Gloria Caribana

Originally, my Gloria Caribana started off with the title "Gloria Brevis" but then I felt that as I was composing the piece was following a kind of Caribbean History in my mind. The other thing is that the chorus for which it was originally meant is based in Toronto, Canada. Every year in the Caribbean community in Toronto hold the "Caribana" festival much like the Traditional Carnival held in Trinidad, Brazil and other parts of the Caribbean. So, to me it only made sense to change the title of the work to follow the "story" that was playing out in my mind.

The work is in seven short movements. It is scored for: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba, Timpani and a grand variety of Caribbean percussion that alternated between movements depending on their significance as well as Dramatic-Coloratura Soprano solo, SATB chorus and narrator.

I also used this piece as a way to get myself thinking about Caribbean flavored operas and a "Caribbean Missa" (title will change) that I've been thinking about. Because of the "brevis" aspect of the work this piece no doubt lacks the "grand development" that could have been.

The percussion used is that of various Caribbean islands including Brazil. Unfortunately, I had to double up on some of the sounds so you really won't get the sense of timbre from the individual percussion or groupings used in the render :(.

I also managed to work out many of the issues with balance and textures in the mp3s.

So here it is. I've also included pdf samples of the choral score only for select movements.

(If the moderators find this work suitable for Major works you may move it there).

1) Narrator: In the distance, the drums of the Caribbean and Africa sing

as brave explorers take to the high seas. With high hopes, a “new world” is found and sinister acts are born. “ Gloria in excelsis Deo ”.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=5807027

2) Narrator: Amerindians are enslaved and are decimated while their

African cousins make a perilous journey across the Atlantic to share in the same fate.

The Africans bring the rhythm and soul of Africa to meet the rhythm and soul of the Caribbean.

A rhythmic cry of “peace and goodwill toward all men” . “ Et in terra pax ”.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=5812061

3) Narrator: The rhythms and drumming techniques of Africa and the Caribbean hold hands in marriage giving birth to a new identity. A young maiden leads a praise amidst the tribulation of a people.

“ Laudamus te ”.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=557754&songID=5841398

4) Narrator (during timpani roll): The beauty of diversity gives birth to new and beautiful peoples and cultures of the Caribbean. From the Mestizos and Creaoles, to the African - Indians , the intermarrying of Irish slaves and servants with Caribbeans, and the beloved Garifuna people who taught the Caribbean how to dance the Punta. A song and dance expressing thankfulness of life. “ Gratias agimus tibi ”

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=5841388

5) Narrator: In a foreign state of mind, Caribbean slaves face atrocities that provoke a mournful cry unto God. In a foreign language, a song of mercy is heard. “ Domine Deus ”.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=5857608

6) Narrator: A musical marriage of European, African and Amerindian culture begins to give the music of the Caribbean a new and distinctive sound helping to give birth to forms such as Merengue, Calypso, and Samba. “Quoniam tu solus”.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=5883900

7) Narrator: With further importation of peoples from the east, an even newer and more diverse culture begins to emerge. A unique Caribbean experience is expressed in music, food, language and in Carnival. “Cum Sancto Spiritu”.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=5933143

I enjoyed listetning to this. Nice work!

hi Majesty!

great pieces! love your style. you achieved very grand and brilliant effects and fantastic colors. the percussion parts are excellent, very effective and appealing. some sections slighlty reminded me Janacek's Missa Glagolitica. my only suggestion is that you might vary a bit the overall textures in order to create more contrasting sections. anyway it is a great job. regards!

Well, this has certainly been a long time coming. Now, we see the end result. :)

I very much enjoyed the mixture of styles you employ. The percussion against the orchestra is quite hypnotic - no doubt a live performance would enhance this effect further, given the visual aspect along with the absence of GPO.

I did find quite a lot of repetition, especially harmonically, but my guess is that's because there are no lyrics in the synthesised renditions, and the audience's attention will need to be trained on the narrator from time to time. Thus, the music sometimes needs to occupy the background.

I would be very interested to hear this live if you ever get the opportunity, since GPO really doesn't do it proper justice. Congratulations on a fine work!

I enjoyed listetning to this. Nice work!

