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- Tarik O'Regan
Corsair (2014)
- Novello & Co Ltd (World)
- 2222/4.3.2+2btbn.1/timp.perc/hp/str
- Oud
- 7 min
Programme Note
Commissioned by SOUK for Haytham Safia and the Holland Symfonia
Corsair takes thematic ideas from two earlier pieces, each referencing different kinds of North African folk music (Acallam na Senórach and Chaâbi), and reworks them into a concertino for solo amplified oud and orchestra.
Barbary corsairs were pirates who operated out of the ports of North Africa (known as the Barbary Coast) mostly during the 16th century. In addition to seizing ships, they engaged in raids on European coastal towns and villages, mainly in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, but also in Great Britain and Ireland, the Netherlands and Iceland. The corsairs themselves were an extremely diverse group, stemming from all over Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
The music of Corsair, therefore, serves as a dialogue between European and North African folk traditions. This can be heard in the exchanges between the soloist and orchestra, but also in the shifting underpinning of the various modalities used in the work. With a sense of perpetual forward motion, the music - both gentle and violent at times - always has some kind of swapping of rhythmic and melodic ideas between the various instruments of the orchestra and the soloist.
Corsair was commissioned by SOUK for the Holland Symfonia and soloist Hayhtam Safia; it received its first performances at the Royal Concertgebouw on 1st and 2nd May, 2014.
Tarik O’Regan
March, 2014
Corsair takes thematic ideas from two earlier pieces, each referencing different kinds of North African folk music (Acallam na Senórach and Chaâbi), and reworks them into a concertino for solo amplified oud and orchestra.
Barbary corsairs were pirates who operated out of the ports of North Africa (known as the Barbary Coast) mostly during the 16th century. In addition to seizing ships, they engaged in raids on European coastal towns and villages, mainly in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, but also in Great Britain and Ireland, the Netherlands and Iceland. The corsairs themselves were an extremely diverse group, stemming from all over Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
The music of Corsair, therefore, serves as a dialogue between European and North African folk traditions. This can be heard in the exchanges between the soloist and orchestra, but also in the shifting underpinning of the various modalities used in the work. With a sense of perpetual forward motion, the music - both gentle and violent at times - always has some kind of swapping of rhythmic and melodic ideas between the various instruments of the orchestra and the soloist.
Corsair was commissioned by SOUK for the Holland Symfonia and soloist Hayhtam Safia; it received its first performances at the Royal Concertgebouw on 1st and 2nd May, 2014.
Tarik O’Regan
March, 2014
Scores
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