Tundra Songs (2007)

duration 30:00

string quartet, Inuit throat singer & soundtrack (EA)

Tundra Songs was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet and Tanya Tagaq Gillis by The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Music Director

Premiered May 03, 2008
Kronos Quartet & Tanya Tagaq
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Los Angeles, CA (USA)

Travel funds to attend the Canadian Premiere at the Luminato Festival in Toronto provided by the Canada Council for the Arts

Links: Kronos Quartet // Tanya Tagaq Gillis

Sound Sample

(3 mins) End of movement 2; part of movement 5
(mock-up with Tanya Tagaq Gillis)

Program Note

I've been fascinated with the arctic for as long as I can remember. I've lived there, I met my wife there and I continue to return as often as I can. Naturally I was thrilled when David Harrington asked me to write a new work for Kronos and Tanya Tagaq based on the north.

I traveled to Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, in March of 2007. Fresh off the plane, and in minus thirty degree weather, I hooked up with Polar Explorer Matty McNair for a two day trip out on the ice by dog sled. Leaving town I recorded the dogs and the sled skidding over the ice. We went to a polynia, an open area of water kept free of ice due to the strong currents. Dropping my hydrophone into the water I recorded sounds of shrimp, krill, seals and other marine life.

Later that day, as the dogs rested, we went on a short hike to take in the scenery; magnificent sheets of ice lined the walls of the valley where the tide had receded. We camped that night in a cabin at the edge of the frozen ocean. It was remarkably clear and the aurora borealis decided to give us a beautiful show. I left my microphone outside all evening to capture any sounds that might have occurred. The next morning I set the microphone on an ice flow and recorded the cracking ice; huge chunks of ice grinding together as the tide came in pushing the entire frozen ocean up. Later that afternoon, when we had arrived back in town, I positioned a microphone in the centre of some dog food to attract the ravens. I recorded their calls and shrieks, their wings flapping in the frigid weather as they attacked the food!

Over the next week I wandered the streets recording anything and everything I could find. Daily life in the north; a group of kids playing shimmy street hockey, snowmobiles racing around town, airplanes coming and going, a dog sled race, someone carving a soapstone sculpture, the beeps of the water trucks backing up, howling wind and dogs tied up in front of homes. I was invited to a Country Feast. We ate polar bear, seal, caribou, whale and arctic char. After the feast the tale of "Sedna", the Inuit goddess who created all living beings, was vividly recounted. I wasn't able to get all the sounds I needed from this one trip. In particular I didn't have recordings of mosquitoes. So I created a bug recorder. It's a plastic container with a hole for the microphone. You simply add one mosquito and voila!

During the summer of 2007 I recorded kayak sounds, waves and paddle noises, as well as birds, geese, ptarmigan and other wildlife. Some sounds were difficult to find, the caribou with their hoofs clicking for example, and in lieu of the real thing you'll hear a castanet. Other sounds were produced in my home studio including drums, shakers, some of the whale sounds and the various processed effects.

Tundra Songs is divided into five continuous movements. Each section explores a specific sound world. In addition the form roughly follows the seasons. Two primary "extended" techniques are explored: circle bowing and vertical bowing. Using these methods of tone production it is possible to make the string quartet sound similar to Inuit Throat singing. Throat singing is a game usually played between two women. Tanya is unique because she does this on her own. The sounds are raw and guttural. The singing is rhythmic and emulates sounds of animals, birds and other natural or man-made sounds. Paired with the sounds on the soundtrack, and Tanya's singing, the effect is highly provocative of northern Canada.

The work took over six months to complete. Throat singing is notated in the score, mostly as an improvisatory part constrained within formal boundries that can be learned from either listening to a mock-up version of the work, or reading the score. The fourth movement has no singing at all.

Notes on individual movements

1) Ice

Winter / Ukiuq – Sounds of drums and cracking ice are heard from a distance. Quickly they get closer. The string quartet enters. Circle bowing, grinding and vertical bowing techniques over a static harmonic backdrop begin the work. A systematic increase in tempos occurs until at just over four minutes a final flourish and Tanya is left singing on her own with just the ice to accompany her. Four main rhythmic sections alternate with slower regions where we can hear the sounds of the raw ice cracking as the tides recede.

2) Water

Spring / Upirngaksaaq – A whale call starts us off. More whale calls ensue, heard as descending harmonic sounds. Seals grunt, shrimp crackle and streaming water is heard flowing under the arctic ice. An atmospheric and rhythmic backdrop accompanies a jazzy string quartet. The tempo increases and we hear the opening whale call again. The seal grunts are transformed to become a rhythmic backing track. The string quartet hockets similar material back and forth as the energy increases. The string quartet is left on its own for a moment before we are plunged into the depths of the ocean once more. A high beep signals the last part of this movement. Water, whales and ice are heard as the string quartet plays a march-like rhythm in unison, pizzicato or col legno battuto (with the wood of the bow). Synthesized sounds are included, a choir, shakers and drums. Geese honks signal the arrival of summer, and a clash of thunder signals the transition to the third movement.

3) Sedna's Song

Summer / Aujaq – "Lakaluk would like to tell us a story", kids are playing hockey, "What a goal!" and a snowmobile whizzes along. Birds, wildlife and a band-saw used for carving are in the background. The string quartet plays pizzicato. A folksy solo melody on the violin accompanies the story. Castanets emulate caribou hooves clicking. The story takes an unexpected turn and the music becomes more virulent, more chromaticism ensues. Eventually things calm down, birds and wildlife return as the movement comes to its conclusion.

4) Lament of the Dogs

Fall / Ukiaqsaak – The sound of dogs howling is very sad. These particular dogs are singing in pitch, in the key of D-sharp minor to be exact; a dark, remorseful key. The cries are stretched in time and layered to create a pad of sounds to accompany the strings. A lachrymose melody is heard in the viola while fast arpeggiated figures are passed between the other voices. The momentum builds; more dog cries are heard. Voices, a children's song in Inuktitut (the main language of Nunavut) filter through. The arpeggios win over from the melody and build in intensity. Eventually the melody returns, first in the violin, and then the cello, transformed and stretched we come to the end of the movement.

5) The Trickster

"Tulugaq"Winter is coming / Ukiaq – Ravens squawk as they fight for food. Wings flap overhead. Mosquitoes swarm as they live their last moments in search of blood. Raven sounds are transformed until they become a rhythmic backdrop. The string quartet takes up some circle bowing techniques, a few harmonics before settling into a longer passage in a triplet feel and quick change of mode. A synthesized organ enters and the mood changes. Finally a honky-tonk ending ensues, complete with ravens and the buzzing of mosquitoes. Strings play a flurry of open strings. Ice joins the mix for the last time, as the cycle completes itself. Winter, once again, settles in.

tundra songs