Čalgija ~ 'Ispaiče' / 'Испајче'

I uploaded this track in tribute to Wouter Swets, a Dutch ethnomusicologist who devoted so much of his life to researching, studying and explaining the intricacies of Balkan music. He formed the group 'Čalgija' ['tchal-gee-ya'] in Utrecht in 1969, along with Dutch musicians who wanted to play traditional folk music from the Balkans and Anatolia in the manner characteristic of the authentic living expression of this music by professional musicians in the countries themselves.

'Ispaiče' ['ee-spa-ee-tchay'] is a folk dance from Petrič, Pirin-Macedonia (South-West Bulgaria) and was brought there from Kumanovo, 200km away in North Vardar-Macedonia (FYROM).

I *love* this dance tune for many reasons: for its gorgeous low drone in F#, for the majesty of its melodic phrases and for its beautifully-crafted sequence of intricate time signatures!

It appears as track 12 on Čalgija's second album ['Music from the Balkans and Anatolia, Vol. 2'] and was recorded by Carlo van Nierop in early 1984, then mixed in January 1985 in Van der Linden Studio, Rossum, Netherlands. The details below were gleaned from that album's sleeve notes, written by Wouter Swets himself.

In Macedonia a number of dances—mainly men's dances—are characterized by the fact that they begin slowly and gradually build up to a speedy conclusion. There are two ways to achieve this acceleration:

1) the meter of the beginning is maintained unaltered until the fast conclusion, and

2) the meter at the beginning changes by gradually diminishing the number of time units of the metrical pattern, which in itself gives an accelerating effect and is used alongside the actual fastening of the tempo by shortening the above-mentioned time units.

In this arrangement of 'Ispaiče' for Čalgija, Wouter Swets had several notations and recordings at his disposal: in 14/16 meter, in 13/16 meter and in 11/16 meter. Because in Macedonia, accelerating by reducing the number of time units is characteristic for dances beginning in 14/16 and 13/16, he thought it justified to apply a systematic shrinking of time units from 14/16 to 11/16 via 13/16 and 12/16. Also, to make it easier to dance to, he maintained a strict 4-bar phrasing throughout the whole piece, even in his improvised accordion solo in the middle (at 1:40).

The structure of the entire musical arrangement is therefore as follows:

0:00 - 14/16 (4-2-3-2-3) / ABCC' (4x 4 bars)
0:52 - 13/16 (3-2-3-2-3) / repeat ABCC' (4x 4 bars)
1:40 - 13/16 (3-2-3-2-3) / accordion solo (4x 4 bars)
2:28 - 13/16 (3-2-3-2-3) / repeat ABCC' in faster tempo (4x 4 bars)
3:08 - 13/16 (3-2-3-2-3) / D (4 bars)
3:18 - 12/16 (3-2-2-2-3) / repeat D (2 bars)
3:23 - 11/16 (3-2-2-2-2) / repeat D (2 bars)
3:27 - 11/16 (3-2-2-2-2) / EFEF gradually faster (2x (4+8) bars)

Musicians:
Wouter Swets — accordion and overall arrangement
Tjarko ten Have — Macedonian gajda (bagpipes) in B, with drone in F#. [This unusual combination of chanter (in B) and drone (in F#) was invented by Čalgija.]
Roeb Sluis — kaval (long open flute) in D
Jan Hofmeijer — santur (Persian hammered dulcimer)
Frank Leenhouts — tambura (Bulgarian 4-string long neck lute)
Roelof Rosendal — small size tapan (Balkan drum, played on both sides with stick and reed)

The album's front cover photo of Zaghori (Epirus, Greece) was taken by Crispijn Oomes in August 1980 and is also reproduced in this video, as it was readily available on the internet.

Hope you'll all enjoy this wonderful tune as much as I do... ;-))
With kind regards;
Patrick.

PS: And it would be especially nice if Andy Irvine and Rens van der Zalm, along with Dónal Lunny, Nikola Parov and Bruce Molsky recorded this exciting tune for Mozaik's next album! ;-))

PPS: Very sad to learn that Wouter Swets passed away on 25 May, 2016, at the age of 86.

Видео Čalgija ~ 'Ispaiče' / 'Испајче' канала pdebee