Deos
May 26, 2015 1:12 PM
This song is based on Koran 1:1-2. Each of its three voices has a different character.
Top Voice
The melody is derived from the Koranic text’s abjad translation. The Arabic abjad system associates each letter with a number. I then assigned each number to a musical note in the 24 tone scale using this python script.
The lyrics (protologism, flashing symbol…) are all either onomatopoeic or autological words.
Finally, the rhythm is a Kolakoski sequence. The reflexive nature of this sequence mirrors the reflexive nature of the lyrics.
Middle Voice
The rhythm follows the Fibonacci sequence. The melody is freely composed.
Bottom Voice
I mapped each number to a musical note (1 = a, 2 = b flat, 3 = b, etc.) and used this correspondence to turn the Fibonacci sequence (modulo 12) into music.
The score, as well as all of the python and lilypond code I used, can be found here.
posted by mxcollins (4 comments total)
Top Voice
The melody is derived from the Koranic text’s abjad translation. The Arabic abjad system associates each letter with a number. I then assigned each number to a musical note in the 24 tone scale using this python script.
The lyrics (protologism, flashing symbol…) are all either onomatopoeic or autological words.
Finally, the rhythm is a Kolakoski sequence. The reflexive nature of this sequence mirrors the reflexive nature of the lyrics.
Middle Voice
The rhythm follows the Fibonacci sequence. The melody is freely composed.
Bottom Voice
I mapped each number to a musical note (1 = a, 2 = b flat, 3 = b, etc.) and used this correspondence to turn the Fibonacci sequence (modulo 12) into music.
The score, as well as all of the python and lilypond code I used, can be found here.
This post was deleted for the following reason: poster's request -- LobsterMitten
Really fascinating even though there is so much happening here that I do not understand the theory behind. I study Arabic at university and we've only discussed the Abjad numerals very briefly (it came up in a text we were translating). Thank you for including the link to the score, etc. What made you want to do this?
posted by Corduroy at 4:38 PM on May 27, 2015
posted by Corduroy at 4:38 PM on May 27, 2015
Gads quarter tones are so interesting to listen to. Welcome indeed! Cool first post!
posted by greenish at 6:35 AM on May 29, 2015
posted by greenish at 6:35 AM on May 29, 2015
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I'm curious, do your methods of mapping words to music parallel anything in an Islamic aesthetic tradition? Or is there any Islamic aesthetic tradition that does something similar but with different mapping rules?
And I don't quite see the significance of that particular verse. Or maybe what I don't see is it's connection to your methods. Is that something you can expand upon? Or does the music exist to illuminate any text and you just found that one particularly worthy of illumination?
posted by bfootdav at 1:21 PM on May 26, 2015