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Istiqbal (ee-Steeck-bahl) is a word in the Romani language meaning future. It was my goal with this piece to bring together many different styles and musical aspects, and to preview what music may sound like in the future as the world grows smaller and cultures continue to meld. In the course of my career as a touring musician I have had the opportunity to discover some exciting music not readily available in the US. While on a trip to Budapest I received an email from Paul Gambill suggesting creating a piece for guitar, cimbalom and orchestra. The cimbalom is the national instrument of Hungary, and that very afternoon I was in search of CDs featuring this exotic instrument, so the synchronicity was quite apparent!
Even before meeting with my co-composer Carl Marsh, I had been developing a few themes that I thought might be good for an orchestral piece. The main opening theme of the piece is one of these, and it has Arab, Roma and Greek influences in it's rhythm and harmony. As the theme develops during the piece Spanish and American elements can also be detected.
The middle section of the piece features a very melancholy ballad, another melody that I had been working on for awhile. This melody shows more Manouche Gypsy influence—Manouche being the tribe in Europe that Django Reinhardt was born into. American Jazz and 19th century classical influences appear as well, keeping with the "gathering of cultures" concept.
As Carl and I worked together the piece started to take shape in a very natural way. Carl added his ideas to my themes, I suggested ideas for his themes, and soon they all started to meld together into a larger picture. Adding violin as another solo instrument seemed natural, and further added to our tonal palette. The gathering of the 3 soloists, the collaboration between Carl and myself, and the bringing together of the orchestra under Paul's guidance with the soloists and this new piece—it is definitely a Future Gathering, one that is in the present!
Around 400 AD both the cimbalom and the word “istiqbal” began their slow migration from ancient Persia to central Europe courtesy of the Roma (Gypsy) tribes. “Istiqbal” evolved to have the meaning of "future" for the present day Roma culture, and has prompted us to use it to frame the idea of what music of the future may resemble. We envision this music as a gathering and blending of rich cultural cross-currents that our shrinking world is constantly making more available. So is born Istiqbal Gathering.
John Jorgenson – May 2007
co-composer
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Simply put, Istiqbal Gathering is a "quartet" for guitar, violin, cimbalom and chamber orchestra Like the cimbalom, it is a "concertized" folk offering, and though its heart is in the Roma culture, it also borrows from the folk (and popular) cultures of Central Europe, Asia Minor, Greece, Iberia, Persia, and even Western Europe and the United States. It's a mixture of bare feet and bow ties—a perfect platform for the NCO!
Also, it should be said that Istiqbal Gathering is a descriptive piece with no program, a soundtrack sans film, for which the listener creates his own story. In composer-speak, the musical thread which runs throughout the piece is the interval of a diminished 2nd, more commonly known as a "half-step", the placement of which in each culture's scales gives them their unique personalities. From a layman's standpoint, however, the musical thread is dance. From the binary rhythms of the introduction to the tertiary development later, to the cumulative blending of the two, dance rhythms are ubiquitous in Istiqbal Gathering.
One last thought about the word "istiqbal.” It's present day usage in Arabic has not changed from that of the ancient Persian, where it has always meant a welcoming of a visitor where the host and visitor exchange ideas and attributes and cross-assimilate them to a certain degree. That is to say that what John, Gilles, Larry, Paul and the NCO have to express from the stage is only half of the equation. The other half is you, the listener.
Welcome to our Istiqbal Gathering.
Carl Marsh – May 2007
co-composer and orchestrator
[back to Istiqbal Gathering]
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