Hi johnsamuelpike, gald you enjoyed listening. Thanks for listening and for the comment.

hi Majesty!

great pieces! love your style. you achieved very grand and brilliant effects and fantastic colors. the percussion parts are excellent, very effective and appealing. some sections slighlty reminded me Janacek's Missa Glagolitica. my only suggestion is that you might vary a bit the overall textures in order to create more contrasting sections. anyway it is a great job. regards!

Hey frantz, thanks for the comments. I do know what you mean about the textures. It was in part a purposful decision no to vary the texture much since it was a "brevis" piece. But I guess my decision backfired on me since you feel that more variation in texture could have been used. Hopefully, it won't be taken as a boring onslaught of continuous texture.

Well, this has certainly been a long time coming. Now, we see the end result. :)

I very much enjoyed the mixture of styles you employ. The percussion against the orchestra is quite hypnotic - no doubt a live performance would enhance this effect further, given the visual aspect along with the absence of GPO.

I did find quite a lot of repetition, especially harmonically, but my guess is that's because there are no lyrics in the synthesised renditions, and the audience's attention will need to be trained on the narrator from time to time. Thus, the music sometimes needs to occupy the background.

I would be very interested to hear this live if you ever get the opportunity, since GPO really doesn't do it proper justice. Congratulations on a fine work!

Mike, Thanks for listening. Yeah, GPO doesn't give the full sense. Just like the texture issue frantz brought up, it was a purposeful decision to have a kind of repetitious scheme with the harmonies much like you would hear in a Mozart Missa Brevis. But, if you found that it was "a lot of repetition" harmonically then again my decision backfired on me.

I will be submitting this work to a competition and hopefully my decisions won't be seen as a weakness or a lacking in my understanding/ability. Again, thanks for listening and glad you enjoyed it.

Hey Majesty,

That's a very mature and conscientious work, as evidenced not only by the compositions themselves but also by your level of commitment to an artistic concept, the motif that encouraged you to engage in such an audacious project.

All the pieces sound great! I really like the atmosphere you created by the use of diverse instrumentation and the constant presence of the choir.

There's just one extra-musical detail that raised my curiosity about the concept of your work: did you include Brazil among Caribbean islands? I don't know what you meant by that, maybe I got it wrong...

Hey Majesty,

That's a very mature and conscientious work, as evidenced not only by the compositions themselves but also by your level of commitment to an artistic concept, the motif that encouraged you to engage in such an audacious project.

All the pieces sound great! I really like the atmosphere you created by the use of diverse instrumentation and the constant presence of the choir.

There's just one extra-musical detail that raised my curiosity about the concept of your work: did you include Brazil among Caribbean islands? I don't know what you meant by that, maybe I got it wrong...

Hi Pedro, thanks for listening and commenting.

To answer your question:

This piece was a story regarding the rhythms and various styles of music that have their rhythmic roots in Africa, but with a now transformed life due to the influences of the Americas and the presence of the europeans. In that regard I chose to include Brazil because it is part of the story of exploration, the Amerindian story, slavery and music.

In fact, before the Americas were divided into labels North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean were ALL refered to as the West Indies. A lot of Caribbeans still call themselves West Indians and the region the West Indies. Around the 18th century, the term "Americans" was used to describe anyone that lived or came from the Americas/new world (North, Central, South America and Caribbean). Eventually, more distinctions were made. But the Brazil although not a Caribbean Island, is still part of the story and so are other places like Venezuela.

There is a celebration that is kind of like an Arts Olympics called "Carifesta" that is held every so often in different Caribbean island as well as countries in South and Central America celebrating what I discussed abouve - the parallel history of African diaspora and its relation and intermixing with the Americans and indigenous culture along with the influence of the europeans. In fact places like Guyana in South America are still often refered to as West Indies/Caribbean. So although Brazil's culture is South American its story is still the same as the Caribbean.

Hope that made everything clear. I probably made a bigger reply than needed to :P

Oh and as a side note I have since revised the title from "Gloria Caribana" to "Gloria Caribe"

You did make it clear enough, Majesty!

Thanks for the comprehensive explanation =)

Pedro