CHINITA DEL DESIERTO (2023)

This work is inspired by the Fiesta de La Tirana, a carnival to worship the Virgin of Carmel that happens every July in northern Chile. This festivity takes place in the town of La Tirana, which, despite having less than a thousand inhabitants, each year brings together hundreds of thousands of visitors who come to the Plateau of the Tamarugal to participate in the celebrations.

The Fiesta de La Tirana is an important living manifestation of the folk religion of the peoples of the Andes and of the mestizo culture on the American continent. It converges the traditions of Christianity, Aymara, and Inca culture, among others.

To write this piece, I started from the premise that the Andean folk religion carnivals are masterpieces of South American polyphony. This is why the main reference that I used in my compositional process was the Fiesta de La Tirana itself, instead of works belonging to what is usually called the ‘universal repertoire’. In this way, all the elements present in the score (structure, instrumentation, melody, harmony, rhythm, and performative actions) come from the Fiesta de La Tirana. For this reason, some of the creative decisions present in Chinita del desierto aim to create a sound experience even above conducting a musical discourse.

This work is an effort to approach the religious universe of the Andes, and this miracle that happens year after year in the heart of the Atacama Desert, the driest place in the world.