Activities

Rio Cubango

On the 12^th of November the world premiere of the concert Rio Cubango took place in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. For the occasion a special collaboration was created between Victor Gama and Zapp 4, a string quartet from Amsterdam. 

A brand new composition entitled Rio Cubango was written by Victor Gama. For this piece he was inspired by the music of Angolan children who made musical instruments from parts of weapons during the civil war in Angola. The piece illustrates the human capacity to transform conflict into something beautiful. In March 2010 Victor Gama performed in Carnegie Hall, New York, together with the Kronos Quartet. They played a similar piece called Rio Cunene. Gama says about this piece: ‘I wanted the piece to link directly to the realities of these kids in a way that their instruments would speak for them, as if saying, “Look, this is what I can do with this object”’.

In the Concertgebouw, Victor Gama, Salomé Pais Matos and Zapp 4 proved to be gifted musicians. Gama’s performances are mostly cross-border and exploratory with a strong visual component. Zapp 4 String Quartet is an energetic band that combines improvisation, imagination and passionate solos. Together they created magic; the music, the video projections and the unique instruments enchanted the audience.

The musicians played various instruments made by the Angolan children and instruments from the Pangeia instrumentos series; acoustic instruments and installations that Victor Gama designed to experiment with shape and sound.

To make good use of his time in the Netherlands, Victor Gama also gave a workshop to children at the Vlinderboom school in Amsterdam. He taught them how the instruments were made and about the war in Angola.

Almost 300 people attended the concert at the Concertgebouw.

I think it’s funny that they make something so beautiful from bullets. Isah, one of the children that attended the workshop