Carme López - Quintela [Cassette]

Warm Winters Ltd.

£10.80

Format: Cassette
Catalogue No.: WW039CS
Barcode: 5050580822474
Release Date: 29 Mar 2024
Genre: Minimal Glitch

01: Prologue: Cando a Pena Me Mata, a Alegría Dame Alento - Carme López
02: I: QuÉ? a Betty Chaos - Carme López
03: Ii: MATICOLO. Aos Cans da Casa: Piri, Sil, Duma E Mouri - Carme López
04: Iii: AVÓS. a Pepe E Manuela - Carme López
05: Iv: CACHELOS. a César De Farbán - Carme López
06: Epilogue: Inflorescencia - Carme López

'Quintela', the debut album by Carme López, a performer, teacher and researcher of traditional oral music from Galicia, is a new experimental work for Galician bagpipe. Influenced by the approach of composers like Éliane Radigue or Pauline Oliveros, the Spanish composer creates slowly modulating sound environments, and stretches the sonic the possibilities of the bagpipe to its absolute limit. 'Quintela' is structured in four movements, plus a prologue and an epilogue, which serve as a link to the contemporary language of the instrument.

The bagpipe is strongly tied to traditional musics; its use in different genres and musical contexts is extremely limited and unimaginative. 'Quintela' brings it to a wholly unknown field, decontextualising the bagpipe in order to elevate a personal approach, and leaving behind its male-dominated past (in which it relates to ideas of prestige, dominance or carries even sexual connotations). López expertly demonstrates its grandeur and breadth; the music on 'Quintela' ranges from barely audible sounds of air passing through the hide bag through rhythmical use of its reeds to all-encompassing drones with complex harmonic structures and vibrant overtones.

The narrative arc focuses on the composer's past, its people and places, and could be conceived as a journey in and of itself. A homage to those in our memories, but also a step into the unknown, 'Quintela' is an ambitious, graceful and captivating debut.