The work created by Caroline Bergvall draws on ancient and contemporary musical and literary sunrise traditions, such as troubadour love poetry, while at the same time addressing the linguistic territories of the UK and European Union, specifically languages that are endangered or at risk, and those that are emerging. The vocal composition at the heart of the work is composed by the British Composer Gavin Bryars and performed by soprano Peyee Chen. Working with Bryars has ensured the presence of a cross-historical vocal strand that combines his long-standing interest in early vocal music and ancient European languages. Live electronic musician Verity Susman has created the Dawn Chorus of languages: a multilingual layering of voices as well as conversational snippets and outbursts that inhabit the performance. Live sound engineer Sam Grant has devised the site-specific listening set-up.
It was first performed in 2016 at the Festival de la Batie (Geneva) and Estuary Festival (Southend) and garnered great reviews. During 2017, I embarked on a period of research into the multi-linguist components of the work, speaking to and recording speakers of some 14 languages in Europe put under pressure by prejudice and historical relationships. These have now been integrated to Ragadawn.
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