‘iletariak’ animates the remains of the Irangoiti shrine, once the spiritual center of the Valley of La Bizkaia, drawing on the Basque tradition of mourners who offered elegies for the deceased, rather than mere laments as tributes. The geography and acoustic archaeology of the site merge through amplifying almost imperceptible sounds to expreme levels, combining diferent techniques of recording the ruin’s quiet vibrations with the sonic archive from the last dwellers of the now uninhabited valley. As a bridge between past lineages of forceful rural displacement with a present need for shared expressions of sorrow, the composition summons a space of communal reflection to serve as a transition between loss and remembrance, in a ‘breath’ taken together.

Presented at “¿quién robó la campana?”, Ezprogui, Navarra, ES











Photography: Ander Sabastiberri