vicki trimbach: Music
Chamber Poem no 1 Piano, Cello & Flute
(Vicki Trimbach [piano], Dan Reiter [cello], & Priscilla Call Essert [flute])
"The anthropologists seemed to be just walking by,
asking nosy questions
...and then they made masks of their faces"
A documentary I saw contained old footage of German anthropologists in the era just preceding WWII. They were visiting other countries, studying the racial characteristics of the people. The action that shocked me into writing this music was when I saw them lay the people down, put straws in their noses, and pour a thick paste over the faces. The people were so trusting to have this suffocating action done to them by strangers. And then I thought, is this how it happens? you define the differences so clearly, that you become very clear about the differences you don't like? And then what?