Andrew Lewis

Two Lakes

"Only he, The Giver of Life …
Precious realities make it rain,
From you comes your happiness,
Giver of life! …"

Nezahualcóyotl (1402 –1472)

Lake Nezahualcóyotl is a reservoir in Chiapas created as part of a hydroelectric power scheme. The dam was completed in 1966, and the area around the original lake flooded. Just a year earlier a similar flooding drowned the village of Capel Celyn in Wales, controversially displacing its Welsh-speaking residents. At both lakes, droughts cause the periodic re-emergence of the drowned buildings, with increasing regularity: a 16th century church at Lake Nezahualcóyotl and the ruins of the Welsh village of Capel Celyn. In Wales, these appearances re-awaken painful memories of past injustices, but they are also a very present reminder of the crisis of climate change, in Mexico, Wales and across the globe.

Two Lakes was composed in the Electroacoustic Music Studios of Bangor University, Wales. Two Lakes was composed in the Electroacoustic Music Studios of Bangor University, Wales. It was awarded the biennial Prix CIME by the International Confederation of Electroacoustic Music in 2023.

Materials in the piece were shaped using water level and flow data provided by the Copernicus Climate Change Service and the National River Flow Archive (UK). I am indebted to Dr Iestyn Woolway, of Bangor University’s School of Ocean Sciences, for his assistance in accessing and understanding the data.