H.W. Henze - El Cimarrón, Ensemble Machetes

Two movements (Slavery&Escape) from H.W. Henze's - El Cimarrón, performed by Ensemble Machetes (Jussi Lehtipuu-baritone, Gregor Schulenburg-flute, Jose Pepe Garcia - percussion, Mislav Rezic-guitar). Stage director and camera, Christiaan Mooij.

The text in English:


III. Slavery

Every morning at half past four the overseer rang the Ave Maria. By the ninth stroke all the slaves had to be out of bed. At six, they rang the bell for the inspection out front of the barracks; the women to the left, the men to the right. It was a big, wide, dust-covered place. There was not even one single tree. Not one palm tree, not one cedar, not one fig tree. After roll call, they drove us out to the sugar fields. There, they made us work until the sun began to set. Then they rang the prayer bell. At nine o clock, the last bell sounded and the overseer came to the gate and locked us in.
During the slavery, I saw some really terrible things happen. In the boilerhouse of the refinery were the stocks. The stocks were made of crude and strong thick boards and there were five holes in them for your head, your hands and both of your feet. Any kind of provocation, any kind of crap, they would lock you up in the stocks and beat you -- two, sometimes three times a months at a time The Overseer always had his whip ready; they made the pregnant women lie on their stomachs, so they would not lose their baby. Believe me, I ve seen many of my comrades with bleeding shoulders! To heal your torn-up skin, they would rub you with tobacco leaves, with salt and with urine. That burned you like fire!

IV. Escape

I knew that I could not stand that kind of life much longer. Only a nobody would put up with it. I could not stay there. All I thought of was to escape. Often I could not sleep -- I had my escape to plan.
The slaves were mostly frightened by the thought of living in the mountains. You ll be captured just like that, they told me. But still I decided the woods would be better. What could be worse than working in the fields? That was like being in Hell! I kept my eyes on the overseer, that son-of-a-bitch, I watched him closely. I can still see him now. He never took his hat off. The slaves were frightened of him. He used a whip -- one slash from that and he d cut your skin to ribbon. One day I couldn t take it anymore. My rage swept my body like a fire. I whistled and he turned round to look. I grabbed a rock from the ground as he turned and I smashed it into his filthy, ugly face. I hit him good and hard. I knew that, for he screamed, Don t let him go! I ran off and did not look back until I was alone in the mountains, in the woods.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• H.W.
• Henze
• El
• Cimarrón
• Ensemble
• Machetes
• music
• chamber
• modern
• quartet
• performance
• movie
• theater
• opera
• Jussi
• Lehtipuu
• baritone
• Gregor
• Schulenburg
• flute
• Jose
• Pepe
• Garcia
• percussion
• Mislav
• Rezic
• guitar
• direction
• and
• camera
• Christiaan
• Mooij
• Holland
• Mexico
• Cuba
• Germany
• Deutschland
• Finland
• Croatia
• Slavery
• Escape
• die
• Sklaverei
• flucht

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