The Wandering Ney 1

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The Wandering Ney 1
New Sufi Music
Contemporary Music for Ancient Instruments
Drake Mabry, Turkish ney
Old King Cole Productions

Drake Mabry, Turkish kiz ney [1-15], foot percussion [8]
Nadia Correia, text recitation [5]
Improvisation by The Wandering Trio [1]
Drake Mabry, Turkish kiz ney
Marie-Anne Cécile Andurand, kalimba
Igor Korneitchouk, percussion.

The Wandering Ney 1 - 56:31
Contents
[1] The Wandering Trio : Basilica Cistern Prelude 1:55
[2] Gabriel Mălăncioiu : Rumi’s Secret 4:07
[3] Vincent Rouillon : Y a des jours comme ça 3:54
[4] Georges Petit : D’s Dreamweaver 6:43
[5] Michel Lesourd : Horizonte III (Text by Fernando Pessoa) 8:10
[6] Stephen Lalor : Mist in the Valley 4:15
[7] Stéphanie Vernier : Persévérance dans la Foi 8:30
[8] Stéphane Bonneau : Djauque 6:19
[9] François Rosse : Topkapi 3:13
Laurrent Chassain : Aon (An Other Ney) (Text by Laurent Chassain)
[10] The Hand 0:48
[11] The Ear 1:03
[12] The Path 0:59
[13] The Verb 1:06
[14] The Breath 1:28
[15] Catherine Schneider : Ben-Beg 3:03

Introduction
For centuries the sound of the ney has developed and evolved into the majestic instrument it is today. The origins of this end-blown long reed flute date back over 3000 years. The Turkish ney that comes to us today is most often associated with the Ottoman Empire and is said to have been originally created by the first Sufi poet, Mevlâna Jalâluddin Rumi. There are thousands of beautiful and meaningful works written for this instrument over several hundred years. This album hopes to expand its appeal into the world of 21st century contemporary music.

I began this recent leg of my life journey by studying the ney and Turkish music with Ismail Hakki in Istanbul, concentrating on this rich tradition. While in Istanbul, I also studied the ebru painting technique with Ayla Makas to accompany my musical studies. At the same time, I began researching new possibilities in sound production and interpretation for the ney, all the while remaining faithful to the ney’s origins and its deep meanings.

The Wandering Ney 1 and 2 are the fruits of this research. Fourteen composers were invited to write compositions in any style, each given a booklet on composing for the ney in a contemporary musical language that I compiled expressly for that purpose. The result is a collection of works, diverse in style by composers from France, the United States, Romania and Australia. In the future I hope to continue with some contemporary works from Turkish composers.

Originally, we had the idea of having short improvisations inserted between some of the pieces as a way to provide a change of color from the solo ney. I chose a trio of ney, kalimba and percussion for this purpose. However, after recording these improvisations there was such a good deal of useful stand-alone material that they took on a musical identity of their own and we decided to use them in combinations of various suites on the second album. The players beside myself are Marie-Anne Cécile Andurand, kalimba and Igor Korneitchouk, percussion.

So far I have not been able to find any evidence of any other ney players or composers exploring new techniques like these for the ney, sometimes referred to as extended techniques on other instruments. But I hope that other musicians will continue and enlarge upon the work I’ve begun. ~ Drake Mabry

Program notes

Rumi’s Secret
"Rumi's words used toward the end of the piece are pointing to the most important ingredient in the sufi tradition: Love. The sweet sound of the ney strengthens this idea. Rumi’s Secret was written for Drake Mabry."
  ~ Gabriel Mălăncioiu
Y a des jours comme ça
"This short piece for ney, dedicated to Drake Mabry, comes from an unfinished air whose implicit words (those of the couplet) were:"
There are days like that,
We do not know why,
But in the mornings,
Nothing is too late on the way
It's an air of the desert, so it is difficult to cross.    ~ Vincent Rouillon

D’s Dreamweaver
"When Drake Mabry asked me to write a piece for him and his ‘contemporary’ ney, I told him he did not need me for that, that he could write it himself ... Since he insisted, I thought of his indefatigable curiosity, his multiple facets of being and his generosity to finally draw these few lines leaving him a lot of autonomy, and of which he managed to solve the problems, and to extract the spirit and the music …"   ~ Georges Petit

Horizonte III
"The composition, Horizonte III is part of a larger work in three parts: Horizonte I for recorder, Horizonte II for flute and Horizonte III for Turkish ney. It was inspired by the third stanza of a poem by the Portugese poet Fernando Pessoa titled Horizonte. This work was written for Drake Mabry."

