Artist
William Kentridge
Composers
Philip Miller and Thuthuka Sibisi
William Kentridge’s monumental frieze Triumphs and Laments: A Project for Rome premiered with live theatrical performances – free and open to the public – on April 21, the symbolic birthday of Rome, and again on April 22, 2016.
The performance featured live shadow play and two musical processions, one an expression of triumph and the other of lament, choreographed by Kentridge, with original music by renowned South African composers Philip Miller and Thuthuka Sibisi. The musical procession and costumed performers marched towards each other from the two bridges that frame Piazza Tevere – Ponte Sisto and Ponte Mazzini. The lamenters began upstream with a haunting death march, while the triumphant responded in a joyful cacophony downstream. The opposing forces converged against the backdrop of the frieze, engaging in an explosive battle at the center of the river site.
The music, described by Miller as “A music of exodus, of tragedy, of hope,” was inspired by the liturgical songs of the late Renaissance composer Salomone Rossi. The traditional sounds of Southern Italy were also incorporated into the music, as were the words of poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Fragments of text from the graffiti on the Tiber’s embankment walls where Kentridge’s frieze was realized were interwoven with songs and chants from beyond the borders of Europe.
The program featured more than forty musicians and vocalists, including soloists Lavinia Mancusi, Ann Masina, Joanna Dudley, Patrizia Rotonda and Bham Ntabeni, as well as a diverse range of instruments, from the soft tones of the African kora to the rousing drone of the Italian zampogna. Voices from both the past and present rose and fell in the call and response of Triumphs and Laments: a Mandinkan slave song from West Africa, an ancient Southern Italian melismatic folk song, a battle song from the Zulu warriors – with Rilke’s words recited and sung throughout: “That is the longing: to dwell amidst the waves / and have no homeland in time.” (Questa e la nostalgia: vivere nella piena / e non avere patria dentro al tempo.)
An immersive 32-channel sound system (42-loudspeakers across 560 meters) designed for the event by David Monacchi, conveyed voices and instruments across the river where the public gathered. The sound reflected the processions’ movements along the expanse of the frieze, so the audience could experience the bands’ approach, conflict and convergence.
More than 30,000 people witnessed the inauguration of the Triumphs and Laments frieze, and were immersed in its powerful fluid soundscape and colorful reflections from across the riverbank.
Philip Miller and Thuthuka Sibisi
The music for Triumphs and Laments emerges from the images we all carry, today, of a mass of migrants trudging across Europe. These are the 21st century processions: parents and children and friends, brothers and sisters, dragging their scant belongings from a place of terrible violence to a place of imagined sanctuary, a place that might become “home.” These are, of course, not the first exiles – nor will they be the last. As my own starting point, I examined the liturgical songs of the late Renaissance Italian Jewish composer Salomone Rossi of Mantua. I chose Rossi’s madrigal Al Naharot Bavel, based on the text of Psalm 137 from the Book of Exodus. This speaks to me not only of oppressed peoples forced into exile, but of the nationalism and violence that ensues. My structure for the composition came from re-imagining Rossi’s songs being played stereophonically, by two musical processions of singers along the waters of the Tiber. One procession is an expression of triumph, and one of lament. Imagine the rivers of Babylon, or the Red Sea, or indeed the expanse of Mediterranean Sea between Africa and Lampedusa: brass players and percussionists walk toward each other from two different geographical positions along the river, as if encountering each other across a body of water. The narratives of migration are tragic, but can also be redemptive. As migrants leave loved ones behind, or make it to the imagined ‘promised land’ only to find a new world of difficulties, Triumph and Lament talk to each other across the water. Exploring the dissonances, harmonic shifts and mottos off Rossi’s