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Not long after my high school graduation, I was contacted by the San Diego Children's Choir and commissioned me to write a piece for their Spring concert, under their newly appointed director, Anne Whattoff, who I had been actively working with for the last four years.
Around the same time, I had recently purchased a gyil, which is a pentatonic percussive instrument from Ghana, Africa. Danny Elfman and John Avila play them in one of my favorite Oingo Boingo songs, Grey Matter, and I simply couldn't stop myself from getting one of my own.
Because of the date of the concert (May 14), the SDCC board decided on the theme of the piece to be mothers. Since I don't consider myself a lyricist, Filip Salata, whom I had also known in my teenage years, contributed his poetry to go with the piece I was to compose. |
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After seeing the lyrics I got a—for lack of a better word—"earthy" vibe from them. The poetry Filip created views motherhood in a metaphorical sense and often references animals and the wild. The more I read the lyrics, the more appealing the gyil seemed for the piece. In fact, the four different gyil theme variations used became the entire basis for the composition. I love mixing musical styles, and combining the traditional Dagara instrument with a modern youth chorus, piano, and bass formed an eastern inspired composition that I actually thoroughly enjoyed.
Performing the gyil onstage live for this piece at Copley Symphony Hall was amazing. While I am a little perturbed that the bassist cancelled, I still feel that it was a huge success with the help of Anne's directing and Kathleen Kranz accompanying on piano. |
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