Temes nevinbür

Notice

The work is part of a cycle of four pieces using the same magnetic tape as a kind of “cantus firmus” (Agiba for solo tape, Korwar for harpsichord and tape, and Rambaramb for solo piano, orchestra and tape). The titles are borrowed from New Guinea and the New Hebrides. In these regions, a kind of reliquary exists, where a human skull, reworked with colored pastes, is inserted into a sculpted object, cane or statue. This inseparable union of a natural object and an artistic work corresponds to an approach that China has often practised, but which Europe forgot several centuries ago. Temes Nevinbür illustrates it in his own way: the magnetic tape sequences raw sounds (South African Xhosa language, animals, elements), which the instruments underline and complete. Rigorous synchronization is achieved by transcribing these recorded sounds onto a meticulously notated score. In this way, technology is used not to deny nature, but to help manifest the music hidden within it.