Thistle and Jade

Several people commented on my last offering here (Lament for Love Lost) that it seemed to have an Oriental flavour alongside the Celtic. Unintentional but I could hear why they thought that. So I decided to pen a little piece where the Oriental / Celtic flavour was entirely intentional (with a little New Age thrown in for good measure)!
 
Featuring Chinese Violin (the Erhu), imagine a kilted Celtic Kung Fu Master striding over the Yangzte Plains thinking of his Bonny Highland Lassie working in a Paddy Field!
 
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11416557
 
It does have a 'slow movement' towards the end (ie. Chinese film score, falling Lotus petals, etc!), so don't think you have slipped into another track!
 
Best Regards
Malcolm
 

Hi Eric - Sincere thanks and so pleased you like this piece.

Hi Rik - Sincere thanks. I suppose I was thinking a story line as I wrote this, which probably accounts for the cinematic aspect. As for the drums, yep, I agree. I was aiming for a sort of 'driving' beat (heavy footed Celt, kilt akimbo, stomping through the paddy field!) but perhaps we Celts aren't quite that heavy footed (except when playing soccer and rugby!).

very cool Malcolm...  My favorite part starts at 2:58...
 
I think the drums would work better if there were a cool bass part... otherwise maybe a bodhran drum instead... 

Hi Malcomb,

Very Lovely Music , real nice and easy on the ears

I fell into your story line hook line and sinker ,

I'm 1/2 Scottish  w lot of years doing traditional  Martial arts
( admittedly rusty do to a tumble on 2 wheels ), &  I'm dreaming about a lassie  one that I haven't met yet


OK kwtj , lets  focus ....get back to the music......... back to the music

I loved everything about this tune including the beat of the drums , but not the sound of the drums themselves
( makes sense ? )

when the drums kicked in I started salivating because I thought the tune was gonna feature some Garry Moore type of heavy stuff .
btw..that was on me not you .

the only crit that I could offer of substance would be I think some Asian
type of percussion would bring it up to the next level
an occasional gong and some of what they use in movies as fighting drums , maybe even the wind chime type of tube things that have the Oriental tuning  

i did give this a few listens and I feel this tune is very good
Kenny


 

Hi Kenny - Sincere thanks and so pleased you like it - I'm very much like you - half Celtic (Scottish/Irish) although I have never quite understood how that gels with my other half (Flemish/Anglo Saxon)! I also did some unarmed combat but was always more of a danger to myself than anyone else! And I am still looking for that Lassie - I can dream!

Anyway, to the music - and those drums! I totally agree with everything you suggest. The rather odd 'New Age' opening actually originated from me trying to find a drum VST that fitted what I was thinking. As all my music is composed by notation in Staff View using VSTs, I went through every ethnic drum VST I have and wasn't happy with any of them. I went through a range of Indian, African and Chinese / Japanese VSTs and every one was just a dull thud! So eventually I gave up, used New Age pads and a bell for the intro, found a Studio Instruments drum pattern that worked and got on with writing the music! The next piece that is in my head at the moment requires Japanese 'Thunder drums'! Who knows how that piece is going to end up! But I do totally agree with you and it looks like I am going to be spending some time scouring the net to find some decent ethnic drums VSTs - preferably free!

Hi BigJGTR - Sincere thanks and so very pleased you like this piece. Electric samisen - Wow - now that I have to hear!

Best Regards
Malcolm

Great piece, Malcolmb.  I love instrumentals that have a beginning, middle, and end.  Your melodies are beautiful, and the transitions were very dynamic.  I don't know if you have Dimension Pro or not, but it has numerous ethnic percussion presets that would fit into this song very well.  But, it still works as is.  Well done.

Hi Lynn - Sincere thanks and so pleased you like this piece. Unfortunately Home Studio only has Dimension LE - which is a very cut down version of Pro with virtually no ethnic drums. As I said to Kenny above, I suspect I am just going to have to upgrade - I hope my Bank Manager is in a very good mood!

malcomb - beautiful is all I can say - put me in a very good place.

Thank you.

Hi Malcolm,

This is great. Love the melodies and the mix/production sounds great.

Excellent.

Very interesting, Malcolmb.  It is kinda trippy to listen and hear both the celtic and asian influences.  A very pretty sound and well produced!

the opening reminded me a lot of Arcana at the start but then got a lot more Celtic and upbeat. understand the drum issue. liked the changedown around 3 minutes.

Beautiful transistion @ 3:00 Malcolmb!  Stir fried General Tso's chicken meets 2 year old, buried haggis.. I like the blend!! GPO has a World Instrument/Percussion pack/add-on that I'm just starting to dig into. I love the composition on this and would've liked to have heard some world percusiion in lieu of the standard drum kit, but it is what it is. :)

You had 8 bodhran players all at once in your home and you didn't put 'em to work???!!!

Once again Malcolmb..I really enjoyed this piece and the thought process behind it all!!

BTW - If all goes as planned, I should be visiting Scotland once again come October and drive James and his family to the brink of insanity... or drink.

Malcolm,
 
Totally agree about the common “something” in the Celtic/Oriental tunes. I hear it in some of the music that comes out of the Andes (and elsewhere) in South America as well – very curious!
 
Love this piece – you have that composer’s gift. I like the way this transitions from somber to hopeful to aggressive (almost jaunty in a Magnificent Seven sort of way).
 
Really nice material. As mentioned by others a few of the sounds (drums) could be improved etc. but we are all working with limitations – be it cash, personnel, time constraints – this is super and your efforts pay off. 

 I've listened a few times now. The music is quite beautiful, love the change around 3:00, but the drums are just not doing it for me - they just sound out of place in comparison to the rest. I think I understand what you are aiming for, but to me it's not really working as it is and would IMO sound better with something a bit different - both in terms of sound and style.