Xenakis' "Okho" for three djembes

[davidognomo]

I believe there is no reference to this piece on our forum, wich is a huge miss.

Iannis Xenakis, XXth century greek composer, was Le Corbusiers works' engineer also, and created experimental and electronic music, while Cage was doing in the states a similar resarch on the limits of music by other means. As he was a mathmatician, Xenakis created his music from mathmatic formulas.

He is an incontournable composer of the history of music and has a piece that was written for three djembes, named Okho.

Pedro Carneiro, who is a worldclass percussionist from Portugal, with whom I've worked on a play where he was the author of the music, and has played Okho, told me that he wrote it for the comemorations of 200th anniversary of the the French Revolution, in 1989, derived from a request by the organization of these comemorations, directly linked to the french government.

So, this gentlemen wrote a music piece to be played in a musical instrument original from african countries that where ex-french colonies (one has got to love him!). on an event where the words of order were Equality, Fraternity, Liberty... That's the catch.

As Pedro Carneiro told me (he has played it, there are videos of it on youtube), the piece is written with six distinct notes to be played on the djembe. I don't remember what were the six sounds, but there was a bass slap, a regular bass, a closed slap, fingers on the edge of the rim, and maybe a regular slap and a regular tone.

The problem for Okho is that it is a classical/contemporary piece, usually played by classical music school students in percussion and musicians. Wich have no hand technique. Pedro Carneiro told me that when he played it, he was in England, where he did his studies, and he and his coleagues had some classes with senegalese teachers, I think, and played on Ivory coast djembes.

Djembefolas with proper technique,on the other hand, will probably have difficulties with reading the notation for Okho.

It would be a great thing, to hear Okho, played by african djembefolas.

Derived from this issue, There are a lot of versions where those six sounds of a djembe are seplaced by a six piece percussion set.


one of the best played on djembe versions i've found is this one:



its really funny watching to these musicians playing the djembe with pianist style moves and looking at the sheets. I think the only sounds they cannot achieve is a proper slap and a proper tone

But it's very nice to watch and listen to the full piece. And, eventhough these are not djembefolas, and really cannot attain the sounds we recognize as the djembe sounds (and I think the composition has very much to do with it, with its choice for the type of sounds; the djembes are played as if they were an indistinct hand drum - or really the musicians cannot play a good slap, for the very least), they are very good musicians.

And it is a very nice piece.

[davidognomo]

no comments on this? that's strange.

[rachelnguyen]

It would be interesting to see what the music looks like for this.

This kind of piece is not my normal cup of tea, but I found myself kind of grooving to it.

[davidognomo]

It would be interesting to see what the music looks like for this.

you mean the notation?

I think the notation for this is graphic, instead of regular musical notation. That was one of his introductions as a precursor of music's new language at the time he started.

this has nothing to do with what the djembe is.
But he was known for his political views (he was exiled for that). In this case the use of the djembe has only the function of a political statement, I think.
There is not a study about the specific language of the type of musical context in wich the djembe is used. the piece could have been written for a percussion set, as it is often performed, and it would be just the same.

I love the concept as artistic intervention in a social historical context. As music, it's almost a scolar thing.

[rachelnguyen]

Hey David,

Is there a sample of the notation on the web somewhere? I would be curious to see it.

Also, it would be far cooler if djembefolas from Mali or Guinea were playing this. If the score is graphic, I imagine it would not take long to learn how to read it.

Rachel

[e2c]

... or Burkina Faso?

I wonder if Adama Dramé has played this piece - it wouldn't surprise me, as he's done a number of collaborations with contemporary "classical" composers and experimental/avant-garde musicians.

[the kid]

Three guys who could play would sound better any day.

So it's conceptual and novel but not really so intelligent or innovative in my humblest..

[bubudi]

while looking this piece up i found out he did in fact write it for 3 djembes, as the title suggests, and this is in fact the only percussion piece he wrote for djembes.

as for notation, i think a conservatorium or university music department would be the likely place to find it, or possibly a music bookstore/sheet music store specialising in modern classical and postmodern music (although i'm not sure how musicologists would classify this piece!)

[the kid]

as for notation

Stick it in the Jacks and stop flogging the dead horse of p feckin c

And mail james quick to hear what jacks means or can you guess.

Is there a decent poly-rhythym in the piece or any relavence to africa ? I don't think so.

[bubudi]

i don't think it pretends to be african, does it?

i think i heard james say once that he was off to the jacks

[the kid]

I presumed wrong that the piece was intended to have an african theme.

So why the funk didn't they make this piece from french horns rather than djembes. The composer create this piece about the french revolution. I don't really get it. Conceptual is a world of its own.

Yeap the jacks is the loo.

[e2c]

as for notation, i think a conservatorium or university music department would be the likely place to find it, or possibly a music bookstore/sheet music store specialising in modern classical and postmodern music (although i'm not sure how musicologists would classify this piece!)

Yes... a university music department with a good library of scores might be a starting point; so would stores that either can order the sheets for this piece or that might have it in stock already. (Steve Weiss Music would be a start, here in the US, since they specialize in orchestral and marching percussion.)

the kid: chill.

[the kid]

I don't need some biddy tellin me to chill. I'll state my opinion and when i'm wrong i'll admit it.

If you have a comment about my post lets hear it.

[e2c]

I have my flame-retardant suit on today.

Chillax, dude.

[e2c]

I presumed wrong that the piece was intended to have an african theme.

So why the funk didn't they make this piece from french horns rather than djembes. The composer create this piece about the french revolution. I don't really get it. Conceptual is a world of its own.

My guess is that the French government had a lot of grant money to award for short compositions - not necessarily on the theme of the French revolution; more like stuff to be played at concerts held during the 1989 anniversary celebrations.

And I agree that this piece is pretty ... dry, abstract, maybe? As davidngomo (and others) said above, I can imagine it would work equally well played on other percussion instruments.

I've come across a bunch of contemporary "classical" pieces for djembe over on emusic.com; can't say any of them have really grabbed me, though. I guess composers are interested in the instrument because it has such a broad range, but the big challenge is to be able to write for it effectively. (Which means that you need to know a lot about what the instrument can do - whether it's djembe, bala - or tenor sax.) I get the feeling that some of the people who are writing - and performing - would be better off spending some time with African drummers - or, at least, people trained by them. (Again, as others have said above.)

also...

So, this gentlemen wrote a music piece to be played in a musical instrument original from african countries that where ex-french colonies (one has got to love him!). on an event where the words of order were Equality, Fraternity, Liberty... That's the catch.

which seems not only cool, but kind of subversive! (Africans in France were being given a very hard time by the French government back in the late 80s, so maybe this piece is meant to be partly in support of them? ... Salif Keita wrote a song about what was happening, titled "Nou pas bouger." *)

and davidngomo also mentioned that

As he was a mathmatician, Xenakis created his music from mathmatic formulas.

I can see how that could make for pretty abstract compositions.

* there's an English version of Salif's lyrics on this page (scroll past the video) - http://www.africanloft.com/salif-keita- ... t-move-us/