Questions on the Origins of Creativity (2019)

Excerpt from Kariũki’s program notes:

However, there were multiple answers swimming around in my mind - does our creativity come from nature? fear? human relationships? the gods? I couldn’t decide.

The one answer I nearly felt content with was 'the human body', which was how the idea of using body percussion in this final version was born; but even still, other possibilities continued to come to mind. So, back to the drawing board I went: what if, instead of trying to find an answer, I let the piece marinate in my restlessness, and simply ask all the questions? It felt completely liberating. Quickly thereafter, I wrote this poem that became the text or the piece.

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Questions on the Origins of Creativity

When the river’s run dry,

And the colour’s gone from the sky

Where then, will your song come from?

When your fingers lose their touch,

And the clasp has lost its clutch,

Where, then, will your words come from?

Search within; pray, Athena;

Or find it was all in vain.

When your lover stops to sleep,

Or your tongues refuse to speak,

Where then, will your rhyme come from?

Or, say your body folds itself,

And stores its blood upon a shelf,

Where will it all come from?

So when the river’s run its course,

And time stops to show remorse,

Where will it all come from?

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