handclapping dance-songs, which astonished even Hawa.
The rest of the song is about a tall girl called Marama who loves dancing so much that she falls into a well, but then somehow climbs out and carries on dancing; she is fearless, even in front of a host of men. This is Hawa’s playful reflection on the joy of handclapping songs. It is her way of encouraging girls—who are the ones that perform the tegere tulon—not to be put off by the stern gaze of male elders.
II. Dulen
Mali is a predominantly Muslim society, where a man can take up to four wives, according to the holy Quran. Children by different mothers are considered rivals, while children by the same mother are seen as having a harmonious relationship, known as badenya in Bamana, the main language of southern Mali.
Hawa is herself the daughter of a polygamous marriage, and a member of a vast extended family of griots, many of whom are recognised as some of the most important musicians of the 20th century and even further back into pre-colonial times. She is very aware of the importance of solidarity in families, which she evokes in this song through the example of badenya. An added factor in this that when a couple gets married, traditionally the bride goes to live with her husband’s family, and her in-laws do not always treat her as they would their own daughter. Hawa explains that in this, she exhorts the new husband through metaphor and flattery to treat his new wife as if part of his own kin. Without actually saying so, she compares the husband to the cool, protective shade of a tree—it is long-lasting and beneficial, and should be celebrated (yogobe ko). She then refers to him as ‘fine soap’—a cherished commodity in villages of the savannah of West Africa.
Musically, the structure of this song uses a kind of mirror image that is found in many of the oldest song styles in the region. The verse of these songs has four lines: ABCD. The solo voice takes A, the chorus responds with B, the soloist sings C and D. Then they swap roles: The Chorus sings line A, the soloist responds with B, and the chorus sings lines C and D.
With this mirrored structure, the young girls who are doing the handclapping songs learn to perform all the lines with equal confidence, and the texture is continually varied.
III. Kalime
Kalimè is a word in Maninka (Hawa’s mother tongue) that refers to a very specific type of first cousin, which in anthropological terms is known as “cross-cousin”. When a brother and sister each have children, those children are first cousins. But they are considered different from cousins who are related through two sisters or two brothers. In southern Mali, the kalimè relationship is accorded a special status which is demonstrated in particular ways that are played out humorously in the handclapping songs. This is the basis for Hawa’s third piece for the Kronos Quartet.
When a male kalimè cousin gets married, his female kalimè cousins are supposed to show in a light-hearted way just how well he has treated them and how much they hold him in esteem. At the celebratory party for the wedding, there is a specific kalimè dance they will perform. This consists of tying a scarf around their waists leaving a floppy bow in back, which they then wag or fan like a bird’s tail in rhythm to the music. At one point, they also fall on the floor and dance facing down, much to the delight of everyone present—this is meant to show that their male cousin has been so generous and hospitable that they have seriously overeaten, and have toppled over because their stomachs are so full.
These dances are performed with great amusement and gusto, and of course, the male kalimè cousin is then supposed to reward them with more food and other gifts. Thus, the special type of cross-cousin relationship is reinforced and played out for everyone to see. Hawa has composed this handclapping song to honour this wonderful tradition. She uses the evocative minor pentatonic scale of central Mali to do so.
IV. Wawani
Wawani is an onomatopoeic term in Maninka for the sound that people make when celebrating. Hawa describes this song as a ‘sewa tulunke”, a song for entertainment and enjoyment, specifically aimed at neighbours. It is in two parts. The first is about the importance of solidarity and understanding, whether between family members, friends or neighbours. The second is in praise of a particular type of person known as ‘soma’, who has special mystical powers and is wise, a kind of wizard, but also feared and misunderstood. In pre-colonial times, the term soma (sometimes translated as “sorcerer”) was often synonymous with kingship, since rulers were believed to have esoteric power. Hawa advises people not to reject such a person, since they have the gift of bringing good things to the world; she compares the soma to the Prophet Musa (Moses). The name Musa is considered so powerful, that it is normally referred to by the nickname Bala (porcupine).
-Program note for Tegere Tulon by Lucy Durán for Kronos Fifty for the Future.
