Papalote was first written in 2000 as treble and violin piece, as a request of Jake, to be able to sing with his father, when Jake was a boy and very shortly before his voice changed.
The version for string quartet was made especially for my 50th birthday party.
As Jake always had great ability with Spanish, I did not hesitate to choose a Mexican poem by the Mexican poet from Juchitan, Oaxaca: Rocio González.
The first two lines refer to a kite, which is tied to fish nets. So the visual image is linking the height of the kite in the sky and the net holding it down at sea, preventing it to go higher.
It is important for me to set up the musical imagery, before the voice comes in and the words add the semantic message of the poet. In this way the sound world creates the poetic landscape, and sets off the imagination before the spelling out of the meaning within the words.
Hilda Paredes.