Floodplain (album)
Encyclopedia
Floodplain is a studio album by the Kronos Quartet
released in 2009. All twelve compositions were written or arranged for the quartet.
, "The album was inspired by the idea that floodplains...will experience new life after a catastrophe, just as cultures that undergo great difficulty will experience creative fertility."
and the long piece by Serbian composer Aleksandra Vrebalov
that concludes the album, "...hold me, neighbor, in this storm..." Other compositions are older pieces arranged for the quartet, such as "Nihavent Sitro," by Tanburi Cemil Bey
; "Mugam Beyati Shiraz," arranged by Azeri
composer Rahman Asadollahi from a song perhaps 700 years old; and "Lullaby," a traditional song from the descendants of slaves and Arab traders who inhabit Iran's southern coast. "Raga Mishra Bhairavi: Alap" is modeled after a recording of sarangi
player Ram Narayan
's interpretation of the alap
of the popular raga
Bhairavi.
, viola
, and cello
, the album includes such instruments as the riq
(heard on track 1), the shruti box (on track 5), the electric sitar
(played by Wu Man
on track 5), the tambura
(played by Terry Riley
on track 5), a scordatura
violin (on track 8), the darbukka
(on track 9), and the gusle
and tapan
(on track 12). Ramallah Underground provides "electronics" on track 2.
On "Getme, Getme," the quartet is accompanied by the Alim Quasimov ensemble, an Azeri group whose bardic vocals are supported by daf
and tar
(frame drum
s), balaban (a double-reed wind instrument), kamancheh
(a bowed string instrument), and nagara
(a folk drum).
The most unusual instrumentation is found on "Tèw semagn hagèré (Listen to Me, My Fellow Countrymen)," a song by Alèmu Aga
, the Ethiopian singer and composer who is also the master of the begena
, an Ethiopian 10-string lyre. The quartet had instruments built by Walter Kitundu, a MacArthur fellow
, inventor and builder of "phonoharps" and the "Kronos Instrument Builder in residence." Inspired by the begena, he built an instrument he called the "Beguèna Maridhia," which is played by Jeffrey Ziegler, while Hank Dutt plays a modified viola suggestive of Aga's voice.
Top World Albums chart in the week of June 6, 2009, on position six. The album received positive reviews. David Stabler, writing for The Oregonian
, notes that "'Floodplain' has a wildness about it that is especially impassioned and unpredictable. It feels unusually current, even politically current, with music from parts of the world we often only
read about"; he recommends it highly.
Kronos Quartet
Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973 in Seattle, Washington. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt on viola, and Joan...
released in 2009. All twelve compositions were written or arranged for the quartet.
Concept
The Kronos Quartet have a long record of commissioning compositions and of collaborating with musicians from around the world. These compositions, which were either written or arranged for the quartet, hail "from cultures based in areas surrounded by water and prone to catastrophic flooding," ranging from Egypt and Serbia in the west to India in the east; from Central Asia in the north to Ethiopia in the south. According to Nonesuch RecordsNonesuch Records
Nonesuch Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Records.-Company history:Nonesuch was founded in 1964 by Jac Holzman to produce "fine records at the same price as a trade paperback", which would be half the price of a normal LP...
, "The album was inspired by the idea that floodplains...will experience new life after a catastrophe, just as cultures that undergo great difficulty will experience creative fertility."
Compositions
Floodplain contains twelve compositions, some newly written for the quartet, such as "Tashweesh," a collaboration with the Ramallah UndergroundRamallah Underground
Ramallah Underground, based in Ramallah, Palestine, is a musical collective born from the desire to give voice to a generation of Palestinians and Arabs, in a situation of great economic, artistic, and political difficulty...
and the long piece by Serbian composer Aleksandra Vrebalov
Aleksandra Vrebalov
Aleksandra Vrebalov is a Serbian composer based in New York City. She studied composition with Miroslav Statkic at Novi Sad University, then with Zoran Erić at Belgrade University, Elinor Armer at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Ivana Loudova at the Prague Academy of Music...
that concludes the album, "...hold me, neighbor, in this storm..." Other compositions are older pieces arranged for the quartet, such as "Nihavent Sitro," by Tanburi Cemil Bey
Tanburi Cemil Bey
Tanburi Cemil Bey , was a Turkish tanbur, yaylı tanbur, kemençe, and lavta virtuoso and composer, who has greatly contributed to the taksim genre in Ottoman classical music...
; "Mugam Beyati Shiraz," arranged by Azeri
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
composer Rahman Asadollahi from a song perhaps 700 years old; and "Lullaby," a traditional song from the descendants of slaves and Arab traders who inhabit Iran's southern coast. "Raga Mishra Bhairavi: Alap" is modeled after a recording of sarangi
Sarangi
The Sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument of India which is originated from Rajasthani folk instruments. It plays an important role in India's Hindustani classical music tradition...
player Ram Narayan
Ram Narayan
Ram Narayan , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician who popularized the bowed instrument sarangi as a solo concert instrument in Hindustani classical music and became the first internationally successful sarangi player....
's interpretation of the alap
Alap
The alap is the opening section of a typical North Indian classical performance. It is a form of melodic improvisation that introduces and develops a raga...
of the popular raga
Raga
A raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
Bhairavi.
Instrumentation
For these twelve compositions, the quartet and guest players employed a variety of instruments often traditional to the culture of the compositions. Besides the usual violinViolin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
, and cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
, the album includes such instruments as the riq
Riq
The riq is a type of tambourine used as a traditional instrument in Arabic music. It is an important instrument in both folk and classical music throughout the Arabic-speaking world...
(heard on track 1), the shruti box (on track 5), the electric sitar
Electric sitar
An electric sitar is a kind of electric guitar designed to mimic the sound of the traditional Indian instrument, the sitar. Depending on the manufacturer and model, these instruments bear varying degrees of resemblance to the traditional sitar...
