The Ancestral Call Exploring the path of a Costa Rican ancient culture By Jose Arturo Soto Objective q Supporting the rescue of the Bribri culture in Costa Rica through music inspired by my research of its spiritual, and philosophical life perspective. Bribris and "Ttök. • First Costa Ricans. • One of the most prominent indigenous communities in the country. • Majority of Bribris live in Talamanca, in the south of Costa Rica. • No word represents the concept of "music" or "sing.” • Ttök.= talking in the ritual language. • Ttök can be understood in our society is the act of singing. • Only the most knowledgeable Bribris are the ones who know the ritual language. The Ancestral Call Music • Five compositions inspired on the Bribri’s perception of themselves. • A Bribri person contains four spiritual beings. • "Se’ wöbla wíköl” (Being of the Eye), • “Se’ wíköl" (Being of the Aura). • “Yàblo” (Being of the Liver). • “Schégla” (Being of the Bone). • One piece is dedicated to the Bribri figure of the “Awá” (indigenous doctor). “Se’ wíköl yulök” (Looking for my other being). • • Composition based on the Bribri poem: “Isela ka wena ta ise iriria i' • ki se' du'rki” (Dawned, on this earth we are) • Choral for voice, strings, and percussion Jose Soto --- Composition and keyboard Jireh Calo --- Voice Brian Urra --- Violin Emilie Catlett --- Viola Naseem Alatrash --- Cello • CREDITS Voice - "Ttök” Strings and percussion depicts underworld. The solo represent my soul searching Tareq Rantisi --- Percussion Jacob Jezioro --- Acoustic Bass Daniel Babai Recording Engineer George Kramarski Editing and Mixing “Suwo” (Air) • • “Suwo” as the air and • the hero in the piano arpeggio Sax long notes = uncertain destiny of the Bribris • Solo section = final battle between Suwo and Yàbulu. The Bass broken pattern represents “Yàbulu” (foreign spiritual being) Jose Soto --- Composition and Piano Alex Jhonson --- Soprano Sax Grzegorz Wlodarczyk --- Acoustic Bass • 9/4 rumba clave conveys the possible connection of our modern society with the Bribris. CREDITS Tomer Sadot --- Drums Daniel Babai --- Recording Engineer George Kramarski --- Editing and Mixing “Awá” • “Awá” spiritual guide, indigenous doctor, and Bribri advisor. • Melody composed based on the Bribri poem “A Sula'la” and “Prayer” by Danilo Pérez. • Ney represents the “Awá”. • Bass solo = underworld. Jose Soto --- Composition and Piano Maria Amalia Quesada --- Voice Faris Ishaq --- Ney Jacob Jezioro --- Acoustic Bass CREDITS Jodie Michael --- Drums Daniel Babai --- Recording Engineer George Kramarski --- Editing and Mixing “I wö klöũk” (The Bearer) • Different motif from the poem of the first song. • Chaos created by the cello and the ney during the solo. • Composition of a two-voice invention. • A more lyrical melody on the B section. • Close voicing harmony. • Bass support the left. • Underworld represented by the cello and ney. • CREDITSthrough changing Creating movement Jose Soto --- Composition and Piano Jodie Michael --- Drums the instrument’s roles. Faris Ishaq --- Ney Jacob Jezioro --- Acoustic Bass Naseem Alatrash --- Cello Daniel Babai --- Recording Engineer George Kramarski --- Editing and Mixing • The drums = spontaneous circumstances that life brings to us. • Soprano Sax = The Bearer. Se’sulé schákè (Ancestral Call) • I improvised a sung melody that became the main idea for the composition of this last choral. • First instrumentation as in the first piece in order replicate the spiritual feel of that piece. • Yàblo (Being of the Liver).” Spiritual being that represents honesty • I like toJosething about this songCREDITS as a pray. Soto --- Composition Tareq Rantisi --- Percussion Jireh Calo --- Voice Brian Urra --- Violin Emilie Catlett --- Viola Naseem Alatrash --- Cello Jacob Jezioro --- Acoustic Bass Daniel Babai Recording Engineer George Kramarski Editing and Mixing Future Plans and Conclusion • Release an album to donate the sales of it to organizations that support the preservation of the Bribri society. • Apply to grants in order to tour with this music. • Research more on this topic and compose more music based on it. • Create an outreach program to bring this music to the Bribris. • Support the rescue of the indigenous culture in Costa Rica. THANKS TO Danilo Pérez – Artistic Director of BGJI and Marco Pignataro – Executive Director of BGJI CE advisors: Marco Pignataro, Ali García Segura To all the amazing musicians who recorded in this project Engineer Daniel Babai Mixing George Kramarski Producer Jacob Means To my teachers Danilo, Joe, Terri, Alan, John, Adam, Ben, Alain, Jerry, Bruno, Allan, George, Luciana, Dave, Ayn CE panelists and comitee menber Fernando Michellin Berklee College of Music and my brothers and sisters of the BGJI Master Class 2019 Chloe and Farayi And to my amazing wife and family. CITED WORKS • Ali Segura-Carlos Avendaño-Jara Victoria , Universidad de Costa Rica , 2003 • Música Y Lenguaje Ritual En El Arte Verbal Bribri Unidad de Apoyo Audiovisual a la Antropología, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTdaUMHpWb0 • Perez, Danilo. “Prayer.” Rec. 2000. Motherland. Verve Music Group, 2000. • Poesía Bribri de lo Cotidiano: 37 cantos de afecto, devoción, trabajo y entretenimiento. Adolfo Umaña, Universidad de Costa Rica, 2006.