Composition
by Hermann Bühler
for the Dance Project "Yubarta"
Yubarta
Dance Project by
Alejandro Mojita
Mexico 2004
Living near the alpes in the heart of Europe I don't
have many experiences concerned with whales. But I was deeply impressed
by the CD "Songs of the Humpback Whale" featuring recordings
of Roger Payne from 1970. I also read some studies that were interpreting
the songs as signals and communication between the whales. The deep
sea suddenly appeared as a world of sound and active live.
In the project
"Yubarta" I play saxophone solos for the wonderful pieces
of Alejandro Mojita. To inspire the collaboration Alejandro Mojita
has sent me through internet field recordings of Yubarta whales, recorded
near La Paz in Baja California. It is a long strechted soundscape,
a undersea walk following the Yubartas. As an improvising artist I
react on momentarely happening incidences around me by producing sounds.
In a state of awareness and quick reaction I tune myself to a particular
sonar field - to recordings or to the playing of fellow musicians
- by playing my instrument. The whale songs were a challenge to understand
the phenomena of whale songs from an aesthetic point of view. As we
and the whales are part of nature, I think that we both have a certain
common ground that cannot described through words. On an enigmatic
field of sound the whales might communicate with us. As we certainly
are being percieved by them we might even be a subject of their songs.
Alejandro Mojita
invited me to contribute a piece of my own reflecting my personal
encounter with the Yubarta soundscape. I wanted to combine my improvisations
with a imaginative sound world of a whale diving into the deep sea.
So I called my piece "Deep Dive". I chose the bass clarinet
for my improvisations. The bass clarinet is basically a big pipe and
by playing low tones I can produce a vaste variety of natural overtones.
The whale sounds are based on the natural overtone scale as well.
I played along the repetitive rhythms, sounds and movements of the
Yubarta songs and recorded an improvised 45-minutes-set for bass clarinet
solo. From these recordings I took a short section, starting by creating
overtones, fading the sounds to little squeaks and returning with
an energetic coda. I surrounded the bass clarinet by ambiguous layers
of string sounds, accompanyed by a drum, symbolizing the heart of
the whale. This minimal acoustic carpet takes slowly over the bass
clarinet, leaving space to a wall of sound, symbol for the dangerous
world of the deep sea - maybe the last unknown place beyond a human
approach. The return of the bass clarinet in the coda could be compared
to the whale's fin that suddenly rips the surface of the sea.
