Description
"Kalabash" for four percussionists, was composed as part of the HC Coombs Creative Arts Fellowship for the ANU School of Music's student percussion ensemble "Drumatix" & was premiered by them at the National Art Gallery in July 2004.
Two marimbas & a selection of splash cymbals & log drums are shared amongst the four players who engage in a virtuosic interplay reminiscent of the balofon music of West Africa.
The balofon is the forerunner of the modern marimba & shares many physical characteristics with its modern counterpart, the main difference being that the wooden bars (or notes) are suspended above a collection of different sized kalabash gourds instead of aluminium resnonators. In some instances these gourds have spiderwebs stretched over their openings which create a fantastic buzzing resonance when the bars are hit with mallets.
The traditional music of West Africa frequently features the balofon & there are many accomplished exponents of dazzling virtuosity amongst the tribes of Northern Ghana.It is the musical gestures & celebratory nature of this folk music which in some ways informs the language of Kalabash & though there is no direct borrowing of musical themes or techniques, this exotic sound world has become a departure point for the compositional process.
- Nigel Westlake
Number of Players: 4
Difficulty: Grade 5
Instrumentation:
Player I: Marimba (Shared) Log Drum, Woodblock
Player II: Marimba (Shared) Log Drum, Woodblock
Player I: Marimba (Shared) Cowbell, Woodblock
Player I: Marimba (Shared) Cowbell, Woodblock
Nigel Westlake's career in music has spanned more than 3 decades. He studied the clarinet with his father, Donald Westlake (a prominent Australian musician & principal clarinetist with the Sydney Symphony orchestra 1961-1979) & subsequently left school early to pursue a performance career in music. Nigel toured Australia & the world playing with ballet companies, a circus troupe, chamber music groups, fusion bands & orchestras to the cities of London, New York, Rome, Washington, Tokyo, Beijing, Paris, Amsterdam, Vancouver, Moscow, Hong Kong, Berlin, New Delhi & Singapore to name but a few. His interest in composition dates from the late 1970's when he formed a classical/jazz-rock/world-music fusion band to play original music. During this time he started to receive offers to compose for radio & circus. Commissions for TV & film soon followed.
Two marimbas & a selection of splash cymbals & log drums are shared amongst the four players who engage in a virtuosic interplay reminiscent of the balofon music of West Africa.
The balofon is the forerunner of the modern marimba & shares many physical characteristics with its modern counterpart, the main difference being that the wooden bars (or notes) are suspended above a collection of different sized kalabash gourds instead of aluminium resnonators. In some instances these gourds have spiderwebs stretched over their openings which create a fantastic buzzing resonance when the bars are hit with mallets.
The traditional music of West Africa frequently features the balofon & there are many accomplished exponents of dazzling virtuosity amongst the tribes of Northern Ghana.It is the musical gestures & celebratory nature of this folk music which in some ways informs the language of Kalabash & though there is no direct borrowing of musical themes or techniques, this exotic sound world has become a departure point for the compositional process.
- Nigel Westlake
Number of Players: 4
Difficulty: Grade 5
Instrumentation:
Nigel Westlake's career in music has spanned more than 3 decades. He studied the clarinet with his father, Donald Westlake (a prominent Australian musician & principal clarinetist with the Sydney Symphony orchestra 1961-1979) & subsequently left school early to pursue a performance career in music. Nigel toured Australia & the world playing with ballet companies, a circus troupe, chamber music groups, fusion bands & orchestras to the cities of London, New York, Rome, Washington, Tokyo, Beijing, Paris, Amsterdam, Vancouver, Moscow, Hong Kong, Berlin, New Delhi & Singapore to name but a few. His interest in composition dates from the late 1970's when he formed a classical/jazz-rock/world-music fusion band to play original music. During this time he started to receive offers to compose for radio & circus. Commissions for TV & film soon followed.
Product Info
| SKU | WESTLAKE KALA |
|---|---|
| Weight | 0.8 lb |
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