Manuel Ramos Otero - circa 1985 Above is a sound recording of Manuel Ramos Otero reading snippets from his 1985 book of poetry, El libro de la muerte. I found it while digitizing old audio tapes, and there may be more, (if so, I will post them to this same page). Manuel had asked me to do the music/soundscape for the March 28th, 1985 reading and book release party for El libro de la muerte. The event turned into quite a multi-media extravaganza, with visuals and lights by Doug Kenny, music and sound by yours truly, and of course the overwhelming words and presence of Manuel himself. The whole thing was billed as Aberrant Ghosts Escape Island Graveyards Where Chrome Crucifixes Shine Backwards, which I believe was the title of one of the poems. Not sure, I no longer have a copy. It was a very au courant phrase at that time within our close knit group of friends. The images in the video are of Manuel at various times, interspersed with snapshots of pages from La novelabingo, his 1976 novel (of which I do still have a copy, but find it so hard to read. I've been hoping for years that somebody would translate it, but alas probably too hard). Anyway, it is a hyperbolic understatement of vast proportions to say that Manuel was an incredibly talented and special person, taken away too early by AIDS, like too many others, just as we were climbing out of our cocoons. Note: obviously the sound has been highly processed through an F/X box as this was part of the soundscape for the event. But for those who knew Manuel his voice is very distinct, and for those who might want to hear his voice, well, there it is. If there are other sound recordings of him in either English or Spanish, I'd love to hear them. Back to MeBC home