Altar de Muertos

The tradition of the Day of the Dead festivities in Mexico is the source of inspiration for the creation of a work for string quartet whose ideas could reflect the internal search between the real and the magic, a duality always present in Mexican culture, from the past to this present.

Altar de Muertos is divided into four parts, each of these describe diverse moods, traditions and the spiritual worlds which shape to the global concept of death in Mexico, plus my own personal concept of death. First part: "Ofrenda." This music describes the visit of four spirits to the altar, each one singing his/her own ofrenda (offering) towards the end of this movement, the four spirits converge in a single chant to as the end of a funeral procession.

Second part: "Mictlan." Pre-Hispanic Culture conceived death as a cycle in constant movement; A cycle where life is extended towards death and vice versa when death becomes in the essence of life itself. The passage of death, and the eternal struggle between night and day recreate and obsessive ritual music always in continuous movement which starting and ending points are always bonded.

Third part: "Danza Macabra." Human life is like a shadow. The advent of European culture in Mexico and Mesoamerica brought an image of death which is static, motionless, where there is only place for a constant alternative between glory and hell. This music is nourished from fantastic images taking place one after another. Phantasmagoria and magic are always present.

Fourth part: "La Calaca." Syncretism and the concept of death in modern Mexico, chaos and the richness of multiple symbols, where the duality of life is always present: sacred and profane; good and evil; night and day; joy and sorrow.

This movement reflects a musical world full of joy, vitality and a great expressive force.

At the end of "La Calaca" I decided to quote a melody of Huichol origin, which attracted me when I first heard it. That melody was sung by Familia de la Cruz.The Huichol culture lives in the State of Nayarit, Mexico. Their musical art is always found in ceremonial and ritual life.

— Gabriela Ortiz