Three distinct and simple tunes form this movement, created for their joy, beauty and triumphant innocence.

Amawole (Congo)
Just for fun! A wonderful melody, rhythmically very interesting, with call and response built in. 

Lyrics:
Amawole.
I am Amawole.
I like to see the hen.
I like to see the cockerel.

Iro Ye (Benin)
Many old African folk songs are for children. This song is a lullaby, expressing a parent's love and wishes for their child's long and happy life.

Lyrics:
My Iro,
What am I going to give you?
My Iro,
What am I going to give you?
I have nothing to give you.
I will pray for you.
Your life will be happy,
'Til eternity.

Makotoude (Mali)
A traditional song from Mali; a happy traveling song!

Come Africa, 1 of 2

Three simple tunes form this movement, each created for their joyful beauty and celebratory innocence.

(1)Olele Moliba Makasi (Congo)
The song lyrics refer to the Kasai region of the Republic of Congo, which shares its name with the Kasai river, described by the explorer Henry Morton Stanley as “a powerful and deep river.”  Benguela is a cold current off the southwest coast of Africa which brings winds. A railroad built by the Portuguese government used the same name. It gave access to the central Angolan plateau and the mineral wealth of the Congo Free State. Construction began in 1903 and was completed in 1929.

Lyrics:
Olele! Olele! The current is very strong.
Row! Row! His country, his country is the Kasai.
Olele! Olele! The current is very strong.
Eheho, eh eh eheho, Let Benguela come!
Come, come! The courageous one.
Come! Come! The generous one.
Come! Come!
Olele! Olele! The current is very strong.
- - - - - -
(2) Si Si Kumbale (South Africa)

Seed Sowing Song. This gentle tune was sung by farmers to bless the seeds being planted and to appeal to the universe for an abundant harvest. 

Lyrics: None available.
- - - - - -
(3) Mayo Nafwa (Bemba people of Zambia)

Lyrics (roughly translated) offer a celebratory ascension song about one who has died.

Mayo Dies, Mayo dies and leaves.
Where does he go? Where do we keep him?
Then in the sky. Here in the sky with clouds.
With the ants, with the ants and lizards.
When he leaves.
When he leaves.

Come Africa, 2 of 2

The 5 songs below are slanted to presenting old Icelandic performance style, using a chamber orchestra and voices. Since the most commonly used instrument of old Iceland, called the langspil, was typically a 3-stringed dulcimer-like instrument, (where two of the strings are drones and the third is fingered to produce melody) I’ve tried to recreate the feel of this style by using solo instruments/voices with drones in parallel intervals throughout. Since much of the music was performed vocally, I used a SATB choir with a chamber orchestra, with each section of the choir featured in the first four sections and finally as a full choir for the last section. The choirs are used as instruments, they do not sing words, but simply the phonetic, “Ahhh."

1. 'Oaks, I saw'
Lyrics:  
Oaks, I saw that two together stood, one grey, and had good flowers, the other oak pale, with few.


2. 'Hear the Smith of Heavens' 
Lyrics:  
No translation. This is music of the Icelandic Catholic church, popular with the Icelandic people for centuries and even today used by their popular musicians.)

3. 'Asa Walked the Streets'
Lyrics: 
Asa walked the streets, with Kurt and Pi. She heard beautiful sounds in Salofi, in Salofi. Hi ho, sing! Leaders sing music.

4. 'The Court and the Elves'
Lyrics: 
Sir, the court has arrived, an army. All the young men of the court have come to the army.
Elfin, what do all the boys of the court want? 
A virgin wants a court, a virgin wants an elf, a virgin wants all the court's boys.
What the court offers, what the elf offers the court, the elf offers gold, gold is offered by all the boys of the court.
Welcome court, welcome elf, welcome all court boys.

5. 'Iceland, prosperous Mother'
Lyrics: 
Iceland, prosperous white mother, where your frozen fame is, freedom and humanity is best.

Icelandic Folk Songs, 2 of 2

UNDER SAIL, Part 1 of 3 "Leaving Charleston, SC"

A piece for full orchestra, which depicts in sound, an imagined 1852 voyage of an English flagged medium clipper ship[1] departing from Charleston, SC sailing to Portsmouth, England with a stop in Jamaica. The piece is introduced in three separate movements (postings or episodes).
- - - - - -
Departing from Charleston in the early morning as the tide turns, the ship carries a cargo of South Carolina rice and cotton, to be enhanced later by a consignment of Jamaican rum, and then on to Portsmouth.

Part 1 events:
- Dawn at anchor (The ship rides at anchor; a gentle breeze is stirring; rigging lines and blocks are heard knocking by wave action and breezes.)

- Ascension to the yards 1:21 (Crew responds to the bosun's call[2]  and climbs into the rigging.)

- Top Sail let Fall 1:51 (At the bosuns call, the mizzen top sail is loosed and let fall from a cross tree of the mizzenmast.[3])

- Set sails 1:57 (The deck crew hauls the lines, to the sea shanty Johnny Boker, to form the sail and catch a light breeze. The ship slowly moves over its anchor point.)

- Haul anchor! 2:32 (To the sea shanty Hanging Johnny, the crew turns the windless [4] to retrieve the anchor. The clicking of the windless pawl may be heard to accelerate as the windless turns ever quicker.) 

- Steerage way 2:58 (The ship is now moving quickly enough that the tiller is more effective, allowing the ship to be closely controlled. It moves out of the harbor.)

- Mainsail let fall 3:40 (The bosun orders the main-course sail to fall from the mainmast.[5])

- Haul away! 3:49 (The deck crew hauls the lines to set the main-course sail. The ship is now clear of harbor traffic, the main top-gallant sail [6] is set; stay sails are set. The tempo increases as the headlands are cleared.)

