Music from the Edges of Islamic Civilization
(KALAM CD 001, March, 2002)
Jewish, Christian, and Islamic music from
medieval Spain, North Africa, Turkey, Iran, and the Balkans.
For information on ordering The Path Beyond, click here.
The music is essentially "pre-modern". It does not feature modern instruments (with the exception of a few modeled on earlier designs), Western influences, or obvious innovations in style from the twentieth century. Some of the playing techniques are more recent developments, in an effort to display the greater potential of the instruments.
Five songs are of historical and traditional origin, while the others are improvisations or compositions that reflect the spirit of that same ancient heritage. Some of the original pieces were composed or arranged prior to the recording, while others were created "on the spot", capturing true improvisations in the moment that they were created, a technique that Tim has always enjoyed using while recording. He also overdubs on several tracks, playing multiple instruments to create a group sound.
The title refers to both the "path beyond" the Arabic geographical center of Islamic culture and influence to these other lands, as well as "beyond" in the Sufi sense of leaving the mundane path of everyday life to travel the mystic path. The Sufis have often used music in ceremony, the most famous being the followers of Rumi, the "whirling dervishes", who spin ecstatically to musical accompaniment.
While the music on this recording is not necessarily intended to be spiritual in nature, Tim hopes that these songs will convey the sense of richness and wonder of the cultures that produced or inspired them.
1. Quen a Virgen ben servir - (Cantiga de Santa Maria # 59, Court of Alfonso X, King of Castile, late 13th century). The Cantigas de Santa Maria is a vast collection of over 400 songs in praise of the Virgin Mary, compiled at Alfonso's court. Though Christian in content, the music includes Jewish and Moorish, as well as Celtic influences. The stories tell folk tales of miracles of the Virgin Mary, which were both popular and intended to be instructive. They were also popular as instrumental pieces, as this piece is played here.
Instruments: 'ud, tar, medieval harp, tambourine on refrains.
2. Yedi - A drum piece in 7/8. It consists of an alternating pattern of 3-4, 4-3, 2-3-2, 3-rest-3, that speeds up as the piece progresses.
Instrument: doumbek
3. Psithyros - An improvised piece for folk kaval, that was not composed at all prior to the moment of recording it. The kaval is an end-blown flute similar in sound to the ney, with a breathy and melancholy sound. This is a fipple variety of the instrument.
4. Galata - An original piece for solo saz, named for the region of Istanbul where Tim acquired this beautiful instrument. It features percussive sounds made by hitting the soundboard of the instrument, a traditional playing accent.
5. Tas - The basic rhythm of the piece is the Armenian çurçuna mode, which is in 10/8 time. It features two other 10/8 rhythms that play against each other and the basic çurçuna, and unfolds in cycles of five.
Instruments: tar, doumbek, tambourine
6. Szosztar mange - A Hungarian Gypsy song for solo voice, sung in a breathy style found in several Balkan traditions. The text is of a man lamenting to his mother that he has lost his wife (whether she has left him or she has died is unclear from the text).
7. Sehtâr dastan - This is an improvisation on the Iranian sehtâr, a small, four-stringed lute similar to the saz, and the ancestor of the Indian sitar. It has both rhythmic and non-rhythmic sections, and changes mode to provide contrast. This piece was created largely at the moment it was recorded.
8. Koron - A psaltery improvisation. Based on the Iranian Dastgah modes, this is a blend of two of them, abu-ata and nava, with the characteristic quarter-tone notes, on the second and sixth degrees of the scale. It begins without rhythm and transits into an improvised piece in 4/4 time with zarb accompaniment.
9. Hij'da'noh - An improvised zarb solo in 18/8. The zarb is used to accompany Iranian classical music, but is equally prized as a solo instrument. This piece features fast finger playing and the characteristic ring accents, sounds made by hitting the edge of the wooden drum with rings worn on the thumbs.
10. Osman Pasha - This is a saz improvisation that leads into Osman Pasha, a traditional Turkish song about Osman, the legendary thirteenth-century founder of the Ottoman Empire. For solo saz and voice, with lyrics in Turkish.
11.Cuando El Rey Nimrod - A piece for qanun and psaltery that begins with a taqsim improvisation and segues into a traditional song of the Sephardic Jews of North Africa.
Instruments: psaltery, qanun, with naqqarat and tambourine in the rhythmic section.
12. Taksim saz - An improvisation played on a baglama saz. This piece was entirely improvised at the time of the recording.
13. Haf'dah - A lively drum piece in 17/8 time, structured simply as three measures of four beats, then one measure of five beats.
Instruments: doumbek, tambourine, zarb.
14. Taqsim 'ud - An improvisation for the 'ud, created at the time it was recorded.
15. En el vettem - This is a traditional Hungarian folk song.
Instruments: saz, tar, doumbek, tambourine, and voice.
© 2002 Kalamindar Prodcutions
Tim Rayborn plays:
- 'Ud (Samir Hamida, Cairo)
- Medieval Harp (Blevins, Mendocino, CA, 1999)
- Saz (Two different varieties of baglama, Istanbul)
- Kaval (Turkish/Bulgarian folk flute)
- Psaltery (Medieval zither, Lyn Elder, San Rafael, CA, 1984)
- Qanun (Egyptian zither)
- Sehtâr (Iranian lute)
- Tar (Frame drum, Remo model)
- Riqq (Egyptian tambourine)
- Doumbek (Goblet drum, Alexandria model)
- Zarb (Wooden cylindrical drum, Pakistan)
- Naqqarat (Clay bongos, Morocco)
- Voice
Track 1: Anonymous, 13th century Spain
Track 6: Traditional Hungarian Gypsy
Track 10: Traditional Turkish
Track 11: Traditional Sephardic Jewish from North Africa
Track 15. Traditional Hungarian
All other tracks composed or improvised by Tim Rayborn, based on traditional styles.
Produced by Tim Rayborn
Recorded, engineered, and mixed by Jim Helman, Hypercussion Studio, Berkeley, CA,
December, 2000 - January, 2001, using 24-bit digital technology, direct to the
computer hard drive
Mastered by Ken Lee, Ken Lee Mastering, Oakland, CA, March 9, 2001