Filipe Pires - Canto Ecuménico

1. Canto Ecuménico (Ecumenical Chant) - 1979
The choice of a religious theme is a pretext for an approximate comparison of traditional music from different cultural areas. The similarities and differences are presented in the form of collages and quotations, connected and superimposed on the sequences of sound material - vocal and instrumental - drawn exclusively from the musicians. Some parts are fragments of Australian Aboriginal rites, joined with Rain Spirits and mixed with sound taken from a funeral ceremony of the Somba of North Benim. Also included are materials from Tibet, Japan, Orthodox Christian Chants from Armenia and Syria, Islamic rites from Morocco, Yemen and Tunisia. Moroccan, Yemenite and Tunisian jews are also quoted here. From a formal point of view, the grand lines of the composition come together in a single block, in the middle of which distinct sessions develop.

2. Litania (Litany) - 1972
This work was composed while Pires was studying with the French GRM. The improvised parts are controlled in the editing process. The sound materials originate mostly from sheets of iron and metal wires, which are joined at their ends. To produce sound, these are plucked, struck or rubbed, obtaining an extensive range of vibrations. Other sound objects are inserted into the discourse, upon which there are opposite characters, that stop and start under a repetitive pattern.

3. Homo Sapiens - 1972
At the heart of this work is the human voice, used as the symbol of earth and creation. It is phonetically framed towards movement, elaboration, and the fusion of disparate sound elements. Homo Sapiens is a revision of the first part of the Nam Ban ballet, composed in 1970. The present version was composed while Pires was studying at the GRM in Paris.

Released in 1980 by Imavox SARL.
Re-released on CD by Strauss in 1997.

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