La torre de Chitor

for flute and electronics

"En la escalera de la Torre de la Victoria, habita desde el principio del tiempo el A Bao A Qu, sensible a los valores de las almas humanas. Vive en estado letárgico, en el primer escalón, y sólo goza de vida consciente cuando alguien sube la escalera. La vibración de la persona que se acerca le infunde vida, y una luz interior se insinúa en él. Al mismo tiempo, su cuerpo y su piel casi traslúcida empiezan a moverse. Cuando alguien asciende la escalera, el A Bao A Qu se coloca en los talones del visitante y sube prendiéndose del borde de los escalones curvos y gastados por los pies de generaciones de peregrinos. En cada escalón se intensifica su color, su forma se perfecciona y la luz que irradia es cada vez más brillante. Testimonio de su sensibilidad es el hecho de que sólo logra su forma perfecta en el último escalón, cuando el que sube es un ser evolucionado espiritualmente".

“On the stairway of the Tower of Victory there has lived since the beginning of time a being sensitive to the many shades of the human soul and known as the A Bao A Qu. It lies dormant, for the most part on the first step, until at the approach of a person some secret life is touched off in it, and deep within the creature an inner light begins to glow. (…) At each level the creature’s color becomes more intense, its shape approaches perfection, and the bluish form it gives off is more brilliant. But it achieves its ultimate form only at the topmost step, when the climber is a person who has attained Nirvana and whose acts cast no shadows”.

Fragment of A Bao A Qu, by Jorge Luis Borges.

La torre de Chitor is inspired by the short story A Bao A Qu by Jorge Luis Borges, included in The Book of Imaginary Beings (1968). The piece represents the performer’s ascension to the top of the Tower of Victory and the gradual coming into being of the A Bao A Qu. The electronics embody the being’s response to the performer. The music flows from the flute’s bottom register progressively to the upper register, from a single band width to multiple band widths, from the unison to the micro-tonal cluster. As these elements gradually build, there is an activation of a transcendental glow analogous to the process of the performer.

Performers: Recording version: Kelly Sulick, flute; Christopher Luna-Mega, electronics; Video version (New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival): Gianni Travalusci, flute; Christopher Luna-Mega, electronics. Other performances: Seoul International Computer Music Festival: Byung-Chul Oh, flute; Hyang-sook Song, electronics

Thanks to Maxwell Tfirn for his technical support and to Kelly Sullick for her dedication in the recording of the flute samples.