About Oneself

Flute solo and Chamber group (Pn, Vc, Cl, Perc.)

Adaption for chamber ensemble of the first movement of “Monologue III.”

“…soy otro cuando soy, los actos míos 
son más míos si son también de todos, 
para que pueda ser he de ser otro, 
salir de mí, buscarme entre los otros, 
los otros que no son si yo no existo, 
los otros que me dan plena existencia, 
no soy, no hay yo, siempre somos nosotros…”

“…when I am I am another, my acts
are more mine when they are the acts of others, 
in order to be, I must be another,
leave myself, search for myself in the others, 
the others that do not exist if I do not exist,
the others that give me total existence, 
I am not, there is no I, we are always us…”

Translation by Eliot Weinberg

With these words from his poem “Sunstone,” Mexican Nobel Prize winner Octavio Paz, inquires into the topic of identity and gave me an idea for a new work. This piece, is actually two pieces “About Oneself” is the first part and “About the Others” the second one. During the time I wrote these pieces, I was reflecting upon the concept of originality, and I decided to write a piece based on “original ideas” and other one based on “other people’s ideas”. Ok, but, how do you get your “original ideas”? I decided to improvise and to take the result as pure as possible to create my “original” piece of music. I know it’s completely arguable, as one always has external influence in the creative process, and it’s almost imposible to create such thing as “100% original music,” but I gave it a try. The result was a very melodic piece and I didn’t expect that, but it reflected my creativity and life in that moment.

Premiered by Taller Sonoro in Bogotá, Colombia. Check their website here.