Kora's Song and Dance by Gary Powell Nash Concert Band - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.881254

During the 2006-2007 academic year, Nash was fortunate to travel to Ghana, Spain and Vietnam. These experiences were quite profound and resulted in Nash composing new works that reflect those experiences. KORA’S SONG AND DANCE (2009) for symphonic wind ensemble is his first large ensemble composition written under this premise. Kora is a 21 stringed musical instrument from West Africa and KORA'S SONG AND DANCE is largely based on the tune Diabate’ by singer/songwriter Vieux Farke’ Toure’ of Mali. Diabate’ is also the name of well known kora musician, Toumani Diabate’ in which Toure’ dedicated the song to. KORA’S SONG AND DANCE uses melodies that are derived from the drone motif in Toure’s Diabate. Diabate’ is a medium tempo song with the drone motif occurring throughout and improvised melodies on top of the drone. KORA’S SONG AND DANCE begins with a slow introduction, featuring the alto sax and marimba. The rest of the ensemble gradually enters and builds to the end of the intro, transitioning to the next section by way of metric modulation. The next section builds with layers of instrumental textures, much like the intro and concludes with an English horn and piano duet. This particular pattern of musical events repeats, transitioning back to slow music, reminiscent of the intro and then ends big by going back to the faster tempo.