Welcome!! to Homar Sánchez Díaz, our newest voice in the Graphite kaleidoscope.
Díaz’s compositions are fueled by pre-Hispanic culture, resulting in compositions bursting with creativity, color, and musical worlds that reflect and refract into sublimely exuberant songs.
There are several keys to his success. One: he embraces silence and ambiguity. DÍaz allows the compositional process, “to explore textures and gestures without knowing their final place. This has led to unexpected structural clarity: the piece reveals itself gradually.” Two: he recognizes humility and trust are as essential as technical skill for one’s best work to emerge. “Listen more deeply than you write. Listen to silence, to others, to the world, and to the piece itself as it unfolds.”
TRIVIA: We asked Díaz to name a song from his youth that continues to have significance for him today. Can you name the tune? (Answer found at the bottom of this newsletter!) Here’s what he had to say about the song:
“It was one of the first times I realized that music could embody spiritual grandeur and emotional transformation at once. The way the theme rises from darkness into light still gives me chills—it’s cinematic, sacred, and deeply human. It taught me that orchestration and harmony can tell a story just as vividly as words.”
Many composers write “good” music. It is fine. It is nice. In the film “Pollock,” art critic Peggy Guggenheim sees another artist’s work and comments, “These are nice. I didn’t come here to see nice.” Diaz’s work is not “nice,” it is: exciting—vivific—imaginative—intriguing. Words sometimes fail—that is why we write music.
“Shaman” is one such example. In it, Díaz has created a choral symphony of sound, one that takes the listener on a magical journey. The choir represents powerful forces of nature: blowing winds, smashing rocks, torrential rains. Sustained ostinatos coax the choir into a fun groove and build momentum — “Shaman” feels like a boulder rolling down a hill. The dense textures are varied enough to allow daylight to shine through, resulting in contrast and color.
“Solsticio,” with its intense soundscape and toe-tapping rhythms, promises to get your heart beating and mind journeying. The use of pre-Hispanic ideas comes through with epic impact. The flute, ocarina, and percussion immediately evoke the historic cultures of Mexica, Maya, Toltec, and other Mesoamerican peoples. “Almost always,” shares Díaz, “my first spark comes from a narrative image or text—a scene, a poem, a historical episode, or a myth. I usually see music as a form of storytelling, so I start by building an atmosphere or imagining the emotional arc of a story.” The text for “Solsticio” happens to be a single word, spoken and sung in ten different languages, “each carrying its own resonance and cultural depth,” notes Díaz.
Exciting rhythmic ideas develop throughout the piece. “Solsticio” is more harmonically related to modern choral works. Sustained clusters and rich sonorities will be familiar to many choirs, making the piece both accessible and brilliantly fresh.
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Our Contributing Editor
Jonathan Campbell, BA, MSM, DMA, currently serves as Director of Music at Zion Lutheran Church, Anoka, MN., and is a Contributing Editor for Graphite Publishing. His music publishers include Augsburg Fortress, Concordia, Morningstar, GIA, Sacred Music Press, and Falls House. He won first prize in the Morningside Choral Composition Contest and was also awarded a Faith Partner’s Residency with the American Composer’s Forum. Jonathan has served many churches, conducted the Chorale of the Honors Choirs S.E. MN for eight years, and has served on the faculties of Winona State University, Augsburg University, and Pomona College.
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