ENRICO CHAPELA BARBA
COMPOSER
LO NATO ES NETA
Trío de Rock y Quintetos Acústicos
It was created with the support of FONCA's Young Creators program, and its main purpose is to explore in depth the possibilities of the drums, electric guitar and bass in combination with acoustic chamber ensembles in the classical concert tradition. It was originally called "Equinox" and to begin its composition I drew a preliminary plan based on the astrology of a hypothetical equinox. First, I assigned each instrument a celestial entity; the electric guitar was assigned the sun sign, which is the sign of the zodiac in which the Sun is at birth and represents the basic character, the individual essence. The electric bass was the ascendant, which is the sign that comes out of the east at birth and represents the foundation of the personality, the face we offer to the world. The drums interpreted the midheaven, which is the sign at the zenith and represents aspirations, longings and ideals.
Subsequently, I assigned the winds and strings planets and asteroids, guided by the mythological characteristics of the Greco-Roman gods they represent. To the percussions I entrusted the twelve signs of the zodiac and the prepared piano I turned it into the North Node of the Moon, which is the northern point of the sky where the lunar trajectory crosses the orbit of the earth.
Everything was going according to plan until I felt compelled to violate the previous plan for the sake of the music, which doomed it to oblivion, given the obvious futility of a violated previous plan. However, I liked the subject of astrology, so I decided to analyze what I had already composed and recorded from the point of view not of a hypothetical equinox, but from my own astrological chart. To do this, I sought the help of a professional astrologer to interpret my birth chart with an emphasis on looking for the relationships between the angles, planets and signs that I put together mythologically, and to see if they were indeed related in my birth chart astrologically. I then renamed the movements, choosing one character from each using the fingerprinting system, and finally I commissioned her to investigate the relevance of the role played by each character chosen by fingerprinting.
The result was surprising. All the aspects that the astrologer pointed out have, in fact, a musical counterpart; positive or supportive aspects between the stars, such as trines and conjunctions, which when interpreted in the manuscript result in trios and duets between the instruments, or negative or confrontational aspects, such as oppositions or quadratures, which are found as contrasting counterpoints or the influence attributed to the presence of a certain planet in a certain sign that fits perfectly with the character of the solo played by the corresponding instrument... Given the abundance of coincidences, I chose to give the benefit of the doubt and consider them as possible causalities.
Perhaps the influence of the stars in our lives plays a determining role to the extent of dictating invisible decisions in our creative processes. If the surrounding energies at the moment of birth can define the destiny of a composition many years later, then there are no coincidences, then, neta, lo nato, is the neta!
Vertex
SELENE
QUIRoN
NORTH NODE OF THE MOON
Woodwind Quintet and Rock Trio.
Cuarteto Latinoamericano and Víctor Flores.
Woodwind Quintet and Rock Trio.
Trío de alientos de bellas Artes con Luis Mora y Baltasar Chavarría.
Mexico City Brass Quintet.
Percussion Quartet, prepared piano and rock trio.
Tambuco with Mauricio Nader, Luis Miguel Costero y Rodrigo Santoyo.
DISCOGRAPHY
AWARDS
March 2002
May 2002
Selected Work for performance and recording by Arditti String Quartet during a contemporary instrumental techniques lecture held at Mexico City.
Selected Work for performance at the 24th Manuel Enriquez New Music Forum at CNA, Mexico City.
PERFORMANCES
Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City. Dresdner Sinfoniker conducted by José Areán.
Saxon State Library, Dresden Germany, Dresdner Sinfoniker conducted by José Areán.
World Premiere complete at Estonia Concert Hall at Tallinn, Estonia. NYYU ensemble conducted by Olari Elts.
World Premiere at the 24th Manuel Enriquez New Music Forum at the Blas Galindo Concert Hall at CNA, Mexico City. Quinteto de Alientos de Bellas Artes.
Performance and recording of the first movement during a contemporary instrumental techniques lecture, Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, Mexico City. Arditti String Quartet.
World Premiere of the first movement, Teatro Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes, Mexico. José White String Quartet conducted by Enrique Barrios.
March 14, 2014
December 21, 2012
October 16, 2007
May 30, 2002
April 12, 2002
September 29, 2001