1st movement
1992 (21’38”)
Radioplay
For voice, guitar and flutes.

The composition “Karryon, Shoort” (the “Shoorte” are the active spirits of the gods that appear during the initiation rite called “Hain”) describes the life and the impending demise of the Selk’nam Indians of Tierra del Fuego (Argentina).

Milonga (2’26”)
The milonga frames the composition and tells the listener the story of this people. The milonga is a slow piece of singing in which the gaucho payador (impromptu poet) Nieves Cabrera accompanies himself on the guitar.

Cauquen del Fuego (9’27”)
The main part of “Shoort” is the bird composition “Cauquen del Fuego”. Birds played an important role in the lives of the Indians.

The Cauquenes, the geese and other birds fly out of the exploding ball of flame to escape the impending disaster that hangs over the Selk’nam. The birds are also imitated by the Yamana Indian Ramon Ernesto Leiva with flutes.

Kaisiya (6’21”)
The chant “Kaisiya” sung by the shaman Lola Kjepa is the centerpiece of the “fire geese”. Embedded in “Kaisiya”, the song about charming the whale, are small operatically modulated set pieces that are intended to evoke the European cultural invasion. The whale is used here as a symbol for the Selk’nam, namely extinction caused by human exploitation.

Milonga (3’24”)
Another thematic arc is drawn with the quotations of the half-Indian Segundo Arteaga, who speaks in a broken manner. This old man can hardly speak his own language anymore and only remembers his past and origin in a hazy way with sentences like “it is cold”.