Sonho
O sonho é ver as formas invisiveis
Sa distancia imprecise, e, com sensiveis
Movimentos da esprança e da vontade,
Buscar na linha fria do horizonte
A arvore, a praia, a flor, a ave, a fonte -
Os beijos merecidos da Verdade

Dream (English translation)
The dream is to see the invisible forms
From an imprecise distance, and with sensitive
Movements of hope and will,
To look for the cold horizon
The tree, the beach, the flower, the bird and the fountain
The kisses deserve the truth   kisses deserve the T ruth. ~ Michel Lesourd

Mist in the Valley
"Mist in The Valley draws on Balkan influences. It is based on the haunting Macedonian song Magna Padnala v Dolina (The Fog Descends Into the Valley). There is only subtle melodic development in the original song, and I have stayed true to this, with phrases operating for the most part in a narrow range, but with a great deal of decoration and expression, as well as a focus on color. Balkan music employs a range of modes. This piece is tonal but with a great deal of ambiguity. I have concentrated on exploiting the plaintive, uneven, repetitive phrases of the original song fragment, focusing on the texture of sound, on gesture and on musical threads left hanging, like half-suggested ideas, or figures only half-seen in a mist. The ney is the perfect instrument to convey this tonal imagery. This work was written for Drake Mabry." ~ Stephen Lalor

Persévérance dans la Foi
"This is a piece written in honor of Christians who are being persecuted in Iraq. It is a kind of lament, a prayer to rest in faith (as an instrumental psalm) despite the persecution experienced by the Christians living there. It is a prayer that speaks directly to those who live it every day. Despite the persecutions, they remain faithful to God. The ney represents the whole universe of the Orient. The piece was written for Drake Mabry." ~ Stéphanie Vernier

Djauque
"This piece was written for Drake Mabry; I wrote it thanks to his encouragement and to the letters of his name on the occasion of his birthday, and on the basis of one measure per year. Drake is an oboist by training and he is the only oboist with whom I maintain a friendly relationship, maybe that's why he plays ney now... Nevertheless it is for this reason that Djauque is covered with small winks to the literature for oboe that passed by my ears while I worked to write it. These winks include many traits of humor that I tried not to make them too fat (for dietary concerns), nor too subtle (so as not to be the only one to enjoy)."   ~ Stéphane Bonneau

Topkapi
"Topkapi is a work for the Turkish ney written on a roof terrace in the district of Galata around 6 pm. I usually like to write works on the spot in the regions I cross; it is a beautiful way to seal a friendship with the region of passage, here, in this case Istanbul that I discovered in 1964 during a trip by train from Strasbourg to Istanbul via Salzburg, Zagreb, Beograd, Sofia, Edirne, Unzunköprü ... it turns out that as I began writing this piece, a muezzin sang the call to prayer. Of course I was inspired by this song and especially the atmosphere he created spontaneously during this twilight. It is obvious that such songs are, for me, the memory of a moment lived in a beloved place. The work is dedicated to Drake Mabry." ~ Francois Rosse

Aon (An other ney)
"Dedicated to Drake Mabry as a tribute to Edgar Varese, Aon (An other ney), wishes to open some new territories of sound and musical expression for this instrument whose ability to touch the most secret places of the human soul is legendary. Thanks to Drake's enlightened studies and research, here is the ney that calls for new adventures. Mixing sound, poetic and graphic creations, Aon proposes to create a symbolic circle in time, where precisely, past and future turn in the same spiral in the present. In five short pieces, the three arts weave an evocation of the supposed impulse that leads to the birth of a new instrument and language: the touch— making of the possible—, the listening— memory of far away—, the path— the dawn of all dance—, the verb—which enunciates the sound —, and the breath—creative imagination."

