David Kraus: The Listening Room
Yehe Dayr Kabhee Nahe Hogee
Gary Gordon ~ soprano saxophoneBuy the Album
David Kraus ~ acoustic steel string guitar
Jamie Masefield ~ mandolin & tenor banjo
Clyde Stats ~ acoustic bass
Mark van Gulden ~ dumbek (Turkish drum)
Inspired from my deep respect and love for the people of India (where I found myself living in 1999), this piece is composed around a North Indian classical music scale or raga, but the same mode is also found in Persian and Arabic musics. This is because of the pervasive remolding of Hindu Indian culture (particularly North India) due to the colonization of the sub-continent by the Islamic Mughal emperors of Persia many centuries ago, which created the India we know today. It was then changed further by the two century British occupation. Indeed, the country and culture that is modern India would not exist without these altering influences, and is not unlike the developing of what we accept as American culture (especially music) because of the mixing of basically the two massive world cultural elements of Africa and Europe. The title of the song is in Hindi and is loosely translated from the English "It's Never Too Late" which is what I originally called the piece until I asked a friend to translate it into Hindi (which was difficult for semantic reasons but is close enough.) I wanted to impart to the listener an aural image and feeling of India even before the music starts though I understand that no one except Indians would know what the title means. But this doesn't matter in my mind because the mere attempt by a listener to just read and say the words already begins to open a door to a different world in the mind's ear before the first drum beat is heard, and will stay with the listener as they give themselves over to the music.
The melody is made from a septatonic (seven note) scale similar in construction to our own Western diatonic scales which contain five whole-steps and two half-steps within the octave. But like many modes of Central Asia, the Middle east, North Africa, and Spain, this scale has its own variation of this sequence and contains three whole-steps and two half-steps, and a large interval of one & 1/2 steps between the flatted 9th and major 3rd tones. Also, the scale starts with a half-step whereas Western scales begin with a whole-step. It is clearly heard in the opening two notes of the tonic to flatted 9th interval and immediately sets up the rest of the overall sounds which follow. The bass also strongly "carves out" the mode heavily on the Gmajor tonic chord throughout the tune and is the only other instrument doing so besides the soprano's melody. The bass really carries this song. The simple drum line heard is a Turkish umbek. The high-strung guitar and mandolin provide a bright tension while playing the part of the Indian tampura, a drone-like instrument. But being a Western composer and musician I inserted harmony or chords into the modal structure that work right along with the melody and support it. It is not a typical chord progression at all and was designed to work with this scale. The time signature is straight Common time (4/4) with the Gmajor tonic for two bars, moving to Cminor for one bar, then returning to Gmajor for one bar, all of this occuring in the "A" section. The "B" section is Fminor for two bars and Gmajor for two bars. During the "Bridge" section the tension is loosened a bit because I changed the melodic and harmonic configuration to Abmajor a Gminor 7th both suspended over a strong C tone played as a drone on the bass. The scale is changed to an Ab Lydian mode (major scale with a #4th) and the sax melody is doubled by the mandolin in a trill effect to give some reprieve from the intensity of the primary mode and lighten the mood while still maintaining an "Asian" quality. It also makes for a more dramatic return to the original scale for the solos which are played over the "A" section. The soprano sax takes center stage here with the melody and solo while the bass carries the momentum and pulse of the music. Though when the tune is played live there are solos taken by the guitar and mandolin, I decided for the recording to make a statement in a shorter poetic way keeping the sound and intensity of the soprano sax in the forefront because the instrument has such an intrinsic "Eastern" tonal quality. The last four bars are played out by the strong melodic bass line alone and supported by the dumbek, carrying the modal quality and Eastern sound to the last G note. The last beat of the tune is enhanced with the chime of Tibetan meditation bells which I happen to pick up in Nepal while visiting there and seem a fitting end. I hope you enjoy.
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