(played by Wu Man
Wu Man
Wu Man is a Chinese pipa virtuoso and composer. Described as "the artist most responsible for bring the pipa to the Western World" by the Los Angeles Times, US-based, Chinese-born musician Wu Man has carved out a career creating and fostering projects that give this ancient Chinese instrument a...
on track 5), the tambura
Tambura
The tambura, tanpura, or tambora is a long-necked plucked lute . The body shape of the tambura somewhat resembles that of the sitar, but it has no frets – only the open strings are played to accompany other musicians...
(played by Terry Riley
Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...
on track 5), a scordatura
Scordatura
A scordatura , also called cross-tuning, is an alternative tuning used for the open strings of a string instrument, in which the notes indicated in the score would represent the finger position as if played in regular tuning, while the actual pitch is altered...
violin (on track 8), the darbukka
Goblet drum
The goblet drum is a hand drum with a goblet shape used mostly in the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe....
(on track 9), and the gusle
Gusle
The Gusle is a single-stringed musical instrument traditionally used in the Dinarides region of the Balkans ....
and tapan
Tapan
Tapan can refer to:* Tapan, Azerbaijan* Tapan , an administrative district in West Bengal, India* Tapan, Homalin, Burma* Geghasar, Armenia, formerly known as Tapan...
(on track 12). Ramallah Underground provides "electronics" on track 2.
On "Getme, Getme," the quartet is accompanied by the Alim Quasimov ensemble, an Azeri group whose bardic vocals are supported by daf
Daf
A daf is a frame drum used as a musical instrument in popular and classical music. The term daf is used in Iran / Kurdistan for a large drum that has a series of four interlinked rings in the frame. Daf is mostly used in Middle East, Iran, Armenia, Pakistan, Turkey, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and ...
and tar
Tar (drum)
A tar is a single-headed frame drum. The tar comes from North Africa and the Middle East. Depictions of these frame drums date back thousands of years....
(frame drum
Frame drum
A frame drum is a drum that has a drumhead width greater than its depth. Usually the single drumhead is made of rawhide or man-made materials. Shells are traditionally constructed of bent wood scarf jointed together; plywood and man-made materials are also used. Some frame drums have mechanical...
s), balaban (a double-reed wind instrument), kamancheh
Kamancheh
The kamānche or kamāncha is a Persian bowed string instrument related to the bowed rebab, the historical ancestor of the kamancheh and also to the bowed lira of the Byzantine Empire, ancestor of the European violin family. The strings are played with a variable-tension bow: the word "kamancheh"...
(a bowed string instrument), and nagara
Nagara (drum)
The nagara is a folk drum with double head that is played on one side with the bare hands. It is performed in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey and other Caucasus regions. It has different names, according to the territory in which it is played...
(a folk drum).
The most unusual instrumentation is found on "Tèw semagn hagèré (Listen to Me, My Fellow Countrymen)," a song by Alèmu Aga
Alemu Aga
Alemu Aga is an Ethiopian musician and singer, a master of the bèguèna.Born in Entotta, near Addis Ababa, Alemu became interested in the begena at the age of twelve, when a master of the instrument moved in next door to his family, the Aleqa Tessema Welde-Emmanuel...
, the Ethiopian singer and composer who is also the master of the begena
Begena
The begena is an Ethiopian and Eritrean string instrument that resembles a large lyre. According to Ethiopian tradition, Menelik I brought the instrument to Ethiopia from Israel, where David had used the begena to soothe King Saul's nerves and heal him of insomnia...
, an Ethiopian 10-string lyre. The quartet had instruments built by Walter Kitundu, a MacArthur fellow
MacArthur Fellows Program
The MacArthur Fellows Program or MacArthur Fellowship is an award given by the John D. and Catherine T...
, inventor and builder of "phonoharps" and the "Kronos Instrument Builder in residence." Inspired by the begena, he built an instrument he called the "Beguèna Maridhia," which is played by Jeffrey Ziegler, while Hank Dutt plays a modified viola suggestive of Aga's voice.
Reception
Floodplain entered the BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Top World Albums chart in the week of June 6, 2009, on position six. The album received positive reviews. David Stabler, writing for The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
, notes that "'Floodplain' has a wildness about it that is especially impassioned and unpredictable. It feels unusually current, even politically current, with music from parts of the world we often only
read about"; he recommends it highly.
Track listing
Musicians
- David Harrington - violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
- John Sherba - violin
- Hank Dutt - violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
- Jeffrey Zeigler - celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
Production
- Recorded August 2007-October 2008 at Architecture, Los Angeles
- Scott Fraser - engineer
- Dann Thompson - assistant engineer
- Jeanne Velonis - editing assistant
- "Getme, Getme" recorded live at the Ramadan Nights Festival at the Barbican CentreBarbican CentreThe Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...
, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, on 26 September 2008- Adam Whitford - engineer
- "Raga Mishra Bhairavi" drone (cello, electric sitar, shruti box, and tambura) recorded at Skywalker SoundSkywalker SoundSkywalker Sound is the sound effects, sound editing, sound design, sound mixing and music recording division of George Lucas' Lucas Digital motion picture group. Its main facilities are located in Lucas Valley, near Nicasio, California...
, Nicasio, CaliforniaNicasio, CaliforniaNicasio is a census-designated place in Marin County, California. It is located west-southwest of Novato, at an elevation of 194 feet . The population was 96 at the 2010 census....
, August 2006- Judith Sherman - producer
- Scott Fraser - engineer
- Dann Thompson - assistant engineer
- "Tèw semagn hagèré" recorded at Whip Records, Berkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, October 2008- David Landon - assistant engineer