Southern Songs
Ian Dicke
About this work:
Southern Songs (2008)
for guitar solo
I. Açaí
II. Porteña
III. Koh Samui
IV. Diamonds are Forever
V. Monroe
VI. Sir Humphrey Gilbert
Southern Songs is a set of six short caricatures for solo guitar. Each movement is loosely based around either the political or musical culture of places below the equator. Throughout the work I freely interject the rhythms and melodic contours of music from South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. The bluesy final movement depicts the fate of Sir Humphrey Gilbert whose ship capsized in 1583 while aimlessly drifting south of Newfoundland.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert (lines 37-44)
Southward through day and dark,
They drift in cold embrace,
With mist and rain, o’er the open main;
Yet there seems no change of place.
Southward, forever southward,
They drift through dark and day;
And like a dream, in the Gulf-Stream
Sinking, vanish all away.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
Year composed: 2008
Duration: 00:12:00
Ensemble type: Solo instrument, non-keyboard:Guitar (Classical/Acoustic)
Instrumentation: 1 Guitar (Classical/Acoustic)
Instrumentation notes: Guitarist sings the final movement while playing.