Overview
Crossing the Dark Rift was composed on computer over a period of 11 months, using sound samples transformed and assembled with 'CDP System' software (Composers' Desktop Project).
The music is inspired by and designed to evoke a mixture of night sky and rain forest, order and mystery, to complement Pat's astonishing Fabric Art on the theme of 'The Mystery of the Maya'. The music seeks to do this in several ways:
- There is an emphasis on texture: the strands, bubbles, twisted & interwoven filaments become pulsing tones and multi-event 'washes' often reflecting shapes found in Pat's sculptural textiles.
- The dense and energetic characteristics of the fabric become immense, powerful sonic images evoking earth and celestial 'landscapes'.
- The Mayan theme is directly present in the structure of the music, which refers to the 52-year calendar round in a schematic way. The calendar round consists of two cycles: the Tzolkin 'sacred' year (13 months of 20 days) and the Haab year (18 months of 20 days + 5 end-of-year days). These two cycles synchronise every 52 years. In the music, there are 5 Tzolkin cycles which repeat variations of 13, 20 sec. generic visual shapes. The last two Tzolkin cycles handle things a little differently. The Haab layer begins at the start of the 2nd Tzolkin cycle.
The Tzolkin layer
The music for the Tzolkin year cycle focuses on the celestial sphere: the heavenly bodies and textures of galaxies and nebulae, of which the Mayan people were such acute observers. Most of the music for this cycle is developed from two short sound 'samples' (recordings): single tones of a Tibetan 'singing' bowl (5 sec.) and a pair of small Tibetan cymbals (7 sec.).
The Haab layer
The music for the Haab year cycle develops Earth themes: the natural world, animals, song. The song text, sung by Angela Ward, describes the mission of Quezalcoatl to bring some of the Sun's musicians down to the Earth sphere in order to alleviate the silence ('the Earth is sick from silence'). It encapsulates the Mayan understanding that "flower and song are the highest things on Earth that can penetrate the confines of truth" (Samael Aun Weor, quoted by Hunbatz Men in Secrets of Mayan Science/Religion). The song text is from a 16th century Nahua manuscript as found translated in Mexican & Central American Mythology by Irene Nicholson (Newnes Books: 1967).
Significance of the title
The title, Crossing the Dark Rift, refers to a theory put forward by John Major Jenkins, namely that the Maya knew about and could calculate the time at which the path of the Sun (the 'ecliptic') crosses the galactic equator of the Milky Way. You can go to his website (http://phidias.colorado.edu/jenkins/) for more information about his theories. Besides illustrating their profound (scientific) astronomical knowledge, this cosmic location and event is part of a complex mythology and evocative of many mysteries, so it seemed suitable as a focus for my composition.
The next crossing is due in the period surrounding our year 2012, which marks the end of the Mayan 'Great Cycle' (1,872,000 days) which began in -3113 (-3114 B.C.E.). This crossing takes place in an 'empty' (therefore dark) sector of the Milky Way – in the constellation Sagittarius, as we see it from Earth. This empty sector is known as the 'dark rift'.
Referred to by the Maya in many ways such as xibalba be (= road to the Underworld, 'black cleft', 'black road'), "it is related to the complex of motifs assigned to the jaguar's mouth, serpent mouths, caves, cenotes, a woman's birth canal, temple doorways, and so on. A significant equation in this mythic complex is the 'dark-rift as birth canal,' for it is through the birth canal of the Milky Way that the solstice sun will be reborn in the years around 2012" (Jenkins, Izapan Cosmos). The point of crossing also relates to the 'sacred tree' motif, which the ancient Quiché referred to as 'Crossroads'. Part of the 'Mystery of the Maya' is just why these celestial matters were so very important to them.
My composition pays homage to a level of precise knowledge and understanding that becomes more astonishing in its scope, depth and human wisdom the more we find out about Mayan culture.
Pat Warrington and I have been researching Mayan civilization quite independently for some years. My warmest thanks to her for commissioning the music.
Song text for Crossing the Dark Rift
Quezalcoatl's Journey
[Quezalcoatl is referred to as 'Wind' in this text.]
"Wind, the Earth is sick from silence.
We must bestow music upon all creation:
To the awakening dawn, to the dreaming man, to the waiting mother,
to the passing water and the flying bird,
Life should be all music!
Go to the high House of the Sun."The Sun, the Sun, the Sun
Told his musicians:
"Here comes the bothersome Wind of Earth –
Stay your music, cease your singing,
Answer him not [or] you will have to follow him down to silence."The clawing wind shouted, "Come, O musicians!" None replied.
Silent colours circling dance held fast in the blinding flames.
The clawing wind waxed wroth, whipped flocks of cloud assembled,
thunder's roar, beneath the World's mad roof,
The Sun like a red beast drowned. Spurred by fear,
the musicians and singers ran for shelter.Bearing them gently,
Tumult of happiness in his arms, downward journey, downward journey.
Thus did all things learn to sing:
The awakening dawn, the dreaming man, the awaiting mother,
the passing water and the flying bird.
Life was all music from that time on.(Adapted from a 16th century Nahua manuscript as translated in Mexican & Central American Mythology by Irene Nicholson. Newnes Books. 1967).
Last updated: 5 March 2002