Label: Buh Records

重鎮の新録!!自国ペルーの埋もれたアヴァン録音を復刻するBuh Records。ここのアーカイヴシリーズに登場、70年代からパーカッション奏者として活動し、同シリーズで発掘されたArturo Ruiz Del Pozoとバンドを組み、ソロでも精力的に活動していた実験界の重要人物Manongo Mujica。ホルヘ・ルイス・ボルヘスの「円環の廃墟」の再読をキッカケに制作した、ペルー沿岸の砂漠の美学を表現した新作[Ritual sonoro para ruinas circulares]。瞑想/民族音楽、前衛ジャズ、即興の古典的な表現をモンタージュ的に配置、砂漠に対する独自のビジョン/サウンドスケープとして描いた傑作。







Based on the rereading of the famous tale by Jorge Luis Borges “The Circular Ruins”, the Peruvian composer, percussionist and painter, Manongo Mujica, takes a new look at some of his great obsessions: the desert on the coast of Peru and the pre-Hispanic ceremonials found there. For years the impressions of these places have mobilized a very personal aesthetic, arising from understanding the desert as a space for inner listening, and the ceremonial centers or huacas, as the representation of a mystery.

The history of this album dates back to 1974, when a young Manongo Mujica and his close friend Rafael Hastings began a journey to the ruins of Sechín, in Casma, north of Lima. That trip resulted in Hastings' experimental film “El incondicionado desocultamiento, cuatro cortometrajes sobre el hecho de desaparecer” [The Unconditional Unconcealment, four short films about disappearing]. Since then, Mujica's trips to Casma were constant, amazed by other archaeological sites such as those of Chankillo and Las Aldas, 2,300 and 4,000 thousand years old, respectively, and whose functions included serving as astronomical observatories, an activity closely related to related to sowing and harvesting. Similarly, the archaeological complex of Túcume, located in Chiclayo, north of Lima, 2,700 years old, became another place of permanent visit.

These three sacred places have articulated a ceremonial route that Mujica has traveled for years, and that, after re-reading Borges' tale, he now understands it as a destination. In this tale the story is told of a man who came from the sea and who, like a demiurge, at the foot of a ruined temple, dreams of another man. Manongo Mujica here takes on the adventure of creating the music for a story that takes place in a parallel universe, where that man's dream occurs at the foot of a huaca.

“Ritual sonoro para ruinas circulares” [Sound ritual for circular ruins] is the synthesis, the sonorous and dreamed amalgam, and perhaps Manongo Mujica's definitive album about her particular vision of the soundscape and the desert. Starting from a heritage of meditative and ethnic music, avant-garde jazz and improvisation, we are introduced to a strange sound universe, based on the use of various drum and percussion rhythms (udu, jembe, gong, cajon, seeds, Chinese bells, etc.), field recordings and sound montages, dense reverberant, gloomy, immersive and hypnotic environments, which give way to a solitary and penetrating cello (performed by Fil Uno). Crescendos that bring out electroacoustic processes (performed by the Norwegian Terje Evensen), to weave panpipes, but also ritualistic voices (performed by Gabriela Ezeta) that outline the atmosphere as that of a great ceremony.

The experience of “Ritual sonoro para ruinas circulares” is also complemented and culminated with a film directed by Víctor Checa and Diego Cendra. Filmed in 16mm, it portrays Mujica's excursion to these three destinations (Las Aldas, Chankillo and Túcume) in the middle of a ritual that evokes the Borgesian tale.

The album features the participation of Cristóbal, Daniel and Gabriel Mujica, sons of Manongo. As well as with the participation of Fil Uno, Terje Evensen and Gabriela Ezeta. It was recorded by Juanjo Salazar at the La encía del Leopardo studio. Mastered by Mario Breuer. And with the cover art by Yerko Zlatar, based on photographs by Pauline Barberi. It is published by Buh Records in digital and in a vinyl edition, limited to 300 copies.