Artists Statement

Ernesto Estrella Czar

I understand the voice as a fragile state of sound, rhythm and silence, the possibilities of which are infinite. My work on the voice thus moves in a realm of absolute freedom in which stable sound surfaces, such as intonation curves, word, phoneme, or breath, are only the most recognizable elements towards the exploration of a sound idea. Confronted with an idea, my voice enters a sensitive, cautious, and accurate search. A porous diagonal cuts through that realm of possibilities when a piece is created and performed. The voice sustains the possibility of sharing a search where the listener is the threshold, and the ear is the stage where a bond can emerge. With a whisper, with a scream or an absence of sound, the voice proposes to share this search. A sound piece thus becomes a device for an awareness, a place in which to sustain ourselves in a state of permanent care. And when this is done, an opportunity arises for the voice to think.

Stemming from perceptions born in my performances and workshops, my point of departure could be also expressed with this simple question: Is it possible to listen without the automatic precipitation into visual metaphors and emotional reactions already predetermined in our experience? The key issue in my work is not only what do we listen when we listen, but also, what am I giving as sound through my voice. Coming from the field of written poetry and music, I have often felt that sound can communicate the actual process of creation in its core. So, from the voice, I investigate the tensions, the blurry, incipient emotional areas and intuitions that sustain a drive or an idea.

My solo projects include a Sound Map of Poetry, a set of pieces based on corporal disciplines, called The Voice Thinks a Body, and a series of brief conceptual sound works entitled The minutes. In my collaborations, I look for partners and works that alter in some way my certainties or acquired technical strategies. In Achronos, it was the work of soundpoems through a classic black and white photography setting. The frame that moves between composition and improvisation is the center of my work in the jazz-rock band Hellhoundsound and the experimental trio MES. Most recently, the inclusion of my piece Noche Cerrada in a contemporary music piece for violin, voice and divided orchestra, brought me to develop a precise and formalized notation for my voice work. Likewise, the project that I here present, The Voice inside the Image, is my attempt to create a space for a sensitive dialectic between the sound and the visual experience.