work, together with my co-composer Thuthuka Sibisi, I have broken down the song into fragments, loops, and rhythmical motifs. I have extended moments of both dissonance and resolution, which speak to the emotions of both lamentation and triumph that emerge from the two musical processions. Every call of a triumphant musical phrase which emanates from the Triumphal procession is answered by its counterpoint procession of Laments, with music of mourning and darkness. But the musical elaboration of Salomone Rossi also gives way to musical eruptions where voices from both the present and the past resonate within the sound-world of the processions: a Mandinkan slave song from West Africa, an ancient Southern Italian melismatic folk song, or a battle song from the Zulu warriors. In this city, as in all European metropolises, the narratives of migration are inscribed onto its stones. As we walk and play this music along the banks of the Tiber, I choose not to ignore the graffiti written on the walls behind us, much of which has been erased in preparation for the project. Rather, I incorporate these slogans, sometimes foreign or unclear and indecipherable, into a “call and response” chant between the two musical processions. This “sounding” of the erased graffiti from the walls sees visual traces as part of the musical palimpsest that shapes the composition, reminding us of how these inscriptions on the walls at the banks of the river continue to mark the triumphs and laments of present day Rome. Finally, I have chosen the words of the poet Rainer Maria Rilke from his book Die Frühen Gedichte, Leipzig, 1922 to be recited and sung during the procession: “That is the longing: to dwell amidst the waves / and have no homeland in time.” (Questo è il desiderio: vivere tra le onde e non avere patria nei secoli.) – Philip Miller
Permit Coordinator and Institutional Relations
Music Coordinator
Technical Planning and Coordination
Technical Supervision
Triumphs and Laments was made possible through the generous contributions of Galleria Lia Rumma, Marian Goodman Gallery, Goodman Gallery, Agnes Gund, Brenda R. Potter and the Isambard Kingdom Brunel Society of North America. Major sponsorship support was provided by Alitalia, official airline partner. Additional sponsorship is provided by The Westin Excelsior Rome, official hotel partner, Birra Menabrea, Ferrarelle, Giubilarte, Illycaffè, Molto, Tenimenti d’Alessandro, and UBER. The project could not have happened without the support of Suzanne Deal Booth, Alba Clemente, Margaret Holben Ellis, Andrew Ginzel, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Barbara Hoffman, Carol LeWitt, Jay Mellon, Stephen Metcalf, Joyce Pomeroy-Schwartz, Amy Segal, Mark and Aline Weiller, William Weiller, and Linda Cheverton and Walter Wick; as well as the immeasurable contributions of hundreds of dedicated volunteers over many years. Institutional support was provided by: Roma Capitale, Sovraintendenza Capitolina, Municipio Roma 1, AMA, MIBACT Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo, Soprintendenza Belle Arti e Paesaggio del Comune di Roma, Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione ed il Restauro (ISCR), Regione Lazio, Direzione Infrastrutture ambiente e Politiche abitative della Regione Lazio, Agenzia Regionale per la Difesa del Suolo (ARDIS). And cultural support from: MAXXI, MACRO, John Cabot University, the Embassy of the United States of America in Italy, the Embassy of the Republic of South Africa in Rome, the American Academy in Rome. Thanks also to: Flavia Barca, Agostino Bureca, Paola Cannavò, Renata Codello, Alessandro Grangiotti, Giovanna Marinelli, Valentina Moncada, Piero Ostilio Rossi, Emiliano Paoletti, Cristiana Perrella, Bartolomeo Pietromarchi.
Triumphs and Laments non sarebbe stato possibile senza l’incommensurabile contributo delle centinaia di volontari in questi anni. L’ampia partecipazione è la generosa risposta all’esigenza di contribuire in prima persona a un progetto che parla di Roma e della sua storia. Questa può essere l’occasione per restituire alla città una parte della propria identità e dare un impulso nella trasformazione dello spazio pubblico, ad iniziare dall’adozione di Piazza Tevere. Gli oltre 200 cittadini coinvolti in Triumphs and Laments sono i primi ambasciatori dell’opera di William Kentridge.
