Escribir es poblar

Protest for the assassination of Marielle Franco in front of the Brazilian Embassy in Madrid, Spain. Photo: G. Serrano Edition: Patrick Maloney Leer en español I didn’t know her but an article in The Guardian described her as “an educated, articulate and capable young woman from a Brazilian favela”. Ernani da Conceição, a teacher from the neighborhood, said, “she represented renewal”. And Marcelo Freixo, a deputy in Rio’s state legislature and member of the Socialism and Freedom Party, said that she was, “one of my best friends, a very very strong and brave person but very sensible, with an unforgettable smile”. I read these expressions of sorrow —spontaneously generated across the globe— because of the assassination of the Brazilian activist Marielle Franco , just a few hours after listening to the baroque oratorio Elijah , written by Felix Mendelssohn between 1845 and 1846. The basis of the script is from a translation of the Old Testament by Martin Luther. The fou...

Michael Nyman Band at the beginning of the concert. Madrid, Spain 2018. Photo: G. Serrano Edition: Patrick Maloney Leer en español It’s Sunday evening and as they are soon to start, some of them are spending a few minutes to drink a beer in a local bar. Friendly, uncomplicated, and good humored they seem used to the stage. Used to “the mechanism” —as he calls it— which still surprises and touches him. Inside the Symphony Hall at the National Auditorium the instruments will sound Olympic, martial as the Great War, sometimes as the black humor of Peter Greenaway. They are four strings, six brasses, one electronic bass and of course, the piano. They are just three women and nine men, twelve musicians in all. The audience focused, willing and ready to listen is —by now— completely “analogical”. Then, the violins carry drama to the extreme as their crying hurts and perseveres with every note . Each piece is an ode to an action which takes us to an epic battle, an under-const...