Picaflor: A future myth (2024)

Composer note
Picaflor: A future myth is an original story born of my fancy, told in the language of a fable. It draws on the mythology of Andean Perú, the object of my lifelong fascination – The existence of a sky kingdom under the dominion of a creator sun god, and a mischievous hummingbird, the “picaflor,” who leaves the kingdom by ripping the sky. The story also draws on the existence of personages such as the chaski, the runner from the pre-Conquest Tawantinsuyu Empire who delivered messages along the Inca Road. All are portrayed against the backdrop of pachacuti, the longstanding indigenous belief that cataclysmic changes of era-worlds occur every several hundred years. 

What happens, I wonder, when we imagine these ideas as taking place in the future rather than the past? And in a future that will bear the mark of our attitudes towards Mother Earth? How do mythologies change in such a future? As a generational daughter of indigenous Perú, Picaflor is what has stirred inside me, musically rendered here for the symphony orchestra.

Movements

I. Pachacuti: The Drowning of Pachamama
Extinction, humans called it. But Sun God called it safekeeping: Whisking away his favorite creatures, one by one, into the Sky Kingdom while below, his sister Pachamama burned. Then, she flooded. And she did drown.

Those left behind roamed a dark, unpleasantly wet planet.

This went on for some time.

II. As the Night Tears
One day, a sliver of sunlight opens from above; a gleaming beam touches the earth. Then another. And there, another! A small being flies down, circling a ray. She lands among the forgotten creatures, a bit of ripped sky in her beak.

III. Song of the Picaflor
Awed, the creatures watch the Picaflor sing. They have never seen anything like her.

IV. Prophecy of the Mollusks
Ancient Mollusks emerge. From within their soft flesh, a memory jiggles: Picaflor had once created the world by stealing fire from a jealous Sun God and sharing its warmth with Pachamama. The abandoned creatures feel hope.

V. The Scraped Ones Point the Way
Petroglyphs peel away from their rocks. They bow to the distant Horizon where sky creates its seam with the sea. Picaflor’s unique beak could once again rip the barrier between the two worlds. Would she?

VI. The Keeper of Flies
A Human prostrates himself, his hands cupping a swarm of tiny flies, his proclaimed children. Released to Picaflor, they buzz under her wings, endowing her with even more speed.

VII. The Royal Road and the Ghosts of Chaskis Past
The Royal Road, a remnant of civilization, is home to the specters of its former messengers, the Chaskis. Picaflor flies the forbidding route to the Horizon, flanked by the sprinting ghosts.

VIII. Fossils at the Horizon
At the mysterious Horizon, Picaflor finds fossils of hummingbirds along the border between the two worlds. She knits their beaks into her own, and it becomes long and sharp. With effort, she creates a small tear at the seam, slips through, and ascends into the Sky Kingdom.

IX. The Sun God
Picaflor flies to Sun God. How angry he is to see his disobedient subject who left his kingdom, and now flying with such speed and with such a beak! As Sun God roars, he spits droplets of sunfire; Picaflor grabs a hold of a droplet! Sun God gives chase, following her through the rip, tearing it wide. The worlds spill into one another.

As they circle the earth, Sun God’s warmth dries up the floods. Daylight and vibrancy are restored everywhere. Picaflor rejoices. She doesn’t notice the sunfire in her grip burning up her beak. Soon, she is nothing but ash.

The ash descends to the earth, fertilizing it with the small bird’s qualities of wisdom, courage, and selflessness.

X. Pachacuti: Firethroats
A bit of ash remains ever in flight with Sun God ever in pursuit, sunrises and sunsets following in his wake. A special breed of hummingbirds, the firethroats, become revered wardens of the planet. Pachamama steps into a new skin. She proclaims a new age.

— Gabriela Lena Frank