• With Andreu Bover during the recording of the work

174-Water memory (Show)

Water language.

  • Work
    • 174
  • Name
    • Water memory (Show)
  • City and date
    • Banyoles, 2003
  • Duration
    • 40'
  • Instrumentation
    • flute, percussions, alto singer, violoncello and piano (original) - voice and string quartet (suite)
  • Parts
    • 1) Prelude 2) Water memory 3) In the shelter 4) The factory 5) Letter to the south 6) Memories 7) Your eyes 8) Everything changes
  • Texts
    • Josep Benítez
  • Text language
    • Catalan
  • Cd
    • Water memory (2003)
  • Premiere
    • Salt, Municipal Theater March 1, 2003 Flute: Esteve Zulet Voice: Glòria Garcés Cello: Daniel Regincós Percussions: Cidon Trindade Piano: Paco Viciana
  • Premiere (adaptation)
    • Suite: Salt, Municipal Theater March 3, 2013 Voice: Maite Mer/String Quartet

Each Third of March the town of Salt (Girona) celebrates a curious date: it's independance from Girona. You read that right, as the third of March of 1983 the town of Salt was constituted again after it was annexed by force to Girona by Franco to create what they called Great Girona.

This means in this town, every 3rd of March is celebrated for decades without any kind of complex its independence, and awards are given each year to different entities or persons, who during that year did something important for the town, and celebrate an award ceremony in the Municipal Theater.

Besides, this town has had always a close relationship with textile industry helped by an enterprise that worked for 150 years, I reffering to Coma-Cros. Now the industrial building is a cultural factory, and inside its plenty halls of mashines and work until end of XX century, now we find libraries, museums, university studies or auditoriums. 

To create this factory in Salt mid of XIX century they took advantage of a drain constructed in XI century in this town, the Monar drain, or popularly known as "El Rec"  by the people of Salt. So the relationship with water of this town created even a Water Museum, currently existing inside the cultural factory of Coma-Cros.

An here is where I come in, because in 2003 they celebrated 20 years of independence os Salt, and form the Water Museum and the City Hall of Salt was born this "Water Memory", a travel by the history of Salt using water as a link.

Andreu Bover, at that time director of Museu de l'Aigua, contacted me and Josep Benítez "Beni" of the local theater company "La Perduda" to start working in this show. Then, "Beni" created the magnificent texts that appear in the show, and afterwards I created the music. Later we added the photos from Pep Armengol and so we created this multimedia show, with five musicians on stage, two actors and a big screen who presided over all.

The summary text we used to explain the show was as follows:

Water memory is like a gentle look back, with blurred... curious eyes. What is it talking about? It talks about time, water, the fragile memory of pain, love to the earth, war, about outsiders and insiders, fucking jobbittersweet memories and about everything changes irredeemably while we also change inevitably. What do they have in common two textile workers, an andalusian woman, an Argentinian, a Maghrebi, an estate agent and a man remembering? They all live in this town. What do 5 musicians and 2 actors on a stage? A choreography about life in this town. And water? Water always twisty and present has marked us because it gives light, purifies, gives strenght, drowns and sometimes it cleans from the deepest memories and wounds.

I copy one of the texts from Josep Benítez used in this show, concretely the one that defines the concept of diversity and pertinence, nº8 "Everything changes": 

 
Nor all white or all black, of all colors, better.
Your gypsy rumba
Your Japanese motorcycle
Your Yankee hamburger
Your Jewish Christ
Nor all white or all black,
Of all colors, better.
Your black virgen,
Your greek democracy
Your Arabian numbers
Your latin alphabet
Nor all white or all black, of all colors, better.
You Italian pizza
Your Chinese noodles
Your Russian salad
Your mother, a woman.
Nor all white or all black, of all colors, better.
Your grandpa, an old man
Your neighbour, a disabled
Your brother, a gay
Your friend, the city
Your planet, people
Your country, the world
And you dare say that your neighbor is foreign?
 

 

Work included in the shows:

 

Water memory (40'): 

1) Prelude (2'27)

   Download
 
 
 
2) Water memory (4'42)
   Download
 
 
 
3) In the shelter (9'03)
   Download
 
 
 
4) The factory (3'45)
   Download
 
 
 
5) Letter to the south  (7'21)
   Download
 
 
 
6) Memories (8'56)
   Download
 
 
 
7) Your eyes (2'46)
   Download
 
 
 
8) Everything changes (4'27)
   Download
 
 
 
  • Flute: Esteve Zulet
  • Cello: Daniel Regincós 
  • Solist voice: Glòria Garcés
  • Drums and percussions: Cidon Trindade
  • Piano: Paco Viciana
 
 
Score in pdf:
 
   
 
 

Credits:

  • Coordination: Andreu Bover
  • Photomontage: Dr. Pep Armengol
  • Dramaturgy and direction: J. B. Beni
  • Actors: Cía. de Teatre “La Perduda” (Carme Cabezas and Xavier Fàbrega)
  • Stage space and lighting: Ramon Bover “Món”
  • Music, instrumentation, musical production and piano: Paco Viciana 

Musicians:

  • Flute: Esteve Zulet
  • Cello: Daniel Regincós 
  • Solist voice: Glòria Garcés
  • Drums and percussions: Cidon Trindade
  • Piano: Paco Viciana
 
  • Sound tecnician: Toni París
  • Technical assistant: Carles Xirgo
  • Recorded, mixed and masterized in Studio 44.1 of Aiguaviva 2002

Subsidized show by Salt's City Hall.

 

Later I did a suite of the work for solist voice and string quartet:

Suite (10'17):

   Download

 

Score in pdf (Suite):

 

 

And a version for female vocal group, violin and piano of the part  Nr. 7 of the show called "Your eyes".

Additional information