Chamber Music Flute, Medium Voice, Percussion, Piano SKU: PR.PP349 Op....(+)
Chamber Music Flute,
Medium Voice, Percussion,
Piano
SKU:
PR.PP349
Op.
49. Composed by
Katherine Hoover. Sws.
Score and parts. With
Standard notation.
Papagena Press #PP349.
Published by Papagena
Press (PR.PP349).
UPC:
680160561889.
The
Central American Songs
were written on
commission from the
Fourth Festival of Women
Composers, for Festival
directors Sara Mantel,
mezzo-soprano, and Susan
Wheatley, piano. They
were premiered with Carl
Adams, flute, and Gary
Olmstead, percussion, at
Gorell Hall, Indiana
University of
Pennsylvania, on March
21, 1996. When I was
asked to write some songs
for this festival (Fourth
Festival of Women
Composers), my thoughts
turned to a most unusual
book titled 'IXOK AMAR *
GO' (subtitled; Central
American Woman's Poetry
for Peace), edited by Zoe
Anglesey. The book is
printed in Spanish and
English, with some poems,
and the title, in Mayan.
The title means; 'Women
Going Forward with Love,
not Bitterness Many of
the countries in Central
America have the
inherently unstable
situation of a large
population of 'peasants'
- largely poor and Native
American - and a very
small group of extremely
rich non-Indian
landowners. The latter
tends to control the
government and army as
well as the land and have
traditionally cultivated
close ties with the US
government. During the
1980' s, Nicaragua and El
Salvador experience
prolonged struggles that
stemmed from these harsh
disparities, and one is
currently active in
southern Mexico. In
Guatemala, the military
government has carried
out systematic actions
against the Mayans, a
peaceful, artistic
culture. These have
included forced removal
and massacres. Only in
the last few years has
the United States tried
to discourage these acts,
leaving many in the
region very bitter
indeed. (We still remain
the major supplier of
weapons to this brutal
regime.) The award of a
Nobel Peace Prize to a
Guatemalan Mayan woman,
Rigoberto Menchu, in 1992
focused international
attention on the
situation and helped curb
the atrocities. The poems
come directly from these
struggles for freedom and
integrity, and reflect
the lives of women caught
up in these events.
Movement I, The Woman of
the Huipil is based on
The Word by Celina
Garcia. Movement II,
Remedies is based on a
poem by Virginia Grutter
; translated by Janet
Rodney. Movement III,
Prayer for a son
disappeared is based on a
poem by Maria Perez Tzu ;
transcribed from Mayan
and translated by Ambar
Past. A huipil is a
colorful and intricately
embroidered vest that
Mayan women traditionally
wear. Until the current
repressive climate began
in the 1970' s, America,
or Amerigo were common
names in central America.
- K. Hoover  .