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THE ROSE AND THE NIGHTINGALE
Phrygian phantasy
The rose and the nightingale (‘gül ve bülbül’ in Turkish; ‘gul-u-bul-bul’ in Persian) are important metaphors in Eastern poetry. The nightingale can be considered a counterpart of Shakespeare’s Romeo. He will suffer and neglect himself for the love of the rose, which some poets described as the blood springing from his wounded heart. The rose stands for unattainable love, as symbolised especially by her thorns, which may however also offer the nightingale protection against his mortal enemy, the snake. The rose wouldn’t be as famous as a symbol of love if it weren’t for the nightingale’s songs about her. The piece has a contemplative first part and stronger second, which could represent a fragrant rose and an anguished nightingale, respectively. Conversely, they could also stand for the nightingale singing and the rose stinging—it is up to you to decide which is what. What matters is the contrast between the parts, the shared theme, and the peaceful ending.
On that last note, during the abovementioned seminar that inspired the Erato album, we listened to a 40-minute recording of a Mevlevi ritual. The chanting cycle started solemnly, built up towards a growling, pulsating zenith, and then returned back to solemnity. It was hypnotic, impressive and beautiful, and made me realise something important: such age-old ritual is designed to take you into trance…and back again. That last important bit is something we often forget in the West, for example at rock concerts that build up towards this huge final drum roll and an massive instrumental-pyrotechnic big bang, after which the singer shouts “OK, this was it folks, hope you enjoyed the show!”, sending the worked-up audience off to maraud the streets.
I recall performing with a blues band in the auditorium of the Wolvenplein Penitentiary in the city of Utrecht, a 19th-century prison complex that is as scenic as it is imposing. When we played our last encore, the most upbeat song on the set list, the inmates jumped from their seats and started dancing wildly. The guards’ faces told me that they feared losing control. After the set we were rushed to safer grounds while the prison staff tried to escort our audience back to their cells; windows were getting smashed and the fire alarm was sounding. Nonetheless, everybody considered the concert a great success, even the guards. “Much better than last year!”, they said, telling us that the previous band had annoyed the inmates by being visibly afraid of them—apparently rowdiness is easier to handle than disappointment. I now think that we should have done what dervishes do: give the inmates the exhilaration they clearly needed, but also an appropriate state of mind to allow them to get back to where they came from. I don’t know whether this particular audience would have appreciated anything involving roses and nightingales, though.
credits
from Erato,
released November 2, 2022
Composition: Michiel van der Meulen | Mode: Phrygian | Usul: sengin semâî (6/8, 3-3) and yürük semâî (same metre, faster) | Musicians: Harris Lambrakis (ney), Giorgos Papaioannou (violin), Nikos Papaioannou (cello), Manolis Kanakakis (kanun), Taxiarchis Georgoulis (oud), Marijia Katsouna (tombak)
Kairos Collective is the occasional ensemble that Michiel van der Meulen assembles to record or perform his contemporary
modal music. Kairos is the personification of the right moment, the time to act or an opportunity to be seized, perfectly encapsulating the spirit and atmosphere of the collective's sessions....more
supported by 5 fans who also own “The Rose and the Nightingale”
Three beautiful instruments and ten beautiful compositions with dynamics that keep the listener (this one at least, and I suspect more!) engaged both in moments of high energy and speed, and in slow, developing passages. rvss.eel
