A Night in Merzouga

Here is the link to my latest composition: A Night in Merzouga (Unlike in a recipe blog, I FIRST present my recipe, then write about every single thought I had during the day).

I have always preferred to listen to a piano solo. However, as a composer, I have many times seen the limit of my instrument. The piano is a powerful tool, but not omnipotent. In “A Night in Merzouga”, for example, the piano has talked a lot, like a stranger trying to paint a foreign world with his own words, but you don’t feel enough of it.  When wearing VR glasses, you can sometimes see the pixels of a movie. That’s like the piano effect to me, a “virtual” reality. Sometimes I find it important to stick to a solo instrument so other people can play it more easily. You can build a crystal castle with one kind of transparent shining stones which looks fantastic, and so can you build your style with one instrument. But the monotonous result simply doesn’t have the earthy feel that I missed from many places. My ears dig other sounds, too, and I allow them.

Let me show you some of the instruments I am gathering in this music:

• Riq: an Arabic tambourine. Unlike the tambourine I have seen in the jazz band back in ND, it has fewer and bigger jingles. It was originally used in Egypt, but used in many other Arabic cultures.

  

• Drums. This is a picture taken by Sz in Merzouga. It is THAT night I am talking about,druming with some Nomads in the Sahara. I don’t know the exact name to these drums, but I think they are leather drums.
• Krakebs. It is my first time seeing them. I found them throughout the souks in Marrakesh and in the dessert as well. They are the Berber version of the high-hat.

  

A friend of mine told me how she felt about the percussion. “Being kidnapped”, she said.