IKAL was written at the request of the Mexican recorder player Horacio Franco, in 1991. I had the opportunity to work in collaboration with him and to get to know the great variety of instruments and possibilities that recorder players are able to combine. For IKAL I chose those instruments with which I could explore an interesting harmonic relationship. The piece is written for bass recorder, tenor recorder in D tuned to A=415 and alto recorder in G with the same tuning. These provided me with a very interesting colour, which would be impossible to play on an instrument tuned to 440.

The piece divides in three main sections with two transitional passages connecting the main ones. In these transitional passages I explore the combination of two recorders played simultaneously, which requires certain virtuosity.

Virtuosity is also the characteristic of the middle section of the piece (for tenor recorder), based on some rhythmic ideas inspired on my interest in the music and dance of Northern India.

The first and third sections are related in the melodic material, the latter one (played on the alto recorder) is higher to give an impression of a spiritual ascent, which was my intention when I started working on this piece.

The title is in Maya and means human breath, as spirit.