Contemporary Classical Women Composers

PRA2025

All tracks written, mixed and produced by Dawuna

All Tracks Mastered by Amir Shoat 
*Track 9 by Engine-Earz

The Ape Prince

Tansy Davies - Spine

Produced by Trini Viv
Lyrics by Lisha G
Recorded + Mastered NoKami
WATCH VIDEO HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F84SzyQ3Yno

Groovy Steppin Sh*t

WHATCHA GOT PROD. TRINI VIV (VIDEO IN DESCRIPTION)

Traveling (Hejira)

Traveling (Hejira) [Demo]

(Yea yea)

Took the hoe right to my pad im tryna go crush 
500 dollar cologne straight off the punch
Midnite ho my gang they don’t know about us
My bro put grabba in the wood tryna fuck me up

Im styling im wylin im fucking it all up 
Tryna hit me like 2 vibes gone and call em up
I get too fresh but all my friends just think im strange
Tryna get high right now take a pill like straight to the face
I was 16 running out wild
Get High and go smoke out a pound
And ill still go rock out the jjjjound
And ill prolly turn up yo show
They wasn’t fucking with u in the crowd
Slutty bitch giving all her mouth, im in ya city like check me out

I get it I get it I swerve in the bently
Trick onna bitch n I bought her the fenty 
Go to the A I aint shopping at Lenox 
Pour a 4 in a lemonade feel like Bennet 
All of the drugs is mixing like chemist 
Im in LA fuck a hoe out in Venice 
My shit turned off how she know that I read it
Hoe blow my phone off of one damn message

Put it on take em back to swag school
I just got a hoe another bag too 
Only spend the guala when I have to
If I wasn’t turnt like us then id be mad too
Ice on the bottom I got swag shoes
Pop my collar on my shirt like im mad cool 
Sipping on sum drank out in Malibu 
At the tippy top baby yea im passing you 

Im that boy in the ride
You that boy on the side
He talking like he got the fye
And im fuckin two hoes that’s bi 
You was gettin PPP, im gettin bread on the side
She wanna hop in my G wag baby, girl lets go for a drive

(Uh uh Yea, What I say?) 

Still smoking on strong, Still smoking on strong
Fuck dat bit too long, took her right out her thong

(Yeauumm, Haha)

jjjjound (kura)

An Unexpected Light for solo violin, string ensemble and percussion (2003)
Sadie Harrison 

An Unexpected Light explores the folk musics from four countries, Lithuania, Georgia, Khojent (now Russian Ferghana) and Armenia, and is intended as a comment on the gradual transformation of musical cultures that once thrived in all their variety in the early Twentieth Century.
The concerto opens with a harvesting song, Pute Vejas, from South Aukstaitiya, a plaintive melody which recurs only on the solo violin, linking the two main transcriptions of the work. The first of these is a transparent, dreamlike version of a ghostly song from Khojent called Soki Sini Khorosh, the second is a lively and highly virtuosic, whirling Lezghinka dance from Tiflis in Georgia. The work closes with echoes of these musics overlaid by an Armenian song from Alexandropol - Alagyaz Badzr sar E (Alagyaz is a high mountain) and A-a, a-a, Mazulyte, a beautiful lullaby, also from South Aukstaitiya.
Surrounding these folk musics are passages of aggressive modernist writing, dark and rhythmic where every instrument is treated as a soloist. The conjunction of apparently unrelated musical styles creates the structure of the concerto and acts as a metaphor for the struggle between cultures.
The score is prefaced with a lyrical text by the Russian poetess Marina Tsvetaeva, taken from her ‘Poem of the End’. It expresses the pain of loss whilst rejoicing in the beauty of a song which shines despite the darkness. This provides a perfect analogy for my own work, giving the concerto its title, An Unexpected Light. The piece has a dual dedication, to Rusne Mataityte, Donatas Katkus and the Saint Christopher Chamber Orchestra who premiered the work, and to my daughter, Freya. (SH)

..as stars rise often and go out again..
so many eyes have risen and died out
in front of these eyes of mine.

and yet no such song have
I heard in the darkness of night before..
here, on the ribs of the singer.


