Homage to the great Norwegian bass player Arild Andersen, and his 1996 ECM recording "Hyperborean."
Hyperborean Winds (February 9, 2022)
(Spoken): “Never the Muse is absent from their ways: lyres clash and flutes cry, and everywhere maiden choruses whirling…Neither disease nor bitter old age is mixed in their sacred blood; far from labor and battle they live”
Thus spake Pindar, 500 years before the Christ, of the Hyperborean tales
Herodotus and Homer also sang of this northern land beyond the whales
The mythic land of ice and fire, a thousand years before Viking sails
Captured Arild in its sway, in Norway’s fjords, frosts, and gales
Manfred Eicher set the stage, and booked the Rainbow first
So all would have the best in sound, and none would have the worst
In December 1996 the Oslo charts were all dispersed
Their liquid languid sound locked in, an alchemy well versed
Hyperborean winds, take me past all of what is known, and most of what is suspected
Away from this temporal place, to an ancient era by time neglected
Where myths and legends sweep the ice, and blow away all by cold affected
And bass, and sax, and sacred strings are blended…purified…perfected
Arild Andersen plucked his bass, his ostinato notes ran on ahead
Two saxophonists channeled wind, with their reeds they laid the sonic bed
Crystalline keys collided, but never moved the needle into red
While the strings and percussive wash sewed tight the pulsing common thread
(repeat Spoken intro; fini)
@didge345 Feb 2022
A tale of a far off mythical country and people turning that information into song as you have also done it seems with both. Interesting double take tale to be sure.
@sheslin Feb 2022
So I just learned not only a new word, but some interesting history as well. I liked how you went from the spoken word to singing and then back to spoken word. Your melody supported your information loaded lyrics well. I especially like the part where the melody stayed the same but your change the chords underneath.