SAOCO (2020)

Instrumentation:

flute, electric guitar, piano, and cello

Duration:

6 mins.

Program notes:

This piece comes from a concern of how elements of reggaetón intersect with other Latin rhythms and certain ‘new music’ conventions. Saoco is a word used often to describe a contagious rhythm or songs. It’s also both used as a term in Salsa music and reggaetón. This piece explores the friction between the rhythm of dem-bow (which appears first in the piano) and a triplet rhythm. At fist the triplet rhythm dominates the texture but as it slowly unravels, the ‘tension’ between these two textures heightens until the sixteenth notes dominate texture.