for ensemble, speaker and electronics (2025)
“Uprooted” was written for the 2025-26 Academy of the Divertimento Ensemble “Suoni della guerra, suoni per la pace“, which invited young composers to address the thematic of war.
Having been born and raised in Paraguay, this thematic strongly struck my sensitivity since in the late 19th century Paraguay was devastated by a terrible war against Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay (the “War of the Triple Alliance”), losing approximately 40% of its territory and 90% of its male population. This caused dramatic socioeconomic consequences that Paraguayan society still faces today, constituting a deep intergenerational trauma that has not yet healed. As such, the recent proliferation of armed conflicts and imperialistic invasions made me think of the future suffering that will be faced by the upcoming generations of the involved nations, first in an evident way, but, as years will pass by, as a presence that will be hidden yet fundamental.
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Reading writings by Stefano Mancuso I learned that, while plant leaves grow toward the light to nourish themselves, roots actually have an innate aversion to light, instinctively escaping from it. Earth, from this perspective, serves not only as a nutrient, but rather as an opaque refuge that protects roots.
The overwhelming images of ancient Palestinian olive trees being uprooted by Zionist settlers appeared then not only as a vile colonialist strategy, but also as an act of symbolic violence: that of a forceful exposition of roots to light, erasing the delightfully obscure automatisms that make existence possible.
The road to the local bakery that one could walk with one’s eyes closed; the essentiality with which one communicates with one’s mother; the precise and invariable number of sugar spoons we put in our coffee when we’re at home.
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The tape of “Uprooted” contains sounds I produced through synthesis, along with a group of field recordings done by Mohammad Balawneh in the West Bank, which were merged (opposed) to plant sounds recorded by Israeli scientists with ultrasonic microphones, that I manipulated through informatic means.