TRAVELING STILL
Shawn Conley & Kinan Azmeh
This strange time has brought the life of the touring musician to a pause. Like the rest of the world, there is a pause of normal work, normal life, and of one’s relationship to the world. But music gives the chance to keep traveling to new places, and to keep exploring what is possible in this uncharted landscape.
Through the commission process, Shawn and Kinan have discovered that a long distance collaboration can not only work, but lead to new ideas that would never have been thought of on their own. In this piece, Kinan and Shawn draw on a number of influences, both shared and individual. The bowed bass texture in the first section makes use of a technique called bariolage, which Shawn associates with his long-time mentor François Rabbath. Upon meeting Kinan, Shawn discovered that Kinan and François were friends and that Kinan actually brought François back to their shared homeland of Syria for the first time in years to play a duo concert. These are the kinds of shared connections that emerged out of this collaboration.
The second section of the piece moves to a new place. The bass line comes from a love of Motown, but quickly morphs into more of a dancehall beat. Unlike the first section, which had many different versions and experiments, this section happens in one pass. Over this, Kinan shares a melody that lilts and dances in an entirely unique way, so different from the bass line that yet somehow fits in perfectly.
By writing together over a great distance, the space between the two composers seemed to get smaller. Both alone in their respective homes and cities, sent their creative energy out to the other, waiting to receive the idea and open it up like a beautiful present–getting a missing puzzle piece that you didn’t know you needed, and now you can see the whole picture. The result reminds us that if we continue to work together, we can find the silver lining to this isolation.
About Shawn Conley
About Kinan Azmeh
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