Kachkaniraqmi (I Still Exist) (2024)
(Concerto Grosso for String Quartet and String Orchestra)

Movements
I. Preludio Andino (Andean Prelude)
II. Soliloquio Serrano (Mountain Soliloquy)
III. Vientos Ladrones (Robber Winds)
IV. Velorio Infantil (Child’s Wake)

I have spent my composerly life fascinated by my cultural heritage and its reception in the wider world. I tell my younger siblings coming up in the music industry that as the landscape shifts around them, politically and demographically, and regards them variously more or less acceptable through the ages, their own journey must continue unmolested by, at worst, the violence of fears, and at best, the oddness of trendiness. 

“Kachkanaraqmi,” or “I still exist” in the indigenous Quechua language of my Peruvian forebearers, speaks to the resilience, even insistence, of a racial soul through the generations. In this four movement work, a brief pastoral Andean prelude, a moody mountain soliloquy, a romp of thieving winds, and a lyrical child’s wake utilize the sonorous possibilities of a concerto gross for string quartet and string orchestra, variously celebrating the quartet as their own ensemble, as soloists, and as section leaders within the orchestra. Throughout, re-imaginings of age-old indigenous motifs and rhythms proliferate.  

- Gabriela Lena Frank