This is the sixth movement of my suite for steel band and choir, "In the Shadows of the Forest." The performance is by the Choir of the Sound (Seattle, WA) and a band made up of local players. This performance was on May 13th, 2011, in Lynnwood, Washington. A few bumps and bruises here and there, but not bad for just one rehearsal for nearly an hour's worth of music.
This movement is about the Soucouyant, one of the many fascinating folkloric characters of Trinidad that the libretto of suite is based on. This is probably the most "pop"-ish of all the movements, with a gospel approach to the choir, supported by three Reggae-derived grooves in the steel band. It makes an interesting combination, I think. The lyrics are given in the text description of the youtube page, which you may have to expand to see. For more information about the piece, visit http://www.twotreesmusic.com/in_the_shadows.html.
Enjoy!
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Great storytelling in this story of the Soucoyant, Mr. Gibson. Coincidentally I teach steelpan and chorus this year. I think this would be a great song for my junior High School students to learn. Please send me the info on how to obtain the music. Thanks for spreading the knowledge of the Soucoyant.
Was balancing the voices with the pans a challenge? I wonder how a 20 piece steelband and 30 piece chorus would work? Any thoughts?
What made you compose around the story of the Soucoyant?This is one movement of an entire suite (about 45-50 minutes) based on Trinidad's rich folklore. I was commissioned to write it a little over a year ago for San Jacinto Community College (Houston, TX, USA - Mike Mizma, director), where it had its premiere a year ago. I have published the entire suite as one work, and will be eventually making individual movements of it available for purchase as well. It may be another few weeks or a couple of months before I get to that, but I will eventually. For more information about the full suite, and audio clips of the San Jacinto group's recording of it, you can visit the web page I list in the initial post of this thread.
As for balancing the pans and voices: you would definitely have to mic and amplify a 30-voice choir against a 20-piece steel band. We just did it here (as on the video) with a 9-piece steel band (the bare minimum) and a 65-voice choir. The band had to play pretty softly (especially the drummer) in order to balance acoustically. So, I'd say for every six pan players, you'd want roughly 75-90 voices. The piece will be played in its entirety on May 1st by the Ithaca College steel band and choir (15-piece steel band / 180 voices) which I think will be the perfect balance acoustically.
"In the Shadows of the Forest" suite for steel band and choir