one more sound file

This one also from a cassette as the only surviving recording of this piece from 1988. this was the first take right after i had moved this very heavy instrument into the studio. my excuse for the rhythm to be a bit shaky, especially at the beginning. It is basically a set of variation of a theme on a particular hexany transposed onto different ones, with changes in polyrhymns. the basic patterns come from Harold Courlander's book " The Drum and the Hoe", an excellent book on the music of Haiti. It was the first real look at the music there, and his visit actually coincided with Maya Deren who produced a documentary on Voodun soon after. Harold Courlander is responsible for the african story used by Partch in Delusion, and also served as editor in chief for folkways records for a while. Toward the end of his life he collected many of the stories of the Hopi.
The Fourth World of the Hopis is one of my favorite books. Countless other books too.
At one point he had a lawsuit against Alex Haley, since it appears that a few chapters of one of his books ended up in "Roots" It is good to know that for someone who i am sure did not make tons of money in his life, the settlement left him ( and imagine his lawyers) in good standing.

Even though the polyrhymns are simple as never beyond 4 against 5, the individual lines often will be in 5 or 12 long making it more complex.
In practically all cases one hand will be using 3 notes in which the other hand will be the other 3 of the hexany, hence it inversion.

Performed on the marimba on the cover over Xenarmonikon made by Stephen smith, who now exist on these list under a different name. It requires quite large mallets, the heads made out of used tires, making playing quite awkward and difficult for someone not really trained as a percussionist.
Ok enough disclaimers
http://anaphoria.com/haiti.ogg
--
Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island <http://anaphoria.com/>
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU <http://www.kxlu.com/main.html> 88.9 FM Wed 8-9 pm Los Angeles