Tibataje (From “Una Hora)

2009/2011 (35′46″)
Electro Instrumental Music

The “Risco de Tibataje” is an 8 km long and 1000 meter high rock face, which is located in the gulf of the smallest Canary Island El Hierro. It was recorded with three large drums differently positioned in front of the massif.
You can hear the “Bajada” rhythms, which, interpreted musically in various ways, are answered by Tibataje with reverb and echo. Tibataje resonates and sings his own song.

“Tibataje” aims at aggrandizing, clarifying, changing and uncovering the specific characteristics of the mountain using music as its means. The creative process confronted with the laws of nature and their sensory expressions are the leitmotif of this piece.

Center to the composition are rhythmic variations, used during a religious celebration taking place every four years, the “Bajada de la Virgen de los Reyes”. These rhythms are only played during the Bajada and are protected. Out of respect for this tradition, the recorded rhythms are an interpretation of the original ones. Three drummers react to each other, their own echo and the echo of the other instrumentalists. Tibataje resonates, answers and sings its own song. The composition tells the story of the landscape, like a sound polaroid, a sonic print of the surroundings.