Here is one of the songs 'The Dead Man's Rhapsody' in the new project I've been working on which I've called 'Nomads of Elysium'. It is a loop pedal improvisation performance featuring sung poetry written by myself.
The music is inspired by Turkish, Macedonian and Cretan traditional musics from my travels through Eastern Europe and Turkey as a street musician and also from participating in and playing music for a whirling dervish sema which lasted 114 days in Termal in Turkey.
The drum I use is a traditional frame drum called a Bendir and the violin like instrument I play in my lap is a traditional instrument called a klasik kemence or a politiki lyra - both instruments are native to Eastern Europe and Turkey.
You can catch me playing live currently on the streets of Fremantle, Western Australia. I will soon be performing with the mysterious dancer Yema de la Maya.
Here are the lyrics - taken from my mornings of free-writing with a cup of Turkish coffee:
You will live forever
Are you ready for eternity?
You will die tomorrow
Are you ready to be forgotten?
Will you find a compromise
a stasis with nature
a half-way between identity
Join another cult of convenient amnesia
Blind yourself from reason
with collective belief
The demons in your suitcase, are there
waiting for payment
with the gold of your awareness
The beast is at the door
Moaning, biding its time
Stomping, writhing, laughing and playing
Breathe little child breathe
the future is coming oh oh
Breathe little child breathe
The past has gone again
Here we are at the threshold of oblivion
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▶️ 3Speak
Thank you man! And cheers for the reblog!
WOW. I am just in total awe!
That was absolute aural artistry and had me completely mesmerised.
If you're ever wanting to cross the border and come to Melbs, we're out of lockdown and open for business, so let me know. I'm in Southbank- the place for buskers!
Thanks for your comments, I appreciate you coming to have a listen.
I'll let you know if I want to travel south of the border! lol
Hope you're world is tolerable at present.
Yeah no problem! It was my pleasure actually. I LOVE Turkish music and can't wait to get there one day so I can dance my arse off to it IRL instead of in my loungeroom! Lol...
I also write poetry- mostly longform always with a natural tune to it, but I'm not a musician unfortunately, so it's just kind of sitting there....though I did post a bit of it when I first discovered the Hive a few months ago...
Here's one that's right up your alley that I wrote about 15yrs ago.....
Maybe I should post this into the Citizen journalist community. What do you reckon?
Yeah and my world is great thanks, back to work unfortunately cause I had a freaking brilliant staycation and was able to get heaps done and catch up on so many things I've been trying to do for years, such as edit a version of of my doco for the Royal Commission into Mental health
and many other creative things, including discovering and a huge learning curve with the Hive/crypto/blockchain....So yeah, I'm always great thanks! 😃
Great poem, thanks for sharing. Would be great as a spoken piece.
Glad you got lots done on your time off.
I'll check out that doco soon.
Yeah I did record into garageband years ago and faded different voice styles in and out of it as it went along. Hopefully the recordings are on one of my hard drives, if not, will have to do it again one day...lol...
Yeah those links are only for the 4-5min teasers...
Go to an open mic poetry night and lash it with some venom in your most scathing voice - dress up as a corporate lawyer - make it an event. 😂
Haaaa LOVE IT! 🤣
I had the scathing voice on the recording I did and it sounded great- especially when it came out in the cutesy child's voice and then faded into a really deep masculine voice....I'm really going to have to find that!
Actually that's a bloody good idea....hmmmm...the seed has been planted.
Watch this space.
With thanks to my new manager- @montycashmusic lol....😂
Awesome what tuning do you have the guitar in? How hard is it to be a street musician in Australia with their crazy covid lockdowns? Also love that lyra.
Thanks man, and cheers for the reblog!
The guitar is in '100 euro guitar from Macedonia' tuning. In other words, it has a mind of its own... I'm planning to upgrade soon. It's interesting to have to constantly work around its nuances in improvisation as finding the right pitch for consistent work can be a headache. A querk of my guitar I'll be happy to discard when the upgrade finally happens. Having said this, it does provide some accidental microtones which occasionally add to the atmosphere of the sound.
The kemence came from Turkey just a couple of months ago, I've been practicing like crazy to get up to form as the technique is very different from the franken-violin I was playing on my knee. The fingernails are used on the edge of the string to change the pitch. I love the singing quality of the instrument.
I'm in the process of learning Turkish Makkam with it also.
Always enjoy your vids too man! All the best,
Monty
Yeah I've seen some closeups of people playing a Cretan lyra very similar to the kemence if not the same other than tuning. Are the strings metal or are they a catgut/hair strings? For all it's quirks that guitar sounds really good. Good luck with the Makkam. Now you got me jonesing for a kamancheh.
The cretan lyra has a nut which puts all the strings on the same level. The kemence is more difficult to play in this respect. From memory the cretan lyra is tuned GDA while the kemence is ADA. The kemence tuning allows for more use of a droning note using the bottom string as that A, Yegah - is a common foundation for many makkams.
The strings I have are metal cello strings, which is quite common to use but the gut strings are also still made and are popular. They create a warmer sound.
I've had it for about a month and am already performing with it this Wednesday. I'm still a ways off being a master but have committed to a pretty stringent practice routine.
Sure man, get a kemence if you're into it. Or a cretan lyra. Also consider a pontian lyra or a persian kemence. These also make beautiful distinctive tones. Then there is the bulgarian gadulka and the Macedonian kemane. Also beautiful instruments which are played slightly differently.
Well I'll still have that guitar there to use on occasion even if I get a new one.
All the best with everything,
Monty
Yeah I worry about the kamancheh because you have to roll the instrument around the round neck for each note seems tricky. Maybe a lyra would be easier to learn.
Love the fusion of sounds and cultures here. I really enjoyed listening to this, thank you for sharing it with us xx
I have such great memories of Freo, I wonder does Iam still sell the big issue there? (Scottish with Dreads) wishing you all the best. xxx
Hey thanks so much for coming down
I didn't know you've spent time in Freo - it's very different to what it used to be as gentrification is gripping it by its neck and squeezing hard - though a semblance of its old culture still remains.
I've not seen Iam... there's a few regular streeties selling the big issue I'm familiar with but not a Scottish with dreads.
Anyways, wishing you happy travels and treks wherever you are!
Monty