PK

Orchestra (2010)
11 mins

In 1870 the UK was linked up to India (and subsequently all the continents) by a chain of telegraphic cables. The designated spot in the UK for the cables to land was in West Cornwall at Porthcurno, from where overland cables would link to the rest of the UK. PK is the telegraphic code name for Porthcurno.
At its height Porthcurno, a tiny village, was the worlds largest cable station with 14 telegraphic cable links in operation linking the UK with the rest of the world. I am interested in how this remote village had a pivotal role in world communication and today those same submarine pathways are used for the current fibreoptic cables.
This piece of music focuses on communication. It starts with a single drum and from this moment on uses morse code (telegraphic language) to generate the material. The text is drawn from specific telegraph messages and loosely revolves around the initial fragility of the new global communciation system.