[The work received its first performace in the City Hall, Vilnius, Lithuania on 20 February 2004, performed by Rusne Mataityte (vln) Donatus Katkus (cond) and the St. Christopherus Chamber Orchestra of Vilnius. The work was commissioned as part of the Orchestra’s 20th Anniversary Gala concert and was broadcast on Lithuanian Television and Radio on 26 February 2004.
The work was released on NMC in Spring 2007 alongside other related chamber works by Sadie Harrison.]

An Unexpected Light - concerto for violin, percussion and string orchestra

Extract from Errollyn Wallen's fabulous/fiendish, earthy/ethereal cello concerto - written for me, released on NMC Records 2016.

Errollyn Wallen Cello Concerto (extract2)

Comfort In Melancholy / Music & Conversation

Hejira (Live)

for bassoon with distortion pedal and amplifier

axeman

spilled out from tangles invites the listener into an intimate space, to take a seat beside the singer, and to pause; to visit four delicate soundworlds, each of which explores in its own way the intimacy and physicality of the human voice. These four pieces were written for Juliet Fraser over the past five years. As a collection, they represent a partial survey of the solo repertoire for voice and tape/electronics Juliet has been building in recent years, but also of a generation’s compositional approach to the voice. Displaying an understated lyricism, these composers’ approaches show the breadth of creative possibility for crafting a sonic environment for the voice to inhabit.

Lisa Illean writes music of extreme sensitivity and refinement, of shifting shades and wide-open spaces. 'A through-grown earth' combines voice and pre-recorded lines for harp, strings, voice, electronic material and retuned zithers, resulting in an undulating texture that gently turns between microtonal modes and non-tempered tunings. 'Heave', by Sivan Eldar, is a work that questions the boundaries between matter and forms, and that tells a story of growth: out of the earth, into one’s own body and,  finally, memory, blurring all distinctions as the protagonist slips from earth into skin, body into light. Nomi Epstein describes 'collections for Juliet' as ‘a recording project piece for voice created from a detailed set of instructions and a small catalogue of ‘collections’ of three or four glissandi. A great richness emerges from this material through the detail heard at the micro-level and an overwhelming physicality is evident as the voice painstakingly rises and falls. Lawrence Dunn uses a twelve-note Just Intonation tuning system in 'While we are both', combining voice with fixed media that constantly drifts, reflecting perhaps the states (waking, awake, asleep) and times of day (light, morning, dark) found in Caitlin Doherty’s text. The effect is an uncanny combination of blazing harmonic brightness overlaid with long, aqueous ripples.

Soprano Juliet Fraser has a repertoire dominated by the very old and the very new. Juliet is an active commissioner of new music and has worked particularly closely with composers Rebecca Saunders, Bernhard Lang, Michael Finnissy, and Cassandra Miller. She regularly performs as a guest soloist with ensembles such as Klangforum Wien, Musikfabrik, Ensemble Modern, Plus-Minus, and Talea. Juliet is a core member and co-founder of EXAUDI vocal ensemble as well as the founder and artistic director of the eavesdropping series and symposium in London.

spilled out from tangles

A through-grown earth

HCR23 | Lisa Illean: A through-grown earth [excerpt]

Founded in 2009, Huddersfield Contemporary Records (HCR) is a label devoted to new music. Based at the University of Huddersfield, and established in partnership between CeReNeM (the Centre for Research in New Music), Huddersfield University Press, and hcmf//, HCR features both established and emerging artists at the cutting edge of music making, including diverse innovations in instrumental composition, electronics, and free improvisation. HCR releases have been recorded and produced both in-house at the university and with a broad selection of professional partners, including hcmf//, ZKM, and Radio Bremen, and have attracted exceptional press attention for a label of its size. HCR produces outward-facing compilations, internationally contextualised but centred on new music in the UK. The label develops concept-driven releases, typically featuring a single performing artist and multiple composers, often drawing on the resources of CeReNeM’s industry partnerships and its international research network.  
 
Since 2015, HCR has been exclusively distributed by NMC Recordings.

HCR23 | Lisa Illean: A through-grown earth [excerpt]

HCR: Huddersfield Contemporary Records