- Into Open Ocean Rollers 4:50 (Wave heights are running at 8', the effects of a storm off the coast. As the storm moves up the coast, the winds are strong out of the North. The main topsail, foresail[7] and fore topsail are set to take advantage of the wind from behind or aft. The ship quickly moves south toward Jamaica.)

- Ship Sails into the Distance 6:30 (Bearing SSE, it moves out of our sight.)
- - - - - -
Terms:
[1] A medium clipper ship was a sharp-bowed vessel shaped to cut though the water easily for speed, but unlike an extreme clipper, had a wider beam, or width, to allow greater cargo capacity.
[2] The bosun was a ship's officer in charge of equipment and the workings of the crew.
[3] The mizzenmast is the rearmost mast on a three masted ship.
[4] The windless is a manually turned winch used to retrieve a line.
[5] The mainmast is the central mast on a three masted ship.
[6] A top gallant sail is a sail set above a top sail. Top sails are just above the mainsails.
[7] Fore sails are set on the foremost mast of a three masted ship.

UNDER SAIL, Part 1 of 3:  "Leaving Charleston SC"

UNDER SAIL, Part 2 of 3, "Jamaica Bound"

The ship passes through the Windward Passage, a strait between Eastern Cuba and Haiti, arriving in Montego Bay, Jamaica.  After loading the ship with cargo, the crew is granted liberty, before finally departing port for their final leg the next day.


Part 2 events:
-  Light breeze and gentle seas in the Windward Passage
-  Arrival at Montego Bay, 2:45[1]
-  Loading cargo, 3:06
-  Crew liberty, 3:33 [2]
-  Barroom brawl, 4:55, (Run away when the police arrive!)
-  Return to the ship
-  Depart port for England

- - - - - - - - - - 
Lyrics:
[1] Jamaican work song 'Hill and Gully Rider:
Refrain
Hill and gully rider,
Hill and gully.
Hill and gully rider,
Hill and gully.

Took my horse an' come down,
Hill and gully,
But my horse done tumble down,
Hill and gully
An' the night come a tumblin' down
Hill and gully.

[2] Jamaican market song, 'Linstead Market':
I carried my ackee fruit going to Linstead Market,
Not a penny-worth sold.
I carried my ackee fruit going to Linstead Market,
Not a penny-worth sold.

Lord what a night, not a bite,
What a Saturday night!
Lord what a night, not a bite,
What a Saturday night!

UNDER SAIL, Part 2 of 3:  "Jamaica Bound"

Remembering Dave Brubeck and Stan Kenton....

Let your toes tap along to this fun tune!

The piece incorporates the well known bass figure from Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" and transforms it into a Stan Kenton style big band blow out! 

Playfulness abounds as solo breaks in the saxes, trumpets and trombones alternate with the sounds of the full band.

Happy Toes ("Take Two On Five")

Original recording 05.04.2023. 
Performed by Alexander Vladislavov.

Pēteris Vasks - Baltā ainava

Spicules are mini-versions of solar flares, a dynamic jet of plasma about 180 miles in diameter, lasting a few minutes each before falling back into the sun’s atmosphere. The surface of sun is covered with spicules in constant motion.  

This movement uses a reduced orchestra, (the only brass are two horns), and two solo violins.

3. Solar Spicules

Fugue with a long-ish subject. Worked on this on and off for many years, finally finished it today. Hope you like it!

Fugue in C minor

The music begins somewhat mournfully as villagers sadly gather to bid farewell to one known to them as the Prophet.  Reflected in Gibran’s words below, the mood of the music shifts and deepens while gathering insight. It ends with a buoyant, if not a sense of release, as each child's unique path triumphantly coalesces for them. (See 'Show more' below.)

This is lovingly dedicated to children of all ages!
- - - - - - - -
Background
When the project was first conceived in the late 1980s, because the music would not flow, the only choice was to set it aside. After a 35-year gestation, it gratefully re-emerged and was finished in early 2020.
     -     -     -     -     -    -     -
Narrative:
And a woman . . . said, Speak to us of Children

And he said: 
	“Your children are not your children.
	They are sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. 
They come through you but not from you, 
and though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
for they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might, that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness.
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He also loves the bow that is stable.” 

― Kahlil Gilban  ―

Soloists and Choir:
				And he said: 
0:41		Your children are not your children.
1:10		They are sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. 
1:43		They come through you but not from you, 
2:43		and though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

3:28		You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
3:40		for they have their own thoughts.
4:15		You may house their bodies but not their souls,
4:32		for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
6:41		You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
7:31		For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

8:44		You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
9:08		The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
11:08	Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness.
11:29	For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He also loves the bow that is stable.

14:02	Hymn of Thanksgiving

On Children (from The Prophet)

Graduating from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, I majored in Music Education and bass trombone. I was also fortunate to have the renowned John W. Coffey, bass trombonist of the Boston Symphony, as an adjunct teacher. 
While keeping my day jobs, I've performed professionally in symphony orchestras, bands and brass groups, and also enjoyed playing tuba and euphonium. 
I am a self-taught composer with 125+ copyrighted original pieces and arrangements, from symphony orchestra and concert band, as well as brass groups and solo works.
Retiring from the corporate world, (computer reliability and QA for medical devices), my wife Kathy and I were privileged to raise grass fed bison for 20 years, and sell to wonderful customers in Southern California farmers markets. After retiring a 2nd time before the pandemic, I've happily returned to my first love of music!
Thanks for listening. I hope you will let me know how you enjoy these pieces!

3. Solar Spicules

Ken Lindner

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