An electroacoustic piece created during June 2023 while in residency at the Centre culturel irlandais in Paris (France). The piece draws on the voices of many native French speakers who I met in Paris and also two who I met in Inishowen, Donegal, before going there. The poetry is mostly from Léon-Paul Fargue and Paul Éluard, with Ceinture by Paul Valéry and fragments of Apollinaire, important modernist and sometimes surrealist poets. The final poem is in Russian, Imperia, by Nikita Grigorov, from Ukraine. An important theme of the piece, apparent in several of the poems, is the idea of art continuing to be made in times of war. Paris itself forms another theme.

For me, the voices not only bring great poetry to the fore in this piece, but each brings their own personality, and so the other musical sounds are only a part of the whole — is it a piece of music? Or a group portrait with a fancy frame? It doesn’t matter, it is a piece of art.

My thanks to the readers: Bernard, Jenny, Marion, Davide, Yann, Bernadette, Saeed, Juliette, and Nikita. Further thanks to both the Centre culturel irlandais and the Contemporary Music Centre for providing the opportunity to concentrate on this work for a month.

[iv-24]