Ziur - De Brujas Y Fantasmas (Original Soundtrack For Kiani Del Valle Solo Dance Performance) Ziur

Conceived by director, choreographer and dancer Kianí del Valle alongside iconic producer Ziúr 'De Brujas y Fantasmas' pairs del Valle's energetic performance with Ziúr's fittingly phantasmal score. Translated to "Of Witches and Ghosts", the project is rooted in the witch's role within Latin American and European cultures, the ingrained symbolism that has historically provoked both fear and intrigue, often simultaneously. Del Valle isolates two core influences: the mythological figure of La Llorona, whose mournful cries are said to lead listeners to misfortune and sometimes death; and the legendary Mexican shaman and poet María Sabina, whose ritualistic use of entheogenic mushrooms helped her break down the barrier between the physical world and the spirit realm. Looking at the work of "New German Dance" pioneer Mary Wigman, del Valle traces echoes of Sabina's philosophy, reinterpreting original choreography from Wigman's 1926 performance 'The Witch Dance / Hexentanz’ and inviting the audience to reconsider what they think they know about marginalized women.

'De Brujas y Fantasmas' was presented at the 61st Venice Biennale opening, during the program curated and produced by Kuboraum WE TRAVEL TO KNOW OUR OWN GEOGRAPHY, and is set to be performed at Berlin's Hamburger Bahnhof during Berlin Art Week on September 11th. And Ziúr's musical accompaniment shadows the esoteric motion of del Valle's highly researched meditations, lamentations and celebrations. On 'La Llorona De Noche', she guides onlookers towards the negative space, filling the gaps between her distorted kick drums with eerie spirit traces. Slow and intentional, the track opens up to include ritualistic chimes and animalistic, growling synth drones that lead directly into the noisy, incantation 'Luna Negra', six minutes of freeform percussion and serrated oscillations powerful enough to wake the dead. Wigman's guiding hand is most evident on ‘Hexentanz’, when Ziúr's groaning synthesizers fall into line with a jerking, unstable rhythm that, a century after the original piece was debuted, speaks to a chaotic contemporary world where womens' roles are still misunderstood. And del Valle's voice finally emerges on 'Hueso De Humo', sewn into Ziúr's powerful tapestry of pulsing glitches and billowing drones.

Together, Ziúr and del Valle work to present the ghost and the witch not as terrifying archetypes, but guardians of culture that's often been shrouded from view. 'De Brujas y Fantasmas' celebrates the women on the outskirts of society that have protected esoteric knowledge for millennia, working in spite of persecution to preserve our most cherished stories, sounds and movements