Angélica Negrón (b. 1981)
MAREJADA
Angélica Negrón was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and studied at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, going on to graduate studies at New York University and doctoral studies at The Graduate Center (CUNY). She is a multi-instrumentalist who creates evocative soundscapes in her works by utilizing toys, accordions, and electronics. Audiences have heard Negrón’s works at the Kennedy Center, Ecstatic Music Festival, Bang on a Can Marathon, and at performances given by the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, ETHEL and many others. Negrón’s note on Marejada follows.
“Marejada is a piece written for Kronos Quartet inspired by the pixelated landscapes of artist Justin Favela and the desire to escape to a place that feels and sounds like home. The piece combines field recordings from the waves in Seven Seas Beach in Fajardo, and birds from La Jungla Beach in Guánica, both located in Puerto Rico, along with undulating gestures in the strings reminiscent of the sound of waves. I wanted to capture the feeling of joy and calmness I feel when I’m in Puerto Rico in these beautiful places while also expressing the complexity of the diaspora experience for those who like me cannot be physically present in those places and close to their friends and family most of the time.
When Kronos approached me in March 2020 to write a piece for them to rehearse and perform together during this difficult moment of social isolation, I wanted to create something playful and rhythmic yet flexible and malleable that would be fun to put together. Something that responded directly to the challenges during this time of performing music together while not being able to be together in the same room. But also, something that took into consideration the limitations of the video communications platforms and use those challenges as compositional material and creative impulse. The natural delay, the canceling of sound frequencies and the inability for everyone to fully play together at the same time and in perfect synchronization, are all challenges that I decided to embrace as unique elements that make this piece thrive even within the limitations of the medium.
Marejada is an invitation to sonically escape from your room and to actively imagine and immerse yourself in a different place and time.”
Wu Man (b. 1963)
TWO CHINESE PAINTINGS*
Wu Man is a renowned virtuoso of the pipa, a 2,000 year old lute-like traditional Chinese instrument. She has dynamically integrated ancient and modern through her passion for promoting and showcasing modern compositions for pipa by composers like Philip Glass, Tan Dun, Terry Riley, Bright Sheng, Chen Yi, and many others. She has performed as a soloist with the major symphony orchestras on multiple continents, and appeared in major summer festivals like Ravinia, Tanglewood, La Jolla Summerfest, and more. Man is a founding member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silkroad project, and has recorded over 40 albums that have been awarded or nominated for a Grammy Award. One of Man’s longest running associations has been with the Kronos Quartet. Her remarks on Two Chinese Paintings follow.
“After two decades of collaborating with the Kronos Quartet, I am finally beginning to understand Western string instruments. With the group’s encouragement and support, I was able to create these—my first works for string quartet.
Two Chinese Paintings is a two-movement suite which, taken with Glimpses of Muqam Chebiyat, resembles a set of portraits of traditional cultures from around China. In Chinese traditional music, instrumental pieces often have poetic titles to express their content and style. I decided to continue this tradition with this collection. The inspiration for these suites came from styles of traditional music in China familiar to me, including Uyghur Maqam of Xinjiang province, a pipa scale from the 9th century, and the Silk-and-Bamboo music, or teahouse music, from my hometown of Hangzhou.
‘Ancient Echo,’ the first movement of Two Chinese Paintings, is based on a scale found among the oldest tunes for pipa. The second movement, ‘Silk and Bamboo’ is a variation on the tune ‘Joyful Song’ (Huanlege) from the collection of Silk-and-Bamboo.
I feel quite grateful to be able to bring these old styles of traditional music into the repertoire of Western string ensembles. The left-hand portamento, or sliding, technique called for here is quite distinct from the types of expression found in Western music. I hope that audiences will come to better understand the richness and diversity of music from China through these stories.”
Jessie Montgomery (b. 1981)
BREAK AWAY
Jessie Montgomery was born into the thriving arts scene of 1980s Lower East Side, Manhattan to parents who were both artists (her mother in avant-garde theater, her father in jazz and film) and activists. She studied at the Juilliard School, and NYU, and has been associated with the Sphinx Organization in a variety of capacities since 1999. She is a recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Award from the ASCAP Foundation, and a dedicated chamber musician. Montgomery was previously a member of both the PUBLIQuartet and Catalyst Quartet. She is currently the Mead Composer-in-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Montgomery’s note on Break Away follows.
