Between 1799 and 1804, Alexander von Humboldt, a German environmentalist and the father of modern geography, traveled across Latin America, mapping the terrain, discovering the sources of the Orinoco River, cataloging animal and plant species, and gathering stories he heard along the way. Two hundred years later, American experimental duo Hourloupe — writer, painter, and guitarist Frank Menchaca and guitarist and producer Anar Badalov — retells and retraces one of the stories Humboldt collected during his travels.
It’s a cryptic tale of a tribe pursued by cannibals to “the cliffs of the cataracts,” where they became extinct. The only proof of their existence is a bird speaking in a dead language. This story inspired Menchaca to write his own version,…