I composed and recorded this piece on three-track guzheng yesterday.
Most of the pitches are played open string harmonics. It means I lay my left fingers lightly on the strings at the exact half way point of the total length of each strings. And then I use my right hand to pluck the strings to get the pitches that are an octave higher than the actual strings. Playing in such a way not only gives me all the overtones (an octave above), it also gives me a half-muted sound effect caused by my left fingers lightly touching the strings consistently.
The music was inspired by the history of Basque whaling tradition in the Bay of Biscay, which is longer than a thousand years. When I visited the town Ondarroa of the Basque Country two weeks ago, I was amazed by the balcony wall that was on people’s apartment buildings (photo below).
The Basque people are extremely proud of their history and culture. My Basque friends told me about the fishing and whaling traditions, what the sounds were like when the rowing paddles hit each other on the ocean from the folklore from their childhood. I thought of the ancient whalemen hunting whales when I created this piece.
Wish you all an adventurous weekend!
Wu Fei 吴非
Wufeimusic.com
