PROGRAM NOTES

I have recently developed an interest in the mbira, an instrument played by the Shona people in Zimbabwe that is often used to evoke ancestral spirits, as heard through the vibrating bottle caps/rollers on the side of the instrument. This work was composed in response to a “Evaristo”, a sculpture by Bernice Olmedo, displayed in the “Bio Morphe” Exhibition at the Moody Center for the Arts. The statue displays a human-like figure and appears to loosely resemble a head, torso, and legs, and the music aims to give “life” to the artwork, as if it were coming alive and starting to walk around the gallery.