(English translation)

La Main sait The hand knows
d’instinct by instinct
le sang the blood
viens ! come!

2.
L’Oreille The Ear
se souvient remembers

3.
Le Pas The Path
cherche seeks
à l’antique the ancient
trace trace

4.
Le Verbe The Verb
se projette Is flying
à l’envie More and more
dans la turbulence Through the turbulence

5.
Et le Souffle à l’œuvre en And the breath in the work is
chevauche l’immensité now riding the new infinity
nouvelle nouée dénouée again tied and untied ~ Laurent Chassain

Ben-Beg
"Ben-Beg is a tribute to Benoît Richard, bass player who passed away the 21st of June 2017 at the age of 57. He was a beloved member of my improvisation trio, Tri-impro.cbm. I deeply thank Drake Mabry for giving me the opportunity to write this piece." ~ Catherine Schneider

Coming soon as a download single!
15 Words: A Pendeka for the Ney by Robert Strizich

The CD, coming imminently, will be manufactured by Pressing Media, Santa Ana, California

Biographies

Marie-Anne Cécile Andurand is a multi-talented artist who began by playing the flute, then the cello followed by the violin. However, she soon returned to her favorite instrument, the cello. She holds a Masters degree in Italian art of the Renaissance with a speciality of paintings depicting concerts of angels. An avid traveler, she has spent time on six of the seven continents and Antarctica is certainly next on her list. She is currently pursuing a degree in computer graphics in Montreal. Marie-Anne Cécile contributes the part of the kalimba in the improvisations and is featured on the covers of both volumes 1 & 2. She plays kalimba for The Wandering Trio improvisation ensemble.
Website: www.rainbowmac.com

Stéphane Bonneau believes in chance. With the hazards of life, with those of meetings ... It is this element of chance that led him to music and perhaps the same that will one day bring him to do something else with his ten fingers ... More than believing in chance, Stéphane trusts it Always, chance has placed all kinds of great people on his path: friends, musicians, marabouts, dice players ... Chance has also made some less good meetings, which allowed him to benefit from the happy conjunctures with even more intensity. But what's even more funny is that this same element of chance now leads you to read these few lines …

Laurent Chassain, Inspector of Artistic Creation for Music - French Ministry of Culture: After completing instrumental and vocal studies, as well as writing, analysis, history of music, aesthetics, conducting and choir, he developed a career as an interpreter. and leader of various instrumental and vocal ensembles, as well as teacher and then music conservatory director, notably the first national music school with a departmental structure. Very involved in the broadest musical expressions, he participated in the creation and development of different ensembles or procedures, both in baroque music and in various fields of contemporary music and musical research, especially for multidisciplinary projects. Through various works for soloist, orchestra, ensembles, electro-acoustics, computer science, or stage music for theater and opera, his approach as a composer focuses on a thought that does not forbid any musical exploration and artistic transdisciplinarity as long as it enriches the human and society in its long journey. Passionate about musical improvisation and poetry, he also contributes to the vitality of these practices and their intermingling through various national and international initiatives. In the service of the Inspectian of Artistic Creation of the Ministry of Culture and Communication, he was first appointed inspector for the Lorraine-Alsace regions, then for the Ile de France region around Paris. Currently, he is the referent for those of Brittany and the Pays-de-la-Loire, and is in charge of the projects concerning operas and lyrical companies, as well as higher education and training.

Igor Korneitchouk started composing about 40 years ago, after the high water mark of the 60’s and ‘70’s when he became very excited about new music (see
The Wandering Ney 2). As an instrumentalist, he draws his inspiration from great performers he met and worked with at the University of California, San Diego. Korneitchouk began to see connections from new music to the pop and ethnic cultures of his students, as well as connections to his own classical musical upbringing. While still imagining himself as being musically relevant as a composer, he became more significant as a music teacher and mentor, more interested in helping students find their own unique musical voices than pushing his own agenda. Nonetheless he continues writing, even now after having recently retired and pursuing critical environmental work. Korneitchouk plays violin in the La Jolla Symphony Orchestra in his spare time, and percussion on this album (track 1).
Website: www.igorkorneitchouk.com

