Fufluns is an ode to the Etruscan god of vegetation, wine, the grape harvest, fertility, joy, and ecstatic transformation. Revered throughout ancient Etruria (9th–1st century BCE), roughly corresponding to present-day Tuscany, Fufluns embodied the productive forces of nature and the close relationship between agriculture, ritual, and communal life. The composition draws upon these traditions to create a contemporary ritual that reconnects performer and listener with the physicality of the body, the rhythms of cultivation, and forms of consciousness increasingly absent from modern industrial society.
Music was a fundamental part of Etruscan life, accompanying daily activities from work to banquets and funerals. The composition references the stages of winemaking and combines it with the ecstatic dances and celebrations where wine was shared. It also references the timbres of ancient Etruscan instruments: the double aulos, through drone-like accompaniment; the seashell trumpet, imitated with the harmon mute; and the pan flute, suggested by different mutes and the standing bucket. The castanets, rattles, and drums, reflect the percussion typical of Etruscan musical life as well.
Music was a fundamental part of Etruscan life, accompanying daily activities from work to banquets and funerals. The composition references the stages of winemaking and combines it with the ecstatic dances and celebrations where wine was shared. It also references the timbres of ancient Etruscan instruments: the double aulos, through drone-like accompaniment; the seashell trumpet, imitated with the harmon mute; and the pan flute, suggested by different mutes and the standing bucket. The castanets, rattles, and drums, reflect the percussion typical of Etruscan musical life as well.