Mariposa Morena (Dark Butterfly) for voice, woodwinds, percussion & computer electronics

• Date: 1999
• Composer: Erik Santos
• Period: Contemporary (1950- )

Review

This is a pre-recorded electronic music composition of substantial length at over 13 minutes. It has a dark, mysterious quality. Composer Erik Santos wrote it as the music for a stage work. It is an example of much of his work, which is concerned with using music to link to the idea of magic. The music originated as a score for a multimedia presentation called Cruces de Fuego (Crosses of Fire). It was a collaboration with fellow University of Michigan professors Sandra Torijano (dance) and the theater department's Vince Mountain and Rob Murphy. In addition, costumes were by New York designer John Schak. The inspirations of the work were the writing of Pablo Neruda of Chile and Mexican painters Frieda Kahlo and Remedios Varo. In his notes (as printed in Centaur Records' release of the recording), Santos said "Using all the musical and theatrical technology I could find, I wanted to awaken the possibility for all participants to build a bridge between their dreams and reality, and nourish each other with their own individual revelations." The imagery of the Neruda poem that suggested the theatrical piece use butterflies as a metaphor for what Santos called "the natural and rapturous power of women." The work calls for three dancers to slowly emerge from a cocoon on a web-like spiral; in increasing ecstasy, they pull themselves into flight. They are then bathed in light, which draws them upwards. Santos composed the piece using the program Sound Edit 16 and an Akai S300 Sampler, Roland Sound Canvas, Roland JV-80, and Opcode Vision Pro. He selected original sound for sampling from diverse sources, which represent many cultures. Besides his own voice whispering or singing words by Neruda and Kahlo, Santos used Ney flute, Arabian flute, piano, claves, talking drums, taiko drums, and a concert bass drum, among other instruments. The music begins with an arresting loud click of the claves, which the bass drum then joins. Floating, mysterious, magical sounds are the rule in the composition, which is gripping to listen to even apart from its theatrical context. ~ Joseph Stevenson, Rovi

Albums with Complete Performances of the Work

Title	Date
Alternating Currents: Electronic Music from the University of Michigan	2001

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