Step 1: Choose a favorite book, or simply choose one at random.
Step 2: Read — preferably aloud — the first sentence in the book’s text.
Step 3: Make music that somehow reflects the line you read in Step 2.
Nice challenge!
I picked a book at random from a cardboard box filled with souvenirs from my years in Argentina. When I moved to Europe, I brought most of my belongings with me — but some heavier items (mostly old books, cassettes, and vinyl records) stayed behind. I'm gradually bringing those things — and memories — back.
The first book from that pile:
*Cuentos de dos orillas* (1971 edition)
I remember most of the short stories in it — I read them decades ago (at least 35 years). The one I truly love is the story by Borges.
For the music, I used an unused 2023 recording with Santiago Arias on bandoneon (I play bowed upright bass and Fender Rhodes). I added some synths to create an abstract soundscape.
This is the passage I read:
Funes, el memorioso
by Jorge Luis Borges
Lo recuerdo (yo no tengo derecho a pronunciar ese verbo sagrado, sólo un hombre
en la tierra tuvo derecho y ese hombre ha muerto) con una oscura pasionaria en la
mano, viéndola como nadie la ha visto, aunque la mirara desde el crepúsculo del
día hasta el de la noche, toda una vida entera. Lo recuerdo, la cara taciturna y
aindiada y singularmente remota, detrás del cigarrillo. Recuerdo (creo) sus manos
afiladas de trenzado. Recuerdo cerca de esas manos un mate, con las armas de la
Banda Oriental; recuerdo en la ventana de la casa una estera amarilla, con un vago
paisaje lacustre.
@disquiet
