Levon’s Prayer
Celtic Arabian Urban Funk. Originally Released October 11, 2001 - Remixed May 18, 2002
This piece of music has undergone many changes and rearrangements since its original conception early this year. The thought of mixing these completely unique genres together had never before crossed my mind, yet I have found myself drawn to them in ways that I never believed possible. The mixing of Celtic and Arabian melodies over a breakbeat/urban percussion line with a rather rock-ish bass line was a complete and utter accident from beginning to end.
I began this work after coming up with the main Celtic melody on my piano. I worked up a fairly pretty intro, tossed the Celtic theme in place with some light strings, and the track was underway. I went through more than a hundred different options for percussion before settling on what is heard in the piece now. To be honest, I originally intended for this piece to be a “pure” Celtic work. The inclusion of such an electronic backbone was a disappointment at first, and I promised myself time and time again that I would rip it out in the end.
The idea for the voice came early, and I chose my girlfriend Becca for the work. Over a couple of hours with a cheap microphone we recorded everything from Shakespeare to “Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.” The majority of the quotes in the song are from Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure.”
I had just returned from a show featuring Michael Flatley when the idea of an Arabian countermelody hit me. Of course it sounded terrible at first, but over the course of a few weeks, I managed to find a decent accord between the two melody lines. Topping the Arabian melody off with a blast of staccato strings added the edge that I was chasing, and the meld of styles was complete.
I never intended for this piece to be short either. After finding such magnificent balance between so many different styles, I felt it necessary to break the whole piece down to a light groove before the big climax. This section of the piece took the least time to write, as it seemed to fall into place as quickly as I could lay the notes on the screen. As a side note, that section is still my favorite of the piece.
Additional inspiration for this work came in the form of a story I wrote several months ago. The tie between the music here and the story is not quite direct, but it’s in there. If you want to know more you’ll have to read the story, and if you want to read the story you’ll have to email me.
I’m proud to finally be releasing this piece to the public. The song has been complete for almost two months now, yet something has always come up. The original problem was equipment failure, which pushed me to early September. The release of this piece was hindered a second time by the events of September 11th. A great many of my friends and past co-workers were ridiculed and harassed for their Arab background and Muslim religion in and about the weeks following the tragic events, and I myself was scathed a bit by those close to me for writing a piece with an Arabian influence. It is a sad day when Americans speak out against fellow Americans because of their skin color, or their religion, or what kind of musical influences they work from.
