Musical indictment against fox hunting

hunted animals

Chacon based the piece Call the Company in the morning as well as on the signals that English hunters use when hunting foxes. One can see the work as a critique of his cruelty. What’s up with that? Most of the time, the trumpets play on a pitch. It is a reference to hunting signals to communicate with other hunters. This tone is interspersed with solos that give voice to the hunted animals. And they cannot be heard.

Indigenous peoples of North America

For the composer, everything that makes sound is a possible instrument to use in his compositions. And then it doesn’t matter whether it’s brass, strings, gunshots, dog whistles or fog horns. The composer grew up in the Navajo Nation, which is the largest native reservation in North America. He belongs to the Diné, which is the name the Navajos use for themselves, which simply means “people”.

An inhuman tradition

One World online magazine interviewed the composer. About Call the Company in the morning he said: “Fox hunting has become a sport, an inhumane tradition. In this piece I wanted to denounce the cruelty of killing an animal for fun. But there are many places in the world where you can’t grow food, like the North Pole or the desert where my ancestors lived. Hunting is a necessity here.

The Holland Festival starts on June 1. There are concerts and performances in Amsterdam for a month. You can hear the aforementioned concert on June 20. Read more information on the Muziekgebouw website.