Program Notes

Bonecas Russas, “Russian Dolls,”, is inspired by a text from Brazilian visual artist and writer Nuno Ramos. This excerpt comes from Ramos' award-winning, genre-defying book, Ó (2009), which offers a multifaceted exploration of language, identity, and the creative process. Through a blend of poetry, prose, and visual elements, Ramos examines the complexities of communication and the human experience. The narrative invites readers to reflect on the relationship between words and their meanings, encouraging contemplation of the limits and possibilities of expression.

My piece explores selections from Ó, focusing on themes of self-similarity and nesting, and translates these key concepts into musical characters and textures. In this composition, seven distinct musical characters are assigned to specific sections of the text, each with relative temporal durations that influence the overall structure. This creates a layered architecture where each section, phrase, and even the smallest rhythmic motifs are interconnected.

The musical material unfolds like a fractal labyrinth, transforming Ramos’ text into musical objects that vary in scale, from fleeting motifs to expansive passages. The key musical characters include Repetition, Filtered Drones, Fluidity, Inflate/Deflate, Incisions, Song, and Ricochet.

— Felipe Lara

Text by Nuno Ramos (with translation by Felipe Lara):

Repetition
Repetição

“Repetition”

Filtered Drones
Quem põe uma boneca russa dentro da outra é o dia. E quem põe um dia dentro de outro sou eu. Assim, eu e meus dias, como colecionadores, vamos escondendo bonecos iguais a nós mesmos, uns dentro dos outros. Mas não apenas nós, pois a natureza é uma enorme boneca russa também.

"Who puts one Russian doll inside another is the day. And who puts one day inside another is me. Thus, my days and I, like collectors, hide dolls that are just like ourselves, one inside the other. But it's not just us, as nature is also an enormous Russian doll."

Fluidity
E o rio, que não banharia duas vezes o mesmo homem, é uma boneca russa de água, enrolado a si mesmo em turbilhões, repetindo-se enquanto procura o mar.

"And the river, which would not bathe the same man twice, is a Russian doll of water, wrapped around itself in whirlpools, repeating itself while searching for the sea."

Inflate/Deflate
O mar, com suas marés conhecidas, inchando-se e encolhendo-se, ameaçando a todos com os desastres ecológicos mais previsíveis, o mar é uma boneca russa salgada com outros mares sempre iguais e profundos e salgados dentro dela.

"The sea, with its known tides, swelling and shrinking, threatening everyone with the most predictable ecological disasters, the sea is a salty Russian doll with other seas, always the same and deep and salty, inside her."

Incisions
Mesmo a dor da mordida de uma vespa, a inveja mais profunda, o ciúme infernal, a morte do que amamos de fato – repetição, dor dentro da dor, nervo dentro do nervo, coração interno ao coração.

"Even the pain of a wasp sting, the deepest envy, the infernal jealousy, the death of what we truly love – repetition, pain within pain, nerve within nerve, heart internal to the heart"

Song
Com olho dentro dos olhos observo teu corpo de manhã; com dedos dentro dos dedos toquei você ontem a noite. Minha saliva antiga bebeu a tua, não a nova, e em minha raiva foi meu veneno velho, copiado, diluído, que se lançou contra todos.

"With eye within eyes, I observe your body in the morning; with finger within fingers, I touched you last night. My old saliva drank yours, not the new one, and in my wrath was old poison, copied, diluted, which launched itself against all "

Ricochet
Não sou a réplica do que fui, nem do que serei, mas do que acontece comigo neste exato momento.

"I am not the replica of what I was, nor of what I will be, but of what is happening to me at this very moment."

Original Model
(Com uma equipe de sósias espalhadas pelas ruas reais e diversas, ofereço prêmios a quem descobrir o modelo original)

(With a team of look-alikes scattered through real and diverse streets, I offer prizes to those who can identify the original model.)