DER LETSCHT GRAATZUG
A SOUND, TONE AND SPEECH GAME
Purgatory in Valais is freezing cold: poor souls atone for their sins in the depths of the glacier. But at night, they emerge from the bitter cold and form a procession of the dead, known as the 'Graatzug', which winds its way along narrow paths through valleys and villages.
When such a procession of spirits passes by, you can soon hear a dull murmur, like a large pilgrimage where the rosary is being prayed. Soon you can hear the slow funeral march being drummed and whistled; soon all kinds of music, crying and laughing voices; soon just a strange roar and rustling and a breeze that is sometimes cold, sometimes warm.
Wir sind die Seelen, gefangen im Eis, vergessen, verloren, gemieden,
im beinah endlosen Weiss der Zeit.
Jahrhundert um Jahrhundert, Schicht um Schicht,
hat uns die Kälte umschlungen, uns gehalten, nicht freigegeben.
Doch nun spricht das Eis.
Es schmilzt. Es reisst. Es bricht.
ROLF HERMANN
SOUND, TONE AND SPEECH IN A TOTAL WORK OF ART
It is said that all Valaisans have a keen sense of cultural heritage. While some still embody traditions, the artist collective interprets them in an artistic way.
The DER LETSCHT GRAATZUG project opens up the soundscapes of the 'poor souls' who atone for their sins in the glacier and venture into the world of the living on their Graatzug.
The glaciers are melting, familiar things are disappearing, and what seemed eternal is suddenly proving to be transient. The 'poor souls' who have had to atone for their misdeeds in the 'Chalte Wasseru' for hundreds of years are full of hope – this suffering and painful separation is not eternal – they will soon be redeemed.
DER LETSCHT GRAATZUG takes the audience into the mystical, surreal atmosphere of legends and myths, drawing on folk music idioms. Mysterious sounds from the mystical world of glaciers and mountains, new and traditional music, and poetic texts merge in this project to create a total work of art that radiates hope despite ecological catastrophe and increasing anxiety. This dual perspective – the destruction of nature and the symbolic liberation of souls – runs through the entire work and expresses this ambivalence in an artistic way.
Ohne Laut, ohne Schwere,
gleiten wir über das schwindende Eis,
gleiten hinüber in eure lebendige Welt.
Habt ihr unsere Stimmen gespürt
in eurer Haut, in euren Träumen ?
Ja, der Gletscher ist alt.
Der Gletscher trägt die Stimmen derer, die hier lebten,
derer, die hier starben.
Sie ruhen in ihm.
Der Gletscher verliert seine Schichten.
Das Schmelzwasser höhlt ihn aus, löst ihn auf.
Und mit jedem Tropfen, der fällt,
verschwinden Geschichten und Stimmen.
ROLF HERMANN
