lullaby

I was about to depict a complex scenery, but it wasn't very popular the previous times I did. Let's say that this is one with a strange groove. Like, hypnagogic. To be more specific, let's say some fairies are gathered around a sleeper. Maybe black, african fairies. Summoned by a griot. Softly singing. Well, forget it.

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posted by nicolin (9 comments total)

Lovely piece of work nicolin.
posted by Abiezer at 3:56 PM on December 6, 2007

nicolin, I think you've found a place where whimsy meets the finest art. This is really beautiful!
posted by snsranch at 7:36 PM on December 6, 2007

That's some sweet guitar playing, there, nicolin. And may I say that, stylistically, it's the kind of thing that's often too polished, with the life sort of sucked out of it. Not here, though. The playing is real and rough enough, and the timbre of that little flute or recorder or whatever is so perfect, so un-precious, if you know what I mean. Very nice! Wish the whole thing was a little longer, is all.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:51 AM on December 7, 2007

hi,
well, as usual, I didn't want it to be too polished, I think that keeping it as close as possible from the spontaneous original musical ideas is keeping it simple and alive, as you said. The flute is actually a blessing one I ordered from ebay, and is about the fifth flute I've been ordering. I think I'm going to buy a brand new one, since each flute I've been buying has some sort of flaw, this one is out of tune from the high C onwards, and the lower C, C# and D are unreachable. Anyway, I managed to make some sort of traditional flute sound with it, which was what the tune was calling for. These little phrases were recorded and I didn't want to make them sound perfect : after all, it's a lullaby, and I wanted to keep some child-like quality in the playing. Since I don't know a thing about flute playing, that sounds right. The guitar groove was my main inspiration for the tune, I always wondered how african musicians managed to create such strong grooves with a simple hand technique. Well, "dry guitar" is often real rich, and I've grown to think that the guitar itself is nothing but a medium (your cigar-box guitars link seemed to demonstrate that too). Seeing kids playing with their own hand-made guitars was an inspiration too.
posted by nicolin at 3:39 AM on December 7, 2007

Love the guitar on this.
posted by ORthey at 10:32 AM on December 7, 2007

Great song, and great explanation. It seems to me like you achieved exactly what you were after.
posted by micayetoca at 11:23 AM on December 7, 2007

Thanks a lot.
posted by nicolin at 11:28 AM on December 7, 2007

I love it I love it I love it.
posted by Pallas Athena at 10:00 AM on December 8, 2007

Thanks for reminding me of this song since I never told you how much I liked it. It's beautiful.
posted by melissa may at 9:36 PM on July 31, 2008