“Break Away was written for PUBLIQuartet (PQ) in 2013 for a premiere at the Music of Now festival at Symphony Space. The piece was born out of a series of improvisations that PQ was working on while in residency at the Banff Centre where we formed a suite of short pieces riffing on several different styles of music from hip-hop to electronica to twentieth century modern. Woven among some of my own chosen specific imagery, I adapted some of the techniques from that suite into this five-movement work.
The score calls on the quartet to both play with and “break away” from the score at various points, thereby attempting a seamless dialogue between the written score and the whims of the quartet, in which the piece takes on further transformation at each performance.
The first movement, Lilting, is an homage to Anton Webern with a focus on gestural dialogue. The second movement, Songbird, is an image of an individual’s voice trying to emerge against a harsh façade and includes the first improvised passages in the work. The third movement, Smoke, is loosely based on the form of a jazz tune of my own design. The fourth movement, Quick Pass, serves as a transition to the final movement Break Away, in which the quartet incorporates its most open improvised sections.”
Reena Esmail (b. 1983)
RAGAMALA
Reena Esmail is an Indian-America composer whose music spans and merges the traditions of each culture. While studying Hindustani music in India as a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, she began to recognize specific audience reactions to the intonation of a given raag (or raga, depending on northern or southern Indian terminology). This building block of Indian classical music is akin to Western modes in the sense that a raag is a prescribed set of notes, but it is far more sophisticated in the way it carries emotional content through techniques like denoting emphasis on certain pitches for effect, moods associated with times of day, etc.
Esmail’s comments on Ragamala follow:
“During the year I spent in India, I began to notice a beautiful thing that would happen at concerts. When the artist would announce the raag to be sung or played that evening, immediately, and almost subconsciously, many of the cognoscenti in the audience would begin humming the characteristic phrases or ‘pakads’ of that raag quietly to themselves, intoning with the drone that was already sounding on stage. It had a magical feeling – as if that raag was present in the air, and tiny wisps of it were already starting to precipitate into the audible world in anticipation of the performance. It felt like a connection between the audience and the performer, as they prepared themselves to enjoy what was to come. Each movement of this quartet opens in exactly the same way, and it is inspired by those quiet intonations.
After the opening phrases, each movement diverges into its own distinct character. The first movement is a Fantasie inspired by the beautiful raag Bihag which layers phrases over one another to create large shapes separated by the silence of pure drones. The second movement is a vivacious and rhythmic setting of a Malkauns taan, which to the western ear, always seems to be pulling to a dominant rather than a tonic. The third movement is in the contemplative Basant – a raag that signifies the season of spring in Hindustani music. And the fourth movement is in the complex and multi-faceted Jog, a single raag which seems to contain western notions of both ‘major’ and ‘minor’ within it.
In Hindustani music, the elaboration of a single raag can often take an hour. I didn’t mean for this piece to exhaust these raags, but rather provide little snapshots of particular features and characters of each raag that I find beautiful and special about each one.”
Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti (b. 1983)
KO’U INOA
Leilehua Lanzilotti, a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Music, is a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) composer and sound artist who explores the expansion of sound creation on traditional concert instruments to express “explorations of timbre.” She has written works for ensembles such as Roomful of Teeth, ETHEL, the Borderlands Ensemble, has performed on albums for Björk, Joan Osborne, Dai Fujikura, and David Lang, and studied at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Yale School of Music, and Manhattan School of Music.
Ko’u inoa is a work expressing longing for home, written when Lanzilotti was living in Germany. As Dr. Michael-Thomas Foumai notes in his reflections on the work, “ko’u inoa translates from ‘ōlelo Hawai’i to ‘my name is’ and frames a perspective and statement to absorb the meaning of identity.” The bariolage technique of writing, where the notes oscillate between an open string and a melody, couches the tune “Hawai’i’ Aloha,” a 19th century song that has become an anthem for the islands, with text that reads in part:
O Hawai’i, o sands of my birth
My native home
I rejoice in the blessings of heaven
O Hawai’i, aloha
*This piece was commissioned for Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire, a project of the Kronos Performing Arts Association. The score and parts are available for free online. kronosquartet.org.
Kathryn J. Allwine Bacasmot is a pianist/harpsichordist, musicologist, music and cultural critic, and freelance writer. A graduate of New England Conservatory, she writes program annotations for ensembles nationwide.
