These are solid compositions! I really appreciate how you put the weight on the structure of the pieces, and also keeping the rhythmical identity which reminds me the more orthodox practices of concert music composition. I always thought using ethnic aspect in music can be quite risky, as it can easily fall into the trap of cheap exoticism, but you managed to bring the coherent legitimacy to it. I guess you have a solid knowledge on it?
Well done!
Thank you very much! Indeed, I studied with an ethnomusicologist specialized in the music of the Middle East and Magreb. We played some traditional pieces like Samai Bayati or Lamma Bada (by the way, the Taksim of Pùpa Pùpa is very inspired by Lamma Bada). The difficulty in these pieces is the position of the beats and weak beats in the rhythm which can destabilize when one is used to the Occidental rhythm. But normally, I followed the traditional Samai rhythm as best I could.
The only element that I could not render correctly in the piece of Pùpa Pùpa is the maqâm. This is the "modality" used in these pieces and these oriental modes have quarter tones. Unfortunately, for lack of time, I did not succeed in finding the way to integrate the quarter tones in the piece...
But apart from that, the piece meets the criteria of the Samai as well as possible.
