The relation between concrete and abstract is carried into how the instrumentation and electronic sound is used in the piece. Sound is often dissolving from the representational, for instance the sound of rain, Creole dance music on the radio, a bell or the sound of surf, into something abstract or textural, mirroring the transformation of reality in Kiev’s mind. The concrete and tactile texture of some of the electronic sounds are meant to be as much a physical presence in the space, almost like sound props or backgrounds, as well as symbolically representing the natural forces of fire and water, sound images that permeate the work.
The choice of instrumentation used in the piece was formed as a way of coming close to a sound world that is a mix of resonances of Haitian traditional music, and Christian missionary music: recorders, trombone, electric guitar, Indian harmonium, violin, double bass and electronics. While there are certainly influences of Haitian music in the melodic writing and the rhythmic patterns, I have avoided the referencing of strong rhythmic patterns and percussive colours – as if the island’s sonic environment is something that gets filtered through the walls of the orphanage. The most direct use of Haitian music actually comes from recordings that Cathie made of girls singing in one of the orphanages that she visited in Port-au-Prince, a beautiful lo-fi recording which captures the atmosphere at once of the defiance, innocence and even joy of the orphan girls in the face of the circumstances of their lives.