I HAD A DREAM
15′ – 2007
for choir
I Had a dream
“We are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rushes like a torrent.” We are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream and righteousness like a mighty river … “(Martin Luther King, see Amos, 5,24).
Built from the famous 1963 speech by Martin Luther King, this piece of vocal essence highlights the rhythmic and melodic patterns of American black rhetoric. The soundtrack takes up in the speech of the pastor. The chorus follows each vocal fluctuation. As soon as the voice of the speaker sketches the shadow of a song, this movement is captured and prolonged by the choir. Likewise for the rhythmic sequences of language and enunciation, each scansion is echoed by the vocal mass and the bass drum, thus revealing a deep inner song and impulse, the real essence of gospel music, to … overflowing …
Very shocked by the way in which the United States managed the New Orleans disaster in August 2005, Zad Moultaka intends to resonate the themes of the speech that remain, more than forty years later, cruelly topical: denunciation of injustice, racial discrimination, the confiscation of the myth of the American dream …
Built as a litany, the speech of Martin Luther King takes the form of intercessions: alternation of the solo voice of the speaker – invocations, requests, formulations and sound manifestations of the crowd: cheers, applause … The speech contains allusions to Abraham Lincoln, to the American Constitution prescribing the inalienable right to life, freedom and the search for happiness, references to the Declaration of Independence, borrowed from the Bible or the words of the old Negro spiritual Free at last! Free at last to underline this thirst, this legitimate claim of equality and justice. Zad Moultaka transcribes here fragments of testimonies of victims of New Orleans and gave this word to the choir. It then resonates with the emphasis and intercession of Martin Luther King.
A mirror game evoking the cruelty and injustice that still rule our contemporary world.
“I had a dream” is a modern totem. One can imagine oneself in an assembly, during a vigil. In the center a speaker spreads the speech of Martin Luther King. For Zad Moultaka, the monophonic loudspeaker plays the role of ancestor relics in animist societies, personifying through the representation of the dead. One recreates a face to establish presence here and in the other space. This presence carries a memory, a word, a way of life and thought becomes an object of wisdom. Here it is the pastor’s voice that extends and finds a space of resonance. The choir becomes a medium, melodically follows the fluctuations of the 1963 speech, while singing and chanting fragments of testimonies of victims of New Orleans after the passage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The piece reveals a song and a deep impulse, essence of gospel, till the overflow …
In tribute to the victims of the New Orleans
“I have a dream” is the title of the most famous speech by Martin Luther King, delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March to Washington for Labor and Freedom in Washington on August 28, 1963.
Text: Zad Moultaka, fragments of interviews with survivors of Hurricane Katrina
Singing language: English
Premiere: 29 September, 2007
Théâtre Au fil de l’eau, Pantin, Ile-de-France Festival
by the chamber choir les éléments, direction Joël Suhubiette
November 7, 2007 The Hexagon, national stage, Grenoble, Festival 38e Rugissants par le chœur du Conservatoire de Grenoble, direction Luc Denoux
July 11, 2008 Festival des Lumières de Sorèze, by les éléments, direction Joël Suhubiette
May 17, 2009 Saint-Pierre les Cuisines, Toulouse, France by les éléments, direction Joël Suhubiette
May 18, 2010 Présences vocales Odyssud, Blagnac by les éléments, direction Joël Suhubiette
March 24, 2010 Espace Paul Jargot Crolles by Temps relatif, direction Luc Denoux.
December 1, 2010 Atlanta (USA), by les éléments, direction Joël Suhubiette
November 22, 2016 MC2, Grenoble by le chœur Spirito, direction Nicole Corti (programme Regarde ici-bas)
December 1, 2016 La Comédie de Clermont, Clermont-Ferrand par le chœur Spirito, direction Nicole Corti (programme Regarde ici-bas)
Commissioned by Monique Velay
© ŠamaŠ éditions musicales 2007
Paroles des naufragés
english version / french version
