(Vermona '14/Rucci Drone/MxB): "Da Day Dawn" (Traditional)

Kris Lennox

"The beauty of the Vermona - my synth of choice for lyrical, melodic work. Tone is ideal for lonesome-sounding melodies. The included patch took quite a while to set up - the aim was for a flute/vocal-like tone, with a bird-like quality. Something that always appealed to me RE the Vermona is the bird-like tone - ideal for traditional music.

Rucci Drone enters after the first playthrough, with a low octave added after the second playthrough. Very subtle - but great tone.

Matrixbrute is providing the moorland wind effect. In fact, the MxB's various noise options was one of the primary reasons for my purchasing it (especially the pink noise - which is ideal for wind-like effects). Being on the hill most days, I say in all humility that I'm quite familiar with the sound of the wind in nature: in terms of hardware synth, you won't go far wrong with pink noise on the Matrixbrute through a bandpass filter.

"Da Day Dawn" is a very old piece - possibly Celtic, or possibly a Viking piece. The work is traditionally associated with Shetland, with the island itself a marriage between Celtic and Viking. Stunning melody.

For historical/reference purposes, at the end of the video I've included an image of the score (or rather, a version of it), plus a typed story by one of the locals, which should be very useful for those looking for some historical context (especially given the mentioning of names/places within Shetland). If you pause the video, you'll be able to read/screen capture. This score/text should, for those in traditional music circles, prove very valuable.

Who we learn our tunes from determines how we play our tunes - hence there will always be 'local' variations RE interpretation. However, this variation certainly adds to the interest.

The moorland footage: after recording the Vermona part (4th Nov 2020), I went out on to the moor to get some footage to use for the video. Unfortunately the weather was a little too nice (moody sky would have been ideal), but I've used this footage as it was from the same day of the recording, thus feeling appropriate.

Enjoy/all best
Kris"