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About the Composer
Homar Sánchez Díaz
Graphite Publishing
Shamán (The One Who Knows)
Explore a musical world of supernatural wonder and power.
for SATB div. a cappella choir with tenor solo
“Shaman” is at once both mesmerizing and exciting. The choir represents powerful forces of nature, with blowing winds, smashing rocks, and torrential rains. Sustained ostinatos enable the choir to get into a fun groove and build momentum; “Shaman” feels like a boulder rolling down a hill. The dense textures are varied enough to allow daylight to shine through, resulting in contrast and color.
Composer’s Notes
The word shaman means the one who knows. In this piece, the text takes the form of a dialogue between nature’s spirits—the gods of wind, fire, water, and earth— and humankind. Yet the voices are not solemn invocations; rather, they carry an edge of irony. The spirits mock the illusion of human power: “With just a word you can stop the wind, with two words the earth trembles…” Their tone suggests that what humans call mastery over nature is but a fragile pretension.
As the music unfolds, the elemental forces are given voice—storms, rivers, flames, volcanoes—all seemingly at the command of the human figure. But beneath this imagery lies a reversal: it is the spirits themselves who are speaking, teasing, and exposing human arrogance.
At the end, irony yields to a more haunting plea. The spirits address humankind with words that could be heard as a lament: “Let what I have lost return one day, let this time itself cease to flow.” In this moment, the gods turn the mirror back on us, reminding us of our constant desire for restoration and escape from time’s passage.
Interpretively, the piece should not be sung as a triumphal incantation, but as a ritual tinged with ambiguity—half- mockery, half-prayer. The music must breathe with elemental force: the wind should feel sudden, the earth trembling, the flames restless and dancing. Yet always there is an undercurrent of irony, as if the voices of nature were smiling grimly at our illusions of control.
– Homar Sánchez Díaz
Text
Con tan sólo una palabra se detiene el viento,
y con dos palabras tiembla el suelo, tiembla el suelo.
Abres las lluvias a tu paso,
vuelcas los ríos hacia atrás.
Y las llamas, tus amigas,
danzan, danzan sin parar.
Tú que con tus manos calmas los volcanes,
tú que por tu aliento sopla el huracán,
Deja que un día vuelva lo que yo he perdido
Deja que este tiempo deje de pasar.
– Homar Sánchez Díaz
TRANSLATION:
With just a single word, the wind is stilled,
and with two words the earth trembles, trembles.
You open the rains at your passing,
you turn the rivers back in their course.
And the flames, your faithful friends,
dance, dance without end.
You, who with your hands calm the volcanoes,
you, whose breath sets the hurricane blowing,
let what I have lost return one day,
let this time itself cease to flow.
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