Songs of Erosion stems from a contemporary reading of the Cantigas de Santa
Maria through the lens of erosion.
The Cantigas de Santa Maria is a vast collection of poems and songs from
XIIIth century Spain. Comprising about 420 songs, the Cantigas are de facto a
compendium of all things known in the 1280’s Castilla. Besides the songs of
praise to the Virgin Mary, one can find legends, historical events, medical
remedies, gossip or even courtly love scenes... blurring the lines between Sacred
and Folklore.
The project isn’t meant as a historically informed interpretation of the medieval
songbook. Instead, the musicians take the manuscript as an archeological
artifact from a remote past that has survived till our days. Theytackle this
vastness by devising a series of tasks inspired by contemporary music idioms
and erosion processes, which allows them to manipulate the di
erent materials
from the Cantigas de Santa Maria Each performance becomes a laboratory
where a selection of these tasks are presented in a repetitive and exhausting
light, catching a glimpse through the debris and the sediments of time, of what
is left of these 800 years old songs.
