Drum
Arabesque Communique #5
Bach,
Flamenco, and more (and more...) gypsy rhythms.
Today
I sat in the sun on my back porch and played a drum song using
Kashlima, Nau Ashta and the Macedonian Cocek rhythm. Tonight I am
listening to Russian classical music, then classical guitar and
flamenco on vinyl as my partner and I cook curry. This morning I
added to my blog about ancient Greek and Roman writers, and for a
brief stretch this afternoon I edited a chapter of my novel.
Saturdays
at home are always excellent. I did a bit of work in the garden,
played ukulele and drank coffee. My eldest son is listening to
eighties styled electronic music, the soundtrack to a computer game
he has also been playing. Tonight...well, the evening is unwritten,
but the pappadams are cooking and the record is spinning beside me at
my writing desk in the kitchen.
The
other guys in the band have been listening to, and practising Bach
melodies. They keep going on about octave substitutions. Gardy the
bass player has been writing modal jazz music in Locrian scale, while
Stompy on Harmonica has been learning a Russian military folk song,
Katyusha and teaching it the band.
So my
day has been made of many different ingredients, and now in the
night, I continue to learn. It is already midnight as I begin my
online study, digging up some fabulous extra details to share with
you all.
*
* *
Cocek
/ kyuchek /
Čupurlika
The
kyuchek (Cocek), is a common musical form in the Balkans (primarily
Bulgaria and Macedonia), and typically a dance with a 9/8
time
signature. Roma musicians living in areas of the former Yugoslavia
have broadened the form to include variations in 4/4
and
7/8.
Cocek:
D-kT-kTk 3 3 2 - This pattern is the one used in the youtube link
above.
Čupurlika
3 2 2 ; for example (DkkTkTk, or DkkDkTk)
For
9/8 rhythms (which should be structured 2-2-2-3)
eg.
DkTkTkDTT or DkDkTkTkk
(Also,
Kashlima is arranged generally in 2 2 2 3, for example. DkTkDkTT-)
Remember
that these odd timed rhythms can be spoken using the words Galloping
Apple.
Apple = 2 beats, Galloping = 3 beats.
So the
first Cocek rhythm is:
Galloping Galloping Apple (3 3 2)
The
seven beat Cupurlika is:
Galloping Apple Apple. (3 2 2)
Kashlima,
which mutes the final, ninth beat, would be:
Apple
Apple Apple Gallop(ping) (2 2 2 3)
The Kocek Wiki article is rather interesting. Cocek culture and dance seems to
have connections to cross dressing and non-hetero sexual preferences
in the Islamic world.
Katyusha
This
is the song Stompy has been teaching the band.
Katyusha
Apple
trees and pear trees went into blooming,
River
mists began a floating flow,
She
came out and went ashore, Katyusha!
On the lofty
bank, on the steeply shore.
She
came out and sang the song about
Her
young friend,
the
bluish eagle from steppe
All
about the one she dearly loved,
The one whose
letters she treasured and kept.
Hey,
a song, the song of the young girl,
Fly
and go after the bright Sun,
Find
a soldier on the distant borderlands
Say
hello from Katyusha waiting long for him.
Let
him remember the young and simple maiden,
Let
him hear the song she now sings,
Let
him protect his Motherland for sure,
And
their love Katyusha will protect.
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