FLUX | Our Footsteps Echoed Between The Chapels

From the chapel of the Cité-des-Hospitalières to Scène Contemporaine, Friday, October 3rd, gave rise to an astonishing musical journey divided into four segments. Nearly three and a half hours for the works of Navajo artist Raven Chacon (in particular) and Quebec composer Katia Makdissi-Warren. Sound, space, community.

Here is the thread of events:

7:06 p.m., start of the first part

Chapel of Cité-des-Hospitalières

Two pieces by Raven Chacon opened the evening, the first axis of this sonic journey. Horse Notations, performed by six musicians, draws its energy sources from the gait of the horse. It unfolds incessant rhythms. The individual instruments combine and blend together to create a new rhythmic and timbral unity.

This is followed by Voiceless Mass, a spatialized septet that questions “the futility of giving a voice to those who don’t have one.” The loose voices of the instrumentalists move through space. The organ’s hyperbasses vibrate in the chapel, the columns extend and color the sound, while the musicians stationed upstairs add their own resonances. The sounds circulate and emerge. The chapel becomes master of the work.

around 7:50 p.m., start of the procession – Tiguex VI: Procession of descent (Procession 1)

From the steps of the chapel to the hall of the contemporary scene

First, we must fight against the hum of insignificant conversations: nervous words, worries about appearances, laughter.

The city, in this context, seems strangely silent. Car traffic is reduced to a drone, the screeching of tires becomes melodic motifs, while the fleeting bicycles produce sonic gestures (passage, resonance, emptiness). When we walk en masse, our noise follows us; we cannot escape it. It imprisons us in a perception of the world.

The musicians (brass and reed) guide us through their bodies along various paths. On several occasions, the group splits, separated by a pedestrian traffic light or a street. We then hear, for example, a flute in the distance, blending with the sounds of the urban landscape. The work is experienced in a relationship between the individual and the communities they encounter.

La Chapelle / Scènes contemporaines, around 8:50 p.m., start of the third part

The Bozzini Quartet, along with two guests, Noam Bierstone and Allison Burik, present three chamber works by Raven Chacon that deploy multiple extended techniques. Double Weaving captures the attention with its percussive homorhythms. The Journey of the Horizontal People features bird whistles, bowing, and plays on shifts between the parts, which, not having the same bar lengths, give a lively flow to the work.

at 9:43 p.m., start of the fourth part

Presented for the first time in Montreal, Katia Makdissi-Warren’s Écliptique offers a journey through the musical traditions of the north, south, east, and west. These different horizons are represented in tableaux with the help of a variety of sound and musical objects, leading to a final “sunrise” that leads back to the south.

A few electronic devices broaden the spectrum of sound possibilities, notably a loop between an exciter placed on a bass drum and a microphone which generates an impressive variety of feedback sounds, guided by the sensitive gestures of Raphaël Guay.

Sound, space, community… Our footsteps will have echoed between the chapels.