Anatheme

This double album resulting from the live recording of Anathème, a show by Jacques Delcuvellerie and Groupov at the Théâtre National (Brussels) as part of the Kunstenfestivaldesarts (2006). The work was created at the Cloître des Célestins, Avignon Festival (July 2005). Anathema (one of the translations of the Hebrew word 'Herem', divine curse which requires the complete extermination of a human group) was a theatrical, visual and musical spectacle, based above all on orality and whose textual material was based exclusively on texts from the Old Testament relating collective killings and massacres, directly carried out by God or perpetrated on his formal orders. Since it is the voice of God which says it is heard, it is this which resonates from one end to the other of this oratorio of the Word. Pictorial projections, human presences, polyphonic vocal and instrumental fabric, all these scenic elements were subordinated to listening to the divine word. They did not claim to illustrate it at any time. They would offer him a framework and, sometimes, a sort of counterpoint. This double CD is enriched with a 25-page booklet (texts and photos) which explains the theoretical foundations of the work but also the principles and method of its musical development. The two composers, Garrett List and Jean-Pierre Urbano, worked both in intimate collaboration and with great personal freedom. Also instrumental in the public performance of the work, they therefore also initiate its part of improvisation. The show is divided into two main parts, the music is naturally structured into two large movements (CD1 and CD2) which develop continuously but can also be listened to in 32 distinct tracks.