The following collection of prayers intends to establish a kind of intimate, microscopic, deep kinesics, an inner “small dance” that opens up introspection, meditation and / or contemplation paths. It is important, therefore, to consider that this set should not be understood as a religious production. Tao Te King (foundation for Taoist philosophy), insightfully states in its XXVIII epigram that religiousness is only an appearance of loyalty, but destitution of a real spiritual dimension.

These prayers represent an austere act of ancestral memory, an attempt to voice out a compound of elemental imagery found in many worldviews of the most diverse aboriginal cultures. It is incarnated through singing (an embodiment act) in order to share a willingness to connect with something I consider essential, something we cannot name (for by naming it, it is undone), the ancient, irrational core of all things living. Because of this, I invite you to listen to these pieces not as a work of art, even though they live as musical sound (not electroacoustic this time, but appealing to ambient music). The invitation is, through listening, to build up that bridge (pons + ifice, the bridge builder) that connects us and that primal, atavistic footprint living silently inside of us.

Five years after a homemade, very limited first release, I share this digital-only, free-download reissue via Pueblo Nuevo Netlabel. It is a small gift, looking forward to accompanying (us), one way or another, during these complex, critical (political, social, health, spiritual) moments we are going through as a planetary society.

José Miguel Candela
(Santiago, Chile. Mayo / May 2020)
English version by Gerardo Figueroa.