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The Sawtelle Monastery Recordings

by The Junipero Ensemble of Regina Coeli

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1.
Prelude (the space before the abstraction of light) 07:36
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2.
Liberación de las almas del purgatorio 06:00
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3.
Interlude (the space in between the divisions of breath) 09:37
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4.
Procesión en mar abierto 08:45
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5.
The advent of rain dialects 05:33
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6.
Bending when they came into focus 10:24
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7.
Francis and the eighth mocking bird 06:41
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about

The Sawtelle Monastery Recordings are a compilation of field recordings and improvisations. These recordings manifested in two different phases. The first phase occurred in 1951 and contains domestic recordings of the monks who lived at Sawtelle Monastery that year in addition to recordings from the Annual Gathering of Sacred Knowledge; a gathering where practitioners of varied spiritual disciplines and cultural backgrounds would exchange wisdom, reflections, and musical dialogue. Catholic, Buddhist, and Quakers participants were known to have attended along with devotees of more esoteric practices.

The second phase of recordings took place in 2023, when Patricio Coronado and Chelsey Lee Trejo discovered these rare tape recordings, and accompanying documents and objects, in the Franciscan Order International Archive in Lochiel, Arizona. With respect and reverence for those on these recordings, they began to arrange and improvise over the raw material, attempting to invoke compositions that speak to the past and future, water and light, language and prelanguage, and what is known and what will never be known.

The name of the Ensemble comes from a letter found alongside the tapes which transcribes a Latin prayer to Regina Coeli. Prayer cards and illustrations of Our Lady of All Nations, Our Lady of Gudalupe, St. Cecilia, St. Francis of Assisi, and the female Aztec archetype for Earth and fertility,Tonatzin, were found placed between the pages of a journal belonging to a descendant of Fray Junípero Serra, a monk who helped found Franciscian Monasteries in the Southwest US, including the Sawtelle Monastery. A ceremonial incensor of a fish, silver milagros, a pressed sunflower, brass temple bells, and a scroll with symbols of unknown origin were also present among the documents.

During the recording and post production process a mockingbird sang outside of Patricio’s current home and studio - the former Sawtelle Monastery. In many spiritual traditions, bird visitations are believed to symbolize the presence of angels and spirit guides.

credits

released August 15, 2023

1951 Recorded by William R. Smith

Sister Mȳa: autoharp
Brother Agustín Medina: guitar
Theodore Velázquez: tambourine
Sister Rose Wellimburg: bells, tambourine
Paolo Petrecci de Tarento: shakers
Miriam Katherine Smith: woodblocks


2023 Recorded by Patricio Coronado

Chelsey Lee Trejo: guitar, cello
Patricio Coronado: guitar, cello


Curated and edited by Patricio Coronado and Chelsey Lee Trejo
Mixed by Patricio Coronado
Artwork by Chelsey Lee Trejo and Patricio Coronado
Photographed by Juanita Trejo

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Music and sound practices.

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