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Mobile 2016 Shadow Play (2016)

for open-hole bass flute and electronics

Duration: variable ca. 9’

Premiere: Shanna Pranaitis, Ear Taxi Festival, Chicago, October 2016

Commissioned by the Ear Taxi Festival and Shanna Pranaitis (Gutierrez)

Published by Tetractys

The Balinese word associated with shadow puppets, wayang, is difficult to translate, but hints at the idea that all art is a shadow of life. MOBILE 2016 is built around two concepts: the dramatic structure of ancient shadow plays, and sounds from Dante Alighieri’s Inferno. Shadow plays often create situations revolving around a few words and the misunderstandings or changes in meaning that occur as different characters utter them.  Here, the words are taken from Dante by sampling the Inferno for cantos containing the word "ombra" – shadow. The bass flute and electronics are both actors and shadows in this play: their “words” at once generate the surface and stand behind all the sounds in this mobile. Commissioned by the Ear Taxi Festival (Chicago, 2016) for Shanna Pranaitis, Shadow Play was written for the recently created instrument by Eva Kingma.

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