Requested by and dedicated to Ivo Nilsson and Jonny Axelsson
Publisher: Bardic Edition
Score in preparation
Duration: c. 12 minutes, 15 seconds
First performance: Thursday 8 October 2015, 18h00; Konstnärsnämnden, Maria Skolgata 83, Stockholm, Sweden; Ivo Nilsson alto trombone, Jonny Axelsson vibraphone.
Further performances:
10.10.2015; Visby, Sweden; Axelsson-Nilsson Duo
1.03.2017; Nirox Foundation, Johannesburg, South Africa; Axelsson-Nilsson Duo (South African premiere)
3.03.2017; Purpur Festival, Cape Town, South Africa; Axelsson-Nilsson Duo
Sterkfontein, where I initially developed this piece, is situated in the Cradle of Humankind, outside Johannesburg. When I started thinking about a piece for Ivo and Jonny, I posited this question to myself: what kind of music might the early hominids have made? Then I allowed my imagination to run riot. Among other things the alto trombone could conjure up the lumbering of large prehistoric animals in this landscape with the very muted, often quite inaudible vibraphone perhaps suggesting more agile creatures.