GABRIELA ORTIZ: Kauyumari

by Jeff Counts

Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz was immersed in the twin disciplines of folk and classical music from the earliest age. Her parents were founding members of a Latin American folk music ensemble and Gabriela performed on guitar with them, while also studying piano and composition. This is why, according to her bio, Ortiz’s greatest skill is the “ingenious merging of distinct sonic worlds. Here is what Ortiz writes about her 2021 work Kauyumari: “Among the Huichol people of Mexico, Kauyumari means ‘blue deer.’ The blue deer represents a spiritual guide, one that is transformed through an extended pilgrimage into a hallucinogenic cactus called peyote. It allows the Huichol to communicate with their ancestors, do their bidding, and take on their role as guardians of the planet. Each year, these Native Mexicans embark on a symbolic journey to ‘hunt’ the blue deer, making offerings in gratitude for having been granted access to the invisible world, through which they also are able to heal the wounds of the soul.” She concluded her hopeful note by saying, “While composing this piece, I noted once again how music has the power to grant us access to the intangible, healing our wounds and binding us to what can only be expressed through sound. Although life is filled with interruptions, Kauyumari is a comprehension and celebration of the fact that each of these rifts is also a new beginning.”