Appendix

• Introduction

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• Culminating Experience Project: summary of the project that was completed

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• Results: how the project did and did not align with expectations

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• Plan of Action/Process: where project met expectations and where it

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needed to be revised during execution

• Next Steps: if the project were to continue, what would the next phase entail?

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• Contribution to the Discipline or Profession

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• Impact on the Student Completing the Work

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• Bibliography or Works Cited (depending on style)

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My culminating experience project has been one of the most personal and musical growing
experiences. Through my project, the “Ancestral Call” I face many challenges that motivates
me to reflect on my self as a person and a professional musician. Furthermore, this project
triggers much questioning about my future in music.

The “Ancestral Call” is the name of the project. I think of this project as a movement to
supporting the rescue of the Bribri culture in Costa Rica through music inspired by my journey
of its spiritual, and philosophical life perspective. Bribris are the first Costa Ricans. They are
one of the most prominent indigenous communities in the country, and the majority of them
live in the city of Talamanca, in the south of this country. I found that this community didn’t
have the word music. The closest word in Bribri to these words is "Ttö́k." This word means
talking in the ritual language, and thus Bribris speak with their gods and spirits who live in the
underworld (nature) to create a spiritual connection with nature (underworld). The closest
resemblance of how "Ttö́k" can be understood in our society is the act of singing. For this
reason, this was a unique experience for me. I decided that my artistic representation of the
Bribri culture has to focus on a personal, spiritual, and abstract reinterpretation of what I
understood about the Bribri culture translated to music.

To portray this spiritual connection through music, I imagined myself as part of the Bribri
community, and thought about "music" as my version of the word "Ttö́k." Thus, I planned to
reevaluate the element of the social meaning of this word in the Bribri community, and

translate its philosophy through the composing of five songs that convey the Bribri's
spirituality and perception of themselves.
The first song I composed is named "Se' wíköl yurö́k" (which means Looking for my other
being). I have dedicated this to the being of the eye or "Se’ wö̀bra wíköl.” This being helps the
Bribris to be aware of the spiritual world or what they call "the underworld." The underworld
is where the Bribri's ancestors live, and to communicate with their ancestors, the Bribris
speak in the ritual language ("Ttö́k.") The second piece of my project "Suó," was dedicated to
the being of the aura or “Se’ wíköl.” This being protects the Bribris from bad situations. In
Bribri, "Suwo" means, “air,” but this word also can be used to say knowledge, energy, and
wisdom.

Furthermore, Suwo is also a Bribri spirit that is considered a hero. Suwo was the spirit that
rescued the Bribris from the hands of the foreign spiritual being "Yàbulu,” who stole the
Bribris from their god Sibö to eat them. "Awa" is my third composition and is dedicated to this
person of the Bribri community, who has the vital role of being a spiritual guide, a doctor that
uses natural medicine, and an advisor for the Bribris.
My fourth song is “Uwó prouwó” (The Bearer). This piece was devoted to the being of the
bone or “Chébra.” This spirit symbolizes the Bribris transition from this world to the
underworld because according to their culture when we die, our bones are the last physical
attachment with this world. This inspired the idea of composing a piece that reflects the
persistence that the Bribris have for keeping their culture alive despite the constant
difficulties they are still struggling with. My Final piece is “Se’ suré sh-cácre” (Ancestral Call).

My pursuit with this piece was to represent the Being of the Liver or Yàblo.” Yàblo is the
spiritual being that represents honesty in the Bribri community. To depict this, I sung an
improvised melody that became the main idea for the composition of this last choral. I used
the same instrumentation of the first piece I presented because I was looking to replicate the
same spiritual feel. I like to think about this song as a prayer.
When I decided to focus on this project, I had the opportunity to get in contact with Ali Garcia
Segura and influential member of the Bribri community, who was very willing to guide me
from the very beginning of this Journey. The most challenging aspect of “The Ancestral call”
was to understand the deep philosophy of this community. The information that I found on
books was in Spanish, and every time that I discussed this information with Ali, I found that
the translation didn’t explain clearly the very profound life perspective of the Bribris. The fact
that in this community there are no music elements like in other cultures such as songs,
instruments, and rhythms " was very challenging and triggered my creativity in a way that I
never experienced before. The