Dr. Stephen Lalor completed his PhD (composition) at the University of Sydney in 2014. His PhD compositions Ethnicities of Sound were described as 'sophisticated, compelling, cosmopolitan music compositions... beautifully rendered and replete with new sounds and virtuosic techniques that are deeply embodied by a musician-composer who is a specialist in the field of plucked instruments...' (Dr Aileen Dillane, University of Limerick, Ireland) He previously studied at UNSW (MMus Musicology) and the Tchaikovsky Conservatorium in Kiev as a visiting post-graduate. His music has been performed by major organizations including Opera Australia, the Melbourne Festival, the Queensland Ballet and Opera House Choral Concerts. It has been recorded and broadcast by the ABC over a period of 30 years. His work sits outside the mainstream of Australian composition due to his early training outside the Australian academic music system, and because of his international performing career across classical and world music. A selection of Stephen Lalor's music is published in the USA by Drake Mabry Publishing, and in Europe by Trekel Verlag, Hamburg. Representative pieces are in the collections of the Médiathèque Musicale Mahler (Paris) & the US Library of Congress. In Australia, his music is frequently performed in Sydney Symphony chamber music series and Opera House Night Lounge concerts. Recordings of his music are heard on ABC Classic FM. In 2017 the SSO's Chanterelle String Quartet recorded the CD Music of Stephen Lalor, and the Sydney Morning Herald's review characterised the composer as 'a multi-lingual music-maker' whose music is 'moody, folk-flavoured, ranging from powerful, soulful lyricism to the wistful, catchy ride of Flying' (SMH, 10 March 2018). In 2003-04 Stephen Lalor was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to research the implementation of popular and world music courses in European conservatoriums and universities. Stephen Lalor combines composition work with a performance career as a mandolin & related-insruments specialist with major orchestras & ensembles in Australia (SSO, ACO, AOBO) & overseas. He has performed in recent years at festivals including The Edinburgh Festival, Tanglewood (USA), & Womadelaide, and in concert halls from the Sydney Opera House to Beijing, London & Copenhagen. In 2016 he toured Europe & USA with The Australian Chamber Orchestra, and in 2017with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra to China. Dr. Lalor is the former Head of Contemporary Performance at the Australian Institute of Music, and before that was the only non-indigenous permanent staff-member at Sydney's Eora Centre for Aboriginal Studies, Visual & Performing Arts in Sydney."
Website: www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/lalor-stephen

Michel Lesourd was born in Angers, France, the October 13, 1946. He received his training at the "maîtrise de la cathédrale d'Angers" by the Canon Jean Poirier. From the age of 15, he conducted choirs of the St. Joseph parish of Angers and then a choir at the the church of Luxeuil-les-bains during his military service after which he pursued more professional studies. He then worked for 45 years as a chartered accountant, computer scientist, organizer and international standard setter within UN-CEFACT. Following this, he continued and completed his musical training, developing a musical activity consisting of arranging, transcribing and composing at the music conservatories of Massy and Evry under the direction of Horia Surianu, Romanian composer, for counterpoint, harmony and orchestration, Nicolas Vérin for composition and electroacoustic music, Maud Caille for recorder and cornetto, and Jérôme Hantaï for viola da gamba.
Website: www.lesourd.eu

Drake Mabry (aside from being an ebru painter, p hotographer and poet) is a composer, an improviser and multi-instrumentalist. His first instrument was the oboe, but when was the last time he played that? At the University of California, San Diego, where he got his PhD, he swapped out the double reed on his oboe for a miniature sax mouthpiece, then a trumpet mouthpiece, etc. His travels led him to Istanbul where he learned to master another woodwind, the ancient Turkish ney. He divides his time between France, Istanbul, New Zealand and the rest of the world. Drake plays neys made by Ismail Hakki, with whom he also studies Turkish classical music and ney. Hakki's workshop is in Kadikoy, Istanbul (www.neyce.com).
Websites:
www.drakemabry.com
www.soundcloud.com/drakemabry
www.sheetmusicplus.com
www.youtube.com

