El Corte de un Árbol (2019)
Medium Multichannel sound composition, field recording, performance & drawing
Materials Piezos, microphones, electronics, 8-speakers, tree trunk & fallen leaves
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Description
Sacha Kuchuy, which means ‘the cutting of a tree’ in Quechua, is a ceremony practiced in
Ayacucho, Peru. During this ceremony, members of the community mark with cloths a specific tree to be cut down for the use of the community. This ceremony serves as a lamentation for the tree and a celebration for its effective use in the
community. El Corte de un Árbol is a sound piece and an ode to El Festival de Ayacucho and the research done by ethnomusicologist Chalena Vasquez. It is comprised of three modular synthesis performances with live processing recorded in the forest of Lynn, Massachusetts. This performance is a recreation of Sacha Kuchuy from a distant land. The cloths used to mark the tree transformed into contact microphones and field recorders and the cutting transformed into a performance with the trees through a modular synthesizer. This configuration was compiled into a multichannel sound piece and presented in the CT::Swam at the Fridman Gallery in Dec. 2019.