The original plan was choosing two Bribri poems that portrayed a sense of the philosophy of
the word “Tokt.” One of the poems was “Isela ka wena ta ise iriria i' ki se' du'rki” (Dawned, on
this earth we are), which is compiled by Constela Umaña and is sung by Doña Maria
Genoveva, in this poem we see how the singer asks the God Sibö (God of the Sun) for his
advice in order to find wisdom to live every day, to be a good person and to avoid doing evil.
This song is of the kind of personal improvised expression chants, which is allowed mostly

among the women of the Bribri community. The other poem was “A Sula'la” (Oh, Creator).
This poem is about our transitory life experience and the eternity of nature.
To reinforce the music, I plan to read Constela Umaña’s book Poesia Bribri de lo Cotidiano as
well as several articles and recordings that I have on hand that describes the spiritual and live
philosophy of the Bribris. In the second semester, I took classes with Jerry Leake, whose
method helped me to understand and learn rhythm through the spoken syllables. Thus, as in
the first homework that Danilo Pérez gave us of transcribing our way of speaking, I applied
this technique to use this poetry as a source to open new rhythmic possibilities that I could
apply to the composition of my project's music.

One of my biggest influences for doing this project is what the maestro Pérez has been doing
during his musical career in adapting Panamanian rhythms to his music, so I asked for his
advice to achieve my artistic goal with this project. The composition idea of having the
presence of voices, string chamber group, and a jazz trio or quartet, and percussion changed
after many rehearsals. This last point of my action plan was the only thing that I had to
change due to the availability of the musicians for rehearsing and recording. Thus, I keep the
instrumentation, but I spread it in the five pieces that I recorded. This had a very effective
result. However, I am looking to put the whole chamber music ensemble together with the
jazz quartet in the new pieces to come for the releasing the “Ancestral Call” album.

Probably what I found the most challenging but more inspiring was the translation of the
Bribri language to the Spanish. When Ali explained to me in depth the philosophy of the

concepts that I was researching, many more questions and music ideas came to mind. For this
reason, I consider very urgently at this moment to learn the Bribri language because I found
in this a very profound, abstract, and artistic way to express life. This personal discovery
impacted my perspective of music in a very significant and positive way. I am planning to
learn this language, composing more music. My idea is to compose short songs that teach
Bribri sounds, words, sentences, and phrases to make this process more creative and
exploratory. In these songs, my pursuit is to apply concepts that I learned from the Master
program at the Global. I want to use these concepts in the future for the composing of new
for finishing this album. With this new idea, I am looking to create a unique opportunity to
rescue the Bribri language that is one of the most significant fights that this community is
struggling with. Moreover, the ancestral call is my first step to start a new journey into the
ethnomusicology field to follow the footsteps of musicians and artists such as Bela Bartok,
Kodaly, many other artists.

The “ Ancestral Call,” this project became a spiritual and musical transformation that has
impacted me in a very profound way. This philosophy has brought many questions that I
didn’t have before, motivating me to keep my journey on this topic for the rest of my life.
In the future, I am planning to compose four more songs to release an album and donate the
sales of it to organizations that support the preservation of the Bribri society. Furthermore, I
am looking to research more on this topic and compose more music based on this life
philosophy. I am planning to apply to grants to tour with this music, create an outreach

program to bring this music to the Bribris communities, and support the rescue of the
indigenous culture in Costa Rica.

Thanks to this process, I was able to find a personal and spiritual dimension through my
project. This philosophy has created a profound change in my perception of life and music.
Besides being a musical project, "The ancestral call" has become a space for reflection, which
encourages many questions that motivate me to continue and deepen more on this subject. I
consider this project relevant to emphasize the importance of a community that despite living
in a society that promotes many forms of sedation, Bribris teach us to counteract this way of
life through their spiritual awareness. This spirituality allows them to live in balance with their
environment and practicing social values that help them to fight this sedation. However, the
society of sedation is a dominant society in Costa Rica and many other countries in the world.
For this reason, I consider "The ancestral call" as a movement to stop, reflect, and learn from
other ancestral societies how to find more ways to create a better world together and to
wake up from this slumber life.

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

• Pérez, 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.