Art: Alejandra Álvarez Polanía
Solipá (2021)
for soprano and electronics
Solipá is a tribute to María de los Santos Solipá, a woman born in a region of Colombia that is led by men, that is full of contrasts, and which is characterized by adverse social and economic conditions. Ever since she was young, she refused to follow the guidelines set for women in her time. For example, she went horseback riding through the savannah singing cow herding songs. These songs, which captured many of her frustrations as a woman, now occupy a privileged place in the region's oral tradition.
Solipá blends elements of the gritos de monte or cantos zafra* from the Colombian Atlantic Coast’s departments of Córdoba, Sucre and Bolívar as well as elements of the water drums tradition inherited by the women of Tacarigüita (a population located in the Barlovento region of the Miranda state in Venezuela) from the Bantú and Baka de Camerún communities. Both traditions are sensitive towards nature and frequently blend into the sounds of the natural environment where they are traditionally performed.
The work is built upon a text written by the Colombian writer and poet Martha Liliana Polanía Perdomo, in which, as a monologue, María de los Santos Solipá expresses and discerns the way in which she lives.
Recorded by Sara Badel (soprano) and Rodolfo Badel (electronics) at Centro Ático - Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá) on December 2, 2021.
This work has not yet been performed live.
*Cantos zafra (Zafra chants): the mountain shout or zafra chant, is connected to the act of clearing a field in preparatiing for sowing it. It is used in the fields to establish communications with other peasants or workers and with the animals that accompany them while they're clearing, cleaning and sowing the fields. The chant is also used for alerting others about dangerous animals and during the burning of the fields in preparation for the sowing process. According to the Colombian anthropologist and writer Manuel Zapata Olivella, the chant comes from a previous Zenu tradition in which the chant's tones varied according to the wind's behavior (Quevedo Urrea, 2010).
Poem: Martha Liliana Polanía Perdomo
Solipá
Dejo mi grito al aire pleno
llanto suelto en mi dolor
soledad sobre mi cadáver
yerta, sin vida mi piel.
Busco una luz que me salve
abrir las alas de mi cárcel
duele el dolor de mi alma frágil
tirar al viento este puñal.
Deambulo a través
de oscuras sombras
temo a ese que soy
otro al que niego
sigo siendo yo
grita verdades
hiriente aguijón
que me doblega
Llenos de fuerza me miran sus ojos
qué quiere de mí?, la duda me
colma
caigo en un espiral que me succiona
¿Quién he sido hasta hoy?
¿Quién seré mañana?
Amarga decisión
es mi fusil
oh cruel lección
me desafió
porque murió
algo en mi.
De la matriz que me atrapa
brota la vida, destellos
ciegan la mirada serena
¿Cuánto tiempo me tomó?
cierro una puerta,
a un paso
se abre
otra.