This is the second track of an instrumental project I've entitled "It's All Greek to Me", as I explore the myths and legends of Ancient Greece.

I'm using Ancient Greek instruments featured in the 'Ancient Worlds VST Library from Big Fish Audio', underpinned with classical orchestral instruments. There are some very interesting sounds in it that do seem to evoke a time long ago.

Background

According to Greek mythology, Sirens were dangerous creatures, who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and singing voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Despite modern iconography depicting the Sirens as mermaids, early Greek art depicted them as part woman, part bird.

For this piece a Greek galley is introduced with a steady drum pulse and some Greek instruments to set the scene. We start with the Pan Flute supported by the Strings (Lyre and Kithara). Cymbal rolls represent the waves. The melody then passes to the Flogera and Alto Flute and a lone Siren voice before all three make an appearance. From then on they all act in counterpoint to each other. 

As the Sirens continue to charm the sailors, the Samvyke is introduced (another stringed instrument) as a sort of controlled tension that slowly gets a bit more frantic as the track starts to build. French Horns and Percussion herald the full fury of the Sirens unleashed on the luckless sailors. Helpless to resist, their boat is dashed upon the rocks. 

As the ship begins to break up on the rocky shore the track goes much smaller with a mournful solo cello, supported by the other strings. I wanted a melancholic ending  and the descending figure is supposed to represent the sinking of the boat alongside an almost funeral drum pulse, it just leads down and down into the depths of the sea. More lives have been lost to this peril of the ancient world.

Instrumentation Used

Greek Stringed Instruments - Lyre, Kithara, Samvyke
Greek Wind Instruments - Kavali, Flogera, Pan Flute 
Greek Percussion - Bendir

In addition to the ancient instruments above the track also features :-

Orchestral CS Strings (Albion One - Spitfire)
Violin Ensemble (Octave Long)(Chris Hein Strings)
Viola Ensemble (Octave Long and Flautando)(Chris Hein Strings)
Cello Ensemble (Long)(Chris Hein Strings)
Bass Ensemble (Octave Long)(Chris Hein Strings)
Solo Cello (Chris Hein Strings)
Alto Flute (Chris Hein Winds)
French Horn Ensemble (Chris Hein Brass)
Trombone Ensemble (Chris Hein Brass)
Tuba (Chris Hein Brass)

'The Sirens' - Shevannai vocal library (Eduardo Tarilonte)

XXL Percussion(Albion One - Spitfire)
Rolled Cymbals (Albion One - Spitfire)
St Peter's Choir (Halion 6)
Boat Breaking FX (Halion 6)

The Sirens (It's All Greek to Me)

Please support me on a streaming platform near you:

Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/dk/album/sigfus/1598365947?l=da

Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/44yQrvCwAdhdd9oxf1h0ha?si=cdFaKXTXT3m-nE0oBdSMlg

YouTube music:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ml03CY2F02mKhuWzXSWVL_oz656uPnKYs&feature=share

Thank you!

Descendant

Old & new from the RSH impro course. Eunhyun Chu, flute; Sarah Kaufmann, English Horn; Haneul Kim, French Horn; Heongjin Oh, Tuba; Carolin Seelhof, Didgeridoo; Sohyeon Oh, violin; Ella Sternstedt and Lars Radloff, Double Bass; additional tracks + mixed + produced by Hubertus Dreyer.

The piece feels most comfortable on big fat speakers, which is inversely proportional to how the majority of listeners then are likely to feel.

Obviously, this is purely functional music (how do I drive annoying guests out of my flat? How do I tell my co-workers that I want the meeting to end? How do I commit the perfect crime?).

May I add: Many thanks to https://soundcloud.com/tuonela-1 who was the first to draw my attention towards the mystery land between Contemporary Music ("Avantgarde") and Experimental Ambient… and thus, to the many many possibilities beyond well established genres…

Mountains

Another wonderful recitation by Kevin Kennedy of a beautiful poem by the late Seamus Heany. 

Music by Finn Eces

The Railway Children 
When we climbed the slopes of the cutting We were eye-level with the white cups Of the telegraph poles and the sizzling wires.  Like lovely freehand they curved for miles East and miles west beyond us, sagging Under their burden of swallows.  

We were small and thought we knew nothing Worth knowing. We thought words travelled the wires In the shiny pouches of raindrops,  

Each one seeded full with the light Of the sky, the gleam of the lines, and ourselves So infinitesimally scaled  We could stream through the eye of a needle.


More from Kevin can be found here; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmTYSH-_sLfRAMIltYvn0MA/featured

The Railway Children. A Poem by Sheamus Heany, Read by Kevin Kennedy

How it was, the now and then again. Love always prevails, even trough the Giga Mind.

Titan Sphere

as usual

I have always loved the story of Odysseus and Aeolus. A story that shows us why we need patience and vigilance! This song features Walter Yones on vibes and Gabriel Rever on percussion.

Aeolus, Thanks For Nothing

Everything flows, nothing stands still. - Heraclitus 

I started this song early 2019 for the project Measure Twice.  Bart Yoder helped out by performing the bass part.  

The water recordings in the last two minutes of the song are from the creek on my property "Raccoon Creek". There are two recordings that I cross fade between. These recordings were made with fours years between them because of a construction project of a local bridge. Since the construction the Creek's discharge and velocity of flow has decreased significantly. The first recording was made pre-construction and the second post. The acoustic Doppler current profile of the creek post construction is much less. Our creek is much lower in volume, slower running and gone are the fish I would feed daily. Oh well something you just have to "go with the flow".

Go With The Flow

Mood Exhibit - Volatile

Thee First Day OV Forever

Lyrics from A Journal of Nonsense by Clay Young & Becky Coleman

Beaver Inn

“There is nothing permanent except change.” – Heraclitus.

The music industry (like many things) has changed greatly since I bought my first 45 record (Green Eyed Lady) at my hometown record shop in 1970. It would be very easy to lament over these changes (and I have.) However, with change comes new opportunities, and thanks to websites/apps like Soundcloud we musicians and composers have the opportunity to to be heard as never before. So thank you Soundcloud and thank you for visiting my page. - Jim Combs

Bio
* Born 1959
* From Southern New Jersey, USA
* Instruments: Guitar (jazz & classical), Bass, Piano, Voice 
* Influential LPs/music (not all and in no specific order): Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire, Miles Davis - Nefertiti & Sketches of Spain, Larry Coryell – Spaces, Weather Report - Heavy Weather, Pat Martino – Consciousness, Return to Forever  - Romantic Warrior,  Chick Corea - The Leprechaun, Jeff Beck - Blow By Blow,  Frank Zappa - Zoot Allures, Santana & McLaughlin - Love Devotion Surrender, ELP – Trilogy, Genesis - Wind and Wuthering, Yes - Close to the Edge, David Sancious - The Bridge, Be Bop Deluxe - Sunburst Finish, Ambrosia - Somewhere I've Never Traveled, Journey – Journey,  Rite of Spring & Petrushka – Stravinsky, Don Quixote - Richard Strauss, La Mer - Claude Debussy, Pavane pour une infante défunte & Daphnis et Chloé – Ravel, Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta - Bartok ,  Andrew Lloyd Webber - Jesus Christ Superstar, Jerry Goldsmith - MacArthur, The Omen, Planet Of The Apes (1968), Isao Tomita - Snowflakes Are Dancing & The Bermuda Triangle.

Aeolus, Thanks For Nothing

Jim Combs - Composer, Keyboardist and Guitarist