Emonaldia - Tiempo De Dar (Hamaika - 12)

Emonaldia - Tiempo De Dar (Hamaika)

I think Emonaldia is the title of the group while Tiempo De Dar ("Time To Give") is the title of the record, but I'm not sure. Anyway, this is composed and performed by Oier I.A. and Loty Negarty and is the 12th reference on the great Hamaika label (http://www.gatza.org/hamaika.html

This is a composition for various domestic devices including balloons, aspirins, piano, mobile-phone, bottles, camera, radio cassette, plastic bag and more. The sound sources are distributed according to this time-structure: 7 parts of 3 minutes, 7 parts of 1 minute, executed alternatively and one final part of 2 minutes.

The list of devices reminded me a little bit of Otomo Yoshihide's 16-piece Portable Orchestra, playing only home appliances (radio, shaver, camera, food mixer, etc.) However, the comparison ends there, because the atmosphere of this recording is very different, and it takes a different take on the relationship between improvisation and composition.

This is clear from the very interesting liner notes by Loty Negarty, which explain how this record is connected to the Basque tradition of the Txalaparta:

'(...) one of the performers improvises freely (Herrera) over the rythmic and stable structure of the other (Ttakuna). So the former is following something like a foreseeable structure while the latter is moving freely without any stable rythm.'

This tradition is built upon to create a situation between the expected and the unexpected, or composition and improvisation. In this respect, I guess Tiempo De Dar can be called a Situationist record.

So how does it sound ? It sounds great. Probably because of the choice of instrumentation, I was reminded of a magician performing a trick, but instead of rabbits, he would make sounds appear and disappear. Is it really magic (= free improvisation) ? Well, you know there's a trick (= composition) !

The record ends with the sound of a girl laughing, then clapping, which is a good end for such a joyful record.

Here's a link to the score: http://www.gatza.org/hamaika12.html

cheers !