Kauyumari

Born in 1964, Gabriela Ortiz is one of the most prolific Mexican composers of our time, whose idiom encompasses traditional and popular music as well as avant-garde and multimedia. Her musical journey was shaped from childhood, as she played the charango and guitar in the ensemble Los Folkloristas, founded by her parents. Composed in 2021, Kauyumari is the result of a commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Here is how the composer describes her work: 

“Among the Huichol people of Mexico, Kauyumari means ‘blue deer.’ The blue deer represents a spiritual guide, one that is transformed through an extended pilgrimage into a hallucinogenic cactus called peyote. It allows the Huichol to communicate with their ancestors, do their bidding, and take on their role as guardians of the planet. Each year, these Native Mexicans embark on a symbolic journey to ‘hunt’ the blue deer, making offerings in gratitude for having been granted access to the invisible world, through which they also are able to heal the wounds of the soul.”

“I thought of a Huichol melody sung by the De La Cruz family. […] I used this material within the orchestral context and elaborated on the construction and progressive development of the melody and its accompaniment in such a way that it would symbolize the blue deer. This in turn was transformed into an orchestral texture which gradually evolves into a complex rhythm pattern, to such a degree that the melody itself becomes unrecognizable (the imaginary effect of peyote and our awareness of the invisible realm), giving rise to a choral wind section while maintaining an incisive rhythmic accompaniment as a form of reassurance that the world will naturally follow its course.” *