Gabriel Mălăncioiu’s works have been performed by Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Slovenian Chamber Choir, Ensemble Aventure, L’Arsenale, THReNSeMBle, Trio Contraste, Florian Mueller, Bjorn Wilker (Klangforum Wien), Richard Craig, Gudrun Hinze, Gianluca Ruggeri, Luca Piovesan and conductors such as Huba Hollókői, Michael Wendeberg, Eduardo Narbona, Martina Batič, Filippo Perocco, Remus Georgescu amongst others. Some of his works were released by Navona Records / Parma Recordings (USA), Ablaze Records (USA), Col Legno ( Austria ) ( digital release ), Stan Music (Germany) and Blowout Records (Italy). Gabriel Mălăncioiu is currently teaching Composition Techniques, Orchestration and Musical Analysis at the West University of Timişoara, Faculty of Music and Theatre.
Website: www.gabrielmalancioiu.org

Georges Petit
Saxophones and various tubes
Improviser and composer under the pretext to play
Musician, Teacher
He plays and has played (on stage, for festivals, in museums, in the street, factories, nature ...) in contexts of jazz, contemporary music, popular, classical or other, and mixed his sound with that of musicians of traditional cultures from here or elsewhere, as well as with dance, theater, poetry, the visual arts, but also with the sounds of nature as well as industrial or urban environments. His approach of being a musician aims to integrate as much as possible, in addition to all types of sounds and temperaments, the musicians, the public, the places the circumstances of the performance at each moment, which leads to more and more improvisation, integrating or not sequences, modules, parts worked out or simply remembered on the moment... His composer's approach also aims to integrate as much as possible the musicians who call him by writing for them and always giving them more autonomy ... he has been asked to write solos to orchestral works for the stage, audio-visual, concerts, festivals-and conservatories. He has been a professor, director, inspector and president and member of musical juries. He has also been a designer of industrial machinery, winner of the SKF competition, professor of engineering E.N. and nominated for the prize of innovation and performance of the FTP. His concerts and interviews have been broadcast by France Musique, France Culture, Rai among others and his writings have been published in various journals ("Marsyas", "books of research of ancient music of genes").
Websites:
www.sheetmusicplus.com
www.store.cdbaby.com
www.youtube.com

François Rossé
After completing his musical studies (piano and writing) in Strasbourg and then Paris (Ecole Normale and CNSM) he entered the composing class of Olivier Messiaen and Betsy Jolas (1976-79) and unanimously won the Prize of musical composition from a jury composed of Ivo Malec, Paul Mefano, Tristan Murail, Gilbert Amy and Alain Weber. He was also able to actively work with composers such as Iannis Xenakis and André Boucourechliev.
After finishing his studies in 1980, his approach as a composer took a new turn, attracted by the origin of things, relations between the human and art since prehistoric times. In turn, these interests leads him to engage in active transmission of music with children, young people and amateur circles. His conception of music is similar to that of dance; for him, music is the art of gesture, the sound of which is the desired consequence, a vision that is somewhat Zen. He is also very attracted by the links of continuity between different kinds of phenomena. Thus he likes to make music with a wide diversity of instruments acoustically and sociologically and to cultivate meeting points. This concern for links is also at the crossroads of various traditions, both in his improvisational experience where on the piano he meets the txistu of the Basque musician Mixel Etxekopar, the Japanese koto of Mieko Miyazaki, the calabrian tamburello of Carlo Rizzo , and the dance of Shiro Daimon, master of Noh and Kabuki.
These experiences, of course, have an impact on his compositional choices, which can affect the sociological aspects as well. Elliptiques in 2016 at the Philharmonie de Paris brought together a hundred children (non-musicians) and the famous Ensemble Inter-contemporain. created by Pierre Boulez in an evening of musical expression and discovery.
His more than 700 works and numerous improvisational concerts are also linked to training and lecturing activities, teaching at the CNSMD in Paris and Lyon, various CRRs and smaller structures as well; residencies in France and abroad (conservatories of Moscow, North Western University-Chicago-, Montreal, Berlin, academy of Tallinn, etc) but also, and with as much pleasure, the smaller departmental schools of Aveyron, Creuse ... etc. residency with the Brandenburg Orchestra in Potsdam, with the Ensemble Oh Ton in Bremen, Oggi Musica in Lugano, shows in Japan with Shiro Daimon and Susumu Yoshida, ... companionship with the ENM of Tarbes, at the Théâtre des Quatre saisons Gradignan over several years, the Lubat Co. in Uzeste, the 2e2m Ensembles alongside Paul Mefano, the "Proxima Centauri" Ensembles of Bordeaux, "Laborintus", etc.
His nomadic approach is therefore situated on a wide social, geographical and historical space, traveling on the acoustic ocean to cross islands of various cultures to reunite with our current environment.
There are many videos of my work on Youtube.
Website: www.youtube.com

