Creation : 25 March 1975 at Festival de Royan (France)
Musicians : 6 amplified percussionists and 2 magnetic tracks
Duration : 17′
Publishing : Durand
This work is a continuation of research begun in 1969 by Rituel d’oubli and marked out by Korwar (1972) and Naluan (1974), among others. These are pieces in which raw sounds recorded and edited practically without manipulation are coloured by an instrumental writing which is essentially a transcription in rigorous synchronicity with its model. The conventional border between nature and culture thus loses much of its importance, and sometimes even fades away completely. Previous works used mostly animal sounds, and pitches were dominant. Here, the chosen sounds are characterised by their complex harmonic structure and internal rhythmic animation. Percussion also excludes instruments with fixed pitches. The word Maraé, borrowed from Polynesia, designated a place of worship, and also evokes the sea in French, by chance of a phonetic resemblance. The work that this word designates is itself a kind of initiatory journey through the wind, the sea, a cave, again the wind, and finally fire.