Cajamarca, Peru: city famous for the gold-filled room an Incan Emperor paid centuries ago as ransom to Conquistadors; today it’s also famed for Peru's wildest Carnaval celebrations. R. Weis was there in 2024 and recorded sounds of the festivities which he then manipulated and composed into Cuando tira el agua (When You Throw the Water). The 15 minute composition is set to release February 1, 2025 on major streaming services including Apple Music.
 
The piece begins with sounds of the crowd, an approaching parade, and sellers of snacks as well as water, less for drinking and more for the playful tradition of throwing water at spectators via water balloons, water guns, or simply flung directly from the bottle.
 
A collage of parade sounds follows, made from short recordings of many bands, drummers, singers, crowd chants, Quechua musical whistling (done with pinky finger in the mouth), among many others. Soon, Weis' manipulations of those recordings are introduced and become new music inspired by the celebrations.
 
"Anyone who watches these parades expects to get wet,” says Weis. “I saw people at 2nd floor windows dumping buckets of water on pedestrians below. There's an earlier day when cars, people, even police get splashed with paint. Cajamarca's Carnaval is a happy and boisterous citywide party." (In 2025, Carnaval will be celebrated from March 1st to 5th.)
 
Weis recorded 2 of the parades held during Carnaval: Concurso de Patrullas y Comparsas and Gran Corso. Cuando tira el agua (When You Throw the Water) is made entirely from Weis' manipulations of those recordings.
 
R. Weis has been composing with manipulated sound since the 1980s, creating scores for film, dance, and art installations, as well as many solo projects. Over the years, his work has been heard in performance spaces, galleries, museums and on radio stations across the USA and Europe. Now a resident of Pittsburgh, PA, Weis composes exclusively with original samples; his compositions are fixed recordings and he is not a performing artist.