Credits:

Mauricio Kagel

Description:

A much-talked-about work by a contemporary composer that is astonishingly ahead of its time while also reflecting that eraThis is *Exotica*, an avant-garde, cult classic masterpiece composed in 1972 by the 20th-century Argentine composer Mauricio Kagel. It is a work that is astonishingly ahead of its time while also reflecting the cultural backdrop of the early 1970s. As the Hippie Trail spread across the globe, instruments such as the sitar, gong, bamboo flute, gamelan, and tuned percussion were successively incorporated into popular and avant-garde music in Europe and the United States. *Exotica*, which features over 200 different instruments from around the world, is performed like a cheerful five-act comedy. Following in the footsteps of William Shakespeare and Samuel Beckett, Kagel skillfully employs humor as a means of critique, faithfully reflecting the cultural context of his own era.