"Alvaro García de Zúñiga's Manuel trilogy is a remarkable achievement in recent radio art and has been well received in the reviewing press." Markus Heuger

Radioplay/ acoustic art work written by Alvaro García de Zúñiga, translated into German by Leopold von Verschuer. Directed by Alvaro García de Zúñiga and Hein Brhül, produced by the Studio Akustische Kunst of WDR (Köln, Germany) in 2003 and 2004.

Manuel - half-man, half-handbook – tries to understand reality through books. And vice-versa (through books reality). And vice-vice and versa-versa (through books, books, and through reality, reality).

First fixed in fixation, Manuel thinks about thinking about it, to end up saying it is necessary to talk. Too late.

Manuel is multilingual play in 3 parts :

"Manuel I" (53’04”)

Manuel - half-man, half-handbook – tries to define himself through what he reads. He invents a vocabulary and his own grammar and declines himself in a biographical multiplicity.

"Manuel II - La lucha continúa" (53’46”)

Manuel - half-man, half-handbook concentrates on his auto-biography. He invents a special spacial ballpoint-pen to end writing himself up. Adventurous, he becomes the astronaut of his acoustic universe.

"Manuel III - Letzte Worte" (ca 53’)

Manuel half-man, half-handbook wanders in the absolute vacuum. He sees in mathematics the language of nature and concludes that all languages are equivalent. Moribund, he speaks in hieroglyphics and shouts: Long live the dead languages!

Writer and composer, Alvaro García de Zúñiga builds his work using language, and linguistic diversity, as raw-materials for his acoustic and conceptual productions. Manuel is an unfinished portrait in a sinking world that finds itself in multilinguism.

Leopold von Verschuer and Alvaro García de Zúñiga during the recording of Manuel in the Studio Akustische Kunst, WDR 3. Köln, 2003

Sounds excerpts of Manuel

Manuel (3X54') - Studio Akustische Kunst, WDR, Köln, 2003/2004

listen to more sound extracts

German translation : Leopold von Verschuer

Main voices : Leopold von Verschuer, Alínea B. Issilva

Directed by : Alvaro García de Zúñiga and Hein Brühl

Sound ingeneer : Daniel Velasco

Director assistant : Philine Velhagen

A STUDIO AKUSTISCHE KUNST - WDR 3 production

Editor : Markus Heuger