Vincent Rouillon was born in 1959 in Paris. After studying harmony at the Schola Cantorum and then music writing at the National Conservatory of Music of Paris, in parallel with studies of philosophy (doctor of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales), he began to compose by focusing more and more exclusively on the voice, sung and spoken. His current music activity is writing songs.

Catherine Schneider studied piano, chamber music and accompaniment with Catherine Collard, Anne Queffelec, Vitalij Margulis, Pierre Pasquier, Paul Tortelier, the Fine Arts Quartet, Vladimir Sokoloff at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia (United States) and the French Conservatories (Nice and Saint-Maur-des-Fossés) as well as the german Hochshule of Fribourg in Brisgau. Her interests are divided between playing solo classical music and with artists such as Henryk Szeryng, Aaron Rosand, Bruno Pasquier and Pierre-Yves Artaud during concerts and radio broadcasts both in France and abroad (Europe, Japan, Russia, United States), and experimental music, composing (Editions Lemoine), improvising within several formations or playing with other arts within shows including with horses... Theatrical improvisation, dance and the Feldenkrais method are part of her interest and she does not hesitate to refer to these forms of art or expression and communication in her transmission and pedagogy work at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Limoges and at the Pôle Aliénor for higher musical studies in Poitiers.
Websites:
www.youtube.com Piano solo
www.youtube.com Folie Oléron
www.youtube.com Four Excursions
www.youtube.com Two Piano Improvisation
www.youtube.com Piano and Painting
www.youtube.com Tri-impro.cbm

Stéphanie Vernier: "I was born on November 14, 1986 and began the piano at 6 years old for 6 months. When I was a child, I often sang tunes that I improvised when I played with my dolls. I sang a lot. By hard work I developed the habit of composing music. I took harp lessons at the age of 13 with music theory lessons in a municipal conservatory. I played the piano again at the age of 16. But I was able to skip levels because I always pianotais on the pianos to improvise during all this time there. At the age of 20, I started for the first time taking solfeggio classes at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Départemental in the town of Evry. I decided after a while to take all my classes there and I added electroacoustic composition with Nicolas Vérin as well as instrumental composition, harmony, analysis and counterpoint with David Lampel and Louis Lamtoine. I also did a little bit of percussion. I received my instrumental CFEM diploma on June 26, 2017. I suffer from a very particular psychosomatic disability following a trauma, the origin of which is traumatic anasia when I was a baby from a violent noise that persisted for a few seconds. I am hypersensitive to some noises but in a very particular way. These are hyperacousies and misophonie but also in a very particular way. I suffer a lot. I have Asperger Syndrome too. But I manage to hold on with faith in Jesus Christ. Composing music is a good thing too. I love creating small amateur films, which is my second passion after composing music."

A special thank you to the following people who helped make this recording possible:
Igor Korneitchouk and Old King Cole Productions for supporting this project.
Ismail Hakki at www.neyce.com for his neys and instruction.
Valérie Celebi for inviting me to visit Istanbul in 2010 from which all this evolved.
Marie-Anne Cécile Andurand for her artistry and encouragement.
Nadia Correia for her beautiful reading of the text by Fernando Pessoa

Other Credits:
Producer: Old King Cole Productions
Executive Producer: Igor Korneitchouk
Recording: Chas Eller, Charles Eller Studios, San Pancho, Mexico, April 2018
Jack Elliott, Seacoast Recording Studio, San Diego, California, June 2019
Mastering: Igor Korneitchouk and Jack Elliott
Graphic Design & Art: Igor Korneitchouk
Translation: Clytus Faircloth