Mensa
Table Mountain
Bushfire - Clearing
The constellation Mensa was named by the French astronomer Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille (1713–1762) after Table Mountain, a real mountain near Cape Town, South Africa. Table Mountain is characterized by its steep, sheer cliffs and a remarkably flat summit extending for about three kilometres. From 1751 until around 1753, Lacaille observed the stars of the southern sky in Cape Town at the Cape of Good Hope, where he compiled a map of the southern sky.
In addition to Mensa, Lacaille introduced thirteen other constellations: Octans (Octant), Circinus (Compasses), Horologium (Clock), Reticulum (Reticle), Pictor (Painter’s Easel), Microscopium (Microscope), Norma (Carpenter’s Square), Caelum (Chisel), Sculptor (Sculptor), Telescopium (Telescope), Antlia (Air Pump), Pyxis (Compass), and Fornax (Furnace)—fourteen constellations in all.
The image above shows the night sky over Namibia in southwestern Africa. Did Lacaille perhaps see a similar view? The two hazy, cloud-like patches on the left are the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud. Part of the Large Magellanic Cloud extends into the region of Mensa.
This is an image of the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Sisask’s image for Mensa is “Bushfire – Clearing.”
In Australia, bushfires occur during the summer. Sisask likens the Large Magellanic Cloud to a bushfire and weaves it into his story. As the smoke from the bushfire clears and the sky becomes crystal clear, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds must emerge distinctly in the night sky.
The shape of Table Mountain may perhaps bring to mind Ayers Rock in Australia. Ayers Rock is a massive monolith, sometimes called the “navel of the land” or the “navel of the Earth.” It is also a sacred place for the Aboriginal people, who have lived in this region for more than 10,000 years and call it Uluru.
The image above shows the central region of the Milky Way rising majestically above Uluru.
This image, taken in 2001, shows the Leonid meteor shower and the Magellanic Clouds above Uluru. Mensa is an inconspicuous constellation, so it is difficult to identify in this image, but it should be visible somewhere near the Large Magellanic Cloud.
In Sisask’s music for Mensa, I believe that the sound of a particular instrument may be providing the rhythmic pulse. That instrument is the didgeridoo, a traditional Aboriginal instrument. It is said to have been created by Aboriginal Australians more than 1,000 years ago and is traditionally made from eucalyptus wood naturally hollowed out by termites. Sisask acquired a didgeridoo in Australia and brought it back to Estonia. He must have learned how to play it there as well. I remember him playing it right in front of me, completely absorbed in the Aboriginal world.
The didgeridoo is used in Aboriginal ceremonies to communicate with the spirit world. Using circular breathing, the player blows into the instrument while vibrating the lips, producing a deep, low sound rich in overtones and a distinctive, pulsating duku-duku rhythm.
I cannot help feeling that the repeated low C♯ and D notes in Mensa evoke the sound of the didgeridoo. At the end of the piece, the music of the earth seems to fade away and be transformed into music of the heavens. I would like to perform it with a sense of reverence, imagining Uluru, sacred to Aboriginal people, beneath the starry sky and surrounded by the vastness of nature.
Comments
Post a Comment