In late 2016, a client approached me requesting ideas for assessing the feasibility of using civilian actors in clandestine operations aimed at damaging equipment or infrastructure. One of my proposals was writing a parade march for a bridge, composed in such a way that it synchronized the steps of the the musicians with the natural vibrations of the bridge’s deck, ultimately amplifying the oscillations enough to cause the bridge to collapse.

My client praised the idea, and I was immediately hired to develop it further using the The Guadiana International Bridge as a test-target. Built in 1991 by a Portuguese-Spanish consortium over the Guadiana River, the bridge connected Castro Marim (Portugal) and Ayamonte (Spain). It was a multi-cable-stayed bridge with a total span of 666 meters, divided into five partial spans.

Through a thorough analysis of literature on the dynamic behavior of the bridge, existing models of the mechanics and physics behind large pedestrian movements, and academic case studies on bridges subjected to extreme stress from crowds, I was able to identify a few key elements for the composition - the most crucial of these was a set of musical tempos and rhythms, derived from the bridge’s natural oscillation frequencies. These elements formed the foundation for the composition’s framework, guiding both the structure and arrangement of the music I ultimately delivered to the client.

According to the client, the debut of the piece was a complete success. As anticipated, the resonance and "lock-in" effect of the march amplified the oscillations of the bridge until it collapsed, resulting in numerous drownings. Interestingly, aside from a few articles on the bridge's rehabilitation project, I couldn't find any news anywhere about the disaster.

In 2022, an organization called Particular Universal, with funding from the EEA and Norway Grants, issued an Open Call for an artistic residency in Castro Marim, scheduled for 2023. After confirming with my client that our 2016 contract allowed me to sell different arrangements of the composition to third parties, I submitted a proposal to write, rehearse and publicly present a marching band piece capable of causing the collapse of the Guadiana International Bridge. My proposal was selected by the jury.

The residency began on May 4, coinciding with the 99th anniversary of the Banda Musical Castromarinense. During my ten days in Castro Marim, where I adapted the original score with the help of Maestro Bruno Correia and rehearsed with the band, I found no trace of collective memory regarding the 2017 disaster. Aside from a noticeable unease during the presentation at the Castro Marim Library Auditorium — where some attendees appeared nervous after I detailed the scientific and technical aspects behind the composition - the concept of a bridge-collapsing, self-destructive marching band piece was largely met with positivity and good humor.

When asked about the drastic population decline in Castro Marim in recent years, locals attributed it to the construction of highways, which facilitated the exodus of Castro Marim residents to bigger cities, poverty, and drought. Neither the band’s musical director nor its members acknowledged any previous awareness of the piece or the tragic events of 2017.

When I confronted my client about this strange lack of recollection, he revealed that the exercise of 2017 had been deliberately erased from public memory. He explained that following the collapse, a comprehensive disinformation campaign was launched. Media outlets were coerced into reshaping the incident as a local urban myth, while local news reports and social media were manipulated to erase any trace of the event. The population's memories were systematically altered through psychological techniques and chemical modifications of the water supply, ensuring that none of the surviving locals on either side of the border could recall anything. The rapid reconstruction of the new bridge, completed in just three and a half years, helped bury the last remnants of the disaster.

In that email, the client warned me that this type of large-scale memory erasure was common and had been deployed before in other regions. The methods used are so refined and efficient that any attempt to expose the truth would be ignored by the public and media, and could ultimately result in my being institutionalized as mentally unfit.

While I was very pleased to have been able to double-bill one of my works, these revelations left me deeply unsettled - a feeling that lingers as I attempt to recover a recording of the premiere of this piece from an .mp4 file I found in the flash memory of a mobile phone retrieved from the Guadiana river.