CAT#: FTS041
Release date: June 5, 2026
The 1988 dance production Homenaje a K by Ananda Dansa was one more milestone cementing Pep Llopis’ now iconic status as a composer of vanguard performance scores. Homenaje was his third work for the company following 1986’s Crónica Civil.
Where Crónica teased out impressionistic threads of private and collective memory, the compositions on Homenaje a K take on the operatic, probing the dramatic potential of tension to soundtrack a narrative that confronts the absurdity and incomprehensibility of everyday acts of violence.
The voice is an ever-present character across Llopis’ compositions, and here it shapes the overall aura of the music. Spanish soprano Esperanza Abad’s indelible performances bookend the album, and in between her song voices stray and shapeshift, scatting out of the static and reciting subdued spoken word on the surrealist “Tv,” and adding depth to the shadows of the experimental ambient “Piscina.”
Together with Llopis’ instrumental palette of synth, piano, and percussion, and with additional flute and saxophone from Spanish musician Perico Sambeat, the score chronicles tragedy and spectacle while always keeping one hand extended towards redemption.
