We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Etna Rosso

by Jake Schepps

subscriber exclusive
1.
Etna Rosso 03:56
2.

about

May 2018
Etna Rosso

Here is the first track from the December 2017 session with tabla master Ty Burhoe and guitarist Jon Sousa. I penned this tune a few years ago and found it quite challenging to solo over these changes in form and meter (it moved from 4 to ⅞). Treating it in a fashion more like Irish tunes by just playing the melody a few times was another possible option.

In our arrangement, we break it down in the middle with an extended banjo solo, an astonishing tabla solo, and finally into a Tihai (pronounced ti-'ha-yi). A tihai is a polyrhythmic technique found in Indian classical music, and often used to conclude a piece. In rehearsal, Ty ingeniously suggested this rhythmic composition, which for those counting along is 3-3-3-2, 3-3-2, 3-2, rest, and that is repeated three times to land on the downbeat. While tabla requires an incredible amount of technique to play those particular drums, one also needs to be a polymath. Tabla students memorize lengthy rhythmic compositions which they need to be able to vocalize before playing (see video below), and then keeping track of dozens of tihais within odd meters over long improvised passages and complex forms. This one we played took me several hours to deconstruct, then compose a banjo part, and then sync up with Ty’s part. The tihai comes in at 3:03, then we go back and play the melody out.

The name Etna Rosso comes from one of my favorite red wines in the world, commonly made from an indigenous grape called Nerello Mascalese and grown on the slopes of Mt. Etna on Sicily. When in doubt, Sicily is often a great bet on a bottle of wine. And I took the photo in of the side of a house when hiking Mount eros, the high peak on the idyllic island of Hydra in Greece.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXS6UByE_y8

credits

released May 2, 2018

Jake Schepps: banjo
Jon Sousa: guitar
Ty Burhoe: tabla

Composed by Jake Schepps

Produced by Jake Schepps
Recorded December 27, 2017, at eTown Studio, Boulder CO
Engineered by Justin Peacock
Mixed by Justin Peacock
Photo by Jake Schepps (house on Hydra)
Artwork by Duncan Burke

Thanks to Ty, Jon, Justin, the Round Window Revue, and eTown Studio. And special thanks to Sumaia Jackson and Mike Gaisbacher for helping me flesh out this tune in our spare time at the Global Musician Workshop in 2016. And extra special super thanks to all the Round Window Radio subscribers.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Jake Schepps Boulder, Colorado

Jake Schepps has made a name for himself as a banjo renaissance man, an artist with not only an adroit touch on his instrument but an intrepid, imaginative vision for contemporary stringband music. Based in Boulder, Colorado, he leads the Jake Schepps Quintet, playing longform classical works written for string band, music by Bela Bartok, and of course some good ol' bluegrass. ... more

contact / help

Contact Jake Schepps

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Jake Schepps recommends:

If you like Jake Schepps, you may also like: