Heiliges Land - Terra Santa

The darkness is fed with the deep pain of helplessness

The book by the Milanese poet Alda Merini, Terra Santa (1984), collects in 40 poems a torn and visceral poetry that emerged from the writer's unfortunate journey in the Paolo Pini Psychiatric Hospital. Sira Hernández composed Terra Santa. Ci sono angeli nel cielo in 2017, within the project L'altra voce by the choreographer and director Moreno Bernardi. Of the four parts into which the show was divided, Terra Santa was the first. Sira Hernández presents us under the indication like a prayer, a large-format work from which the idea of the presence of God is developed in the deepest and darkest spaces of madness. Once again, the omnipresence of B flat reminds us of the place of the shadow, the sound memory of the beginning of inspiration and movement, which appears lurking wrapped in solitude and darkness. The repetitions of the motifs and the changes in the textures introduce us to an emotional balance, neurosis in the face of loneliness and sadness. The composer invites us to penetrate Alda Merini's psychosis thanks to a communicative language, avoiding concepts of material development in clear reference to the condition of her own poetry. Pure and truthful communication that is born from visceral, intense and therefore enjoyable creative processes insofar as it invites us to ride a wild wave full of poetry.