ARABICA

Music by Peter Rose. Lyrics and Narration by Anne Conlon

In Arabica Rose and Conlon bring us another powerful message that demands urgent attention.

Synopsis

Rose and Conlon's latest work looks at the international coffee market to show how developing countries are simply pawns in the money games played by the major industrial powers. Although we are encouraged to be more conscientious consumers, we still buy basic commodities at the supermarket with barely a thought to how they got there. The attractive, shiny coffee packets we choose disguise the fact that the people growing and picking this coffee are paid virtually nothing, that their countries are bankrupt and are at the mercy of the World Bank or the IMF. and yet how can it be that just about everyone else - coffee merchants, companies, speculators - profit from the enterprise?

Cast: Narrator, soloists, chorus

Instrumentation:

3 flutes (1st db. piccolo), oboe, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, bassoon, 2 alto saxes, 2 tenor saxes, baritone saxophone, 3 trumpets, horn, 2 trombones, E flat bass, percussion, harpsichord, piano, acoustic guitar, cello, bass guitar

Printed editions: Vocal Score, Word Book, Chorus Book

Recording: Compact Disc: cassette