I started the band with my friend, Christopher Rodulfo, who is a percussionist and drummer. We practice together often and have good communication. So we made a plan: to make the structure of the concert as clear as possible before asking the rest of the musicians to join the band.
With most of the musicians of the band I share friendship and play frequently with. They are always willing to hear the background story of the concert which brings us on the same page.
At the same time, my teacher Timo Alakotila was helping me with the notation of the pieces and structure of the songs, which helped me to communicate with the band members even better.
What made the preparation of the concert more effective was that I practiced with each musician separately, as a duo, before rehearsing as a band. Hearing what each musician thought about the music and getting feedback also speeded up the process. We recorded all the rehearsal material and listened to it afterward. I tried my best to keep the same structure or arrangement even if new ideas occurred being aware that alternating ideas may cause confusion especially given a limited amount of times.
According to the story, the concert was divided into three chapters.
Chapter one: "Dream"
Chapter two: "Black and white"
Chapter three: "Hope"
Christopher on the drum set ( Aruba )
Stiliana Ravelska Tyrkkö on Violin and Viola ( Bulgaria )
Irene Martínez Albero on the Flute ( Spain )
Ahoora Hosseini on the Percussion ( Iran )
Merve Abdurrahmani on the Piano ( Kosovo, Finland )
Vasileios Katopodis on the Oud and Electric bass. ( Greece )
Chrysa Panagiotopoulou on Vocals ( Greece )
Lauri Salokoski on the Electric bass ( Finland )
This part is the opening of the concert and it includes two songs. First song, the "Lullaby", a tradition Uyghur lullaby as the title indicates and second song my own original composition, the "Dream".
This first chapter is the beginning of the story where a mother is singing to her baby to let him fall asleep slowly. When he falls asleep by the end of the song the story goes on with the second song, the "Dream".
Why I choose lullaby?
People can identify with the lullaby very easily, and it is authentic. First thing I did was to do some research on Uyghur lullabies but the amount of information was very scarce. In the meanwhile, those melodies and lyrics began to slowly appear in my head. They had been there all the time and I just had not realised that I knew any. I do not consciously recall my mom singing a lullaby to me, probably because I was too young, but the picture I have in my mind is my grandmother singing it to my younger brother.
Chapter two includes two songs, first "Dolan" and then a short, folk song about love called "Bayawan". The story of the concert is still unfolding while the songs follow each other. The lyrics of this folk song expressed to the fullest the way I felt about myself at the time.
In this second chapter the young boy of our story, who has fallen asleep in the first chapter, wakes up as a grown man. He has lost his mother, he has been through good and bad times, happiness but also darkness in his life.
"Dolan" is a song that has been played for more than a few hundred years in the west part of Xinjiang area, which made it the perfect soundtrack for our story.
What is Dolan?
Dolan refers to a people or region, People who call themselves Dolan can be found in the Yarkand River valley, the Tarim River (same area as the story began). The most important elements in this style of music are the rhythm and a few very strong melody lines. I decided to use the rhythm and main melody to create my version of this song. However, when local people from that area listened to my version of the song they did not like it. They told me that it's not authentic; it has to be performed with traditional instruments. I understand and respect this perspective, yet my goal for this project was to give a taste of the Uyghur culture and at the same time, to find my identity and this is who I truly am.
In the last chapter, the young man in our story is enjoying life. I chose a music piece entitled "Roma" composed by a great Spanish guitarist, Vicent Amigo.
One of the reasons for choosing this song is the story pictured in the music video clip of the original track. The video shows the composer enjoying a normal sunny day in his hometown. Having his guitar on his back and riding a bike he is pictured talking to the people passing by, going to the market to buy bread and ending up to the beach. In other words, a carefree normal day. When I first watched the video I felt nostalgic. Living so far from my home country, I do not have the chance to experience a casual day, as such, in my home town.
