TUG
Collective
Xochicalco (for Julio)
for electro-acoustic ensemble
Composed by: Gustavo Aguilar
Performed by: Gustavo Aguilar (teponaztli, flute, live electronics), Phil Curtis (live processing), Nina Eidsheim (voice), Anne LeBaron (prepared harp), Mary Oliver (viola)
In September 2005, my wife, Gaelyn, and I took a trip to Cuernavaca, México so that I could work with Julio Estrada, the great Mexican composer. During our visit, Julio and his wife, Velia, urged us to visit the ruins of Xochicalco, one of Central México’s most important pre-Hispanic commercial, cultural, and religious centers. Gaelyn and I spent a better part of a day walking around the grounds, with few companions other than the crows circling high atop the vast plateau, and the apparitions of a once thriving civilization. A few months later, back in the United States, I had a chance to take my ensemble, soNu, into the recording studio with Anne LeBaron and Mary Oliver. My experience at Xochicalco had left a deep impression on me, and I was curious how that impression might filter through the histories of others whose musicianship and sensitivity I respected.
Dedicated to Julio Estrada, Xochicalco joins others in my series of Imaginative Reaction Compositions.