"A brief, fervent spiritual maxim, capable of producing in the mind an impression similar to that caused in the body by the wound from an arrow... capable, not of riddling the heart of the most hardened or indifferent sinner with arrows, but of giving a dead man gooseflesh."

José Maria Sbarbi, 'La Enciclopedia', 1880

Diary excerpt:

"Miguel Ángel at the bar on the corner is convinced my task is an impossible, but he is warmly supportive of my endeavours. Last night following generously poured glass of rum (this is the first time he's joined me in a drink, and it was by his own suggestion), he confesses a troubled interest in the project through a series of questions. After 6 years of learning in Seville, how will I transmit this 'knowledge' or experience to a British audience who don't have the least idea about Semana Santa? How can a sound recording relay an experience that is multi-sensory? He is more eloquent in his questions than this, of course, having a sensitivity for detail, but I'm summarising as always.

I talk about building a 'puentecito' (little bridge) between two worlds that I am passionate about (the multi-sensory 'theatre' of Seville's Holy Week and the island that is contemporary sound art in my country). Yes, but these layers, how will an uninitiated audience understand? How will they understand the poly-rhythmic tinkling of the ornate, silver poles that hold the canopy above each of Seville's Virgins, if they have never seen a 'paso de palio' in motion? Miguel is of course correct, but I explain that I am looking for something in these sounds, or in an interrelationship between a group of such sound, 'framed' within a sound recording, that might transmit something almost innate: that somehow in the 'quejío' (groan) of the extended note of a single cornet, an entire history of ideas and 'sentimiento' seems to be embedded within the very fabric of the sound."

Research history

The 'saeta flamenca' - or better expressed, 'las saetas flamencas' since there are many catergories of saeta – is religious, devotional song born of Andalucia (Spain) and sung during the region's Semana Santa processions. Sung in the late C19th and early C20th by flamenco singers from the balconies and streets of Seville, it is now considered a denominated 'palo flamenco' (type of improvisational flamenco song with its own defined musical form, rhythmic emphasis or 'compás', lyrical themes, etc).

Seeking out those who launch their saetas from balconies, largely anonymously, in dedication to Seville's religious effigies as they are paraded aloft through the streets each Easter, the project is rooted in activity as a sound hunter – 'cazar saetas' (to 'hunt' saetas). And since in all flamenco 'duende' (a term without a specific equivalent in the English language, literally meaning 'goblin' or 'imp' and referring to moments of pure or profound communication through music, dance, etc.) is elusive and improvisational, this task is from the very beginning much like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

The investigation takes material shape through stereo and multi-channel sound recordings, HD video work, interviews and writing. An archive of sound recordings 2009 – 2011 produced in the process of current research is held by the British Library.

Thanks / Agradecimientos

Julie Penfold, Simon Day, Isobel Clouter, Janet Topp, Eva Del Rey, Pepe Medina, Susana Martínz Sierra, Pepe Perejil, El Sacri, Measure, PVA MediaLab, the British Library.