Michael Kapilidis' Haemus - "Coming-Out Party"
Channel: Michael Kapilidis
Date: 2019-03-31

*********Michael Kapilidis' Haemus - Coming-Out Party*********

 It is with great pleasure that i present to you my solo project, Haemus.
I wrote all the music, as well as played/programmed the vast majority of the instruments.

Manos Saridakis played the lead synths (the solo at 3:15 and the lead parts from 5:35 till the end). Make sure to check out his work, especially his fantastic (mostly) solo piano album "The Greek Real Book" here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSGKrriXhsf6a4JnzgvzWxA

The live drum performance was filmed by Panos Zenidis and recorded/mixed at MD Recording Studio in Athens by Nikos Michalodimitrakis.

                                   
         -------Gear used for this track:-----

|||| Gretsch Drums (Renown Maple) Toms: 10"x8" & 12"x9", Floor Tom:14"x14", Bd:20"x16"

Ludwig Hammered Bronze Snare Drum

|||| Meinl Cymbals (14" Pure Alloy Hats, 10" Benny Greb Crasher Hats, 18" Pure Alloy Medium Crash, 12" SCH Stack, 22" Vintage Pure Ride, 22" Byzance Jazz China Ride w/rivets with an old cracked cymbal underneath, 16" Byzance Jazz Thin Crash)

|||| Porter&Davies Bc Gigster Tactile Drum Monitor System

|||| Vic Firth Drumsticks (Keith Carlock Signature & 5A Double Glaze models)



                         -----A few words about the Music-----

  The song is in 11/8 time signature (or 11/16 if you prefer although i find it way more practical to notate this, as well as similar rhythms in 8th notes). It is based on the Bulgarian "Kopanitsa"(Kopanica)" rhythm/dance. The Bulgarians think of (mostly) everything in groups of  2's and 3's so a Kopanitsa is grouped as 2-2-3-2-2. I find though, that to create more space for things to happen it is more practical to feel it as 4-3-4, thus creating three uneven pulses (the first accent of each grouping) which themselves in turn create the "Kopanitsa Clave". 
  This concept was introduced to me by my colleague, bassmeister  Panagiotis Andreou (of Now Vs. Now & NY Gypsy All-Stars fame). We co-lead the Athens-based, world-fusion band, Hopla Loon. The general idea is that you can take almost any traditional Balkan rhythm and create a "clave" out of the primary accents of each grouping. So, for example if you have a 7/8 instead of feeling it as 2-2-3 (ONE-two/ONE-two/ONE-two-three), you divide it in two groups of 4 and 3 (ONE-two-three-four/ONE-two-three). 
  This approach gives way more space for syncopation, polyrhythms and for contemporary melodic and harmonic concepts. Any instrument can play on, off, around or against the clave instead of being tied to the rhythm of the traditional melody and/or rhythm (in the traditional Balkan music more  often than not the rhythm follows/matches the melody).
   In my tune "Coming-Out Party" the "clave" is present from the begining till the end. The drums, sometimes weave in and out of it, creating tension and release, and other times play exactly on it. The other instruments/sounds function the same way. The only part of the track which comes close to resembling a traditional Kopanica (in the sense that almost every instrument is stating the "clave") is the outro. (5:35)
  As for the drumming, i applied a lot of my own concepts in the tune but i got the foundation and the basics by listening and playing along to traditional Bulgarian music (a lot of it has the davul or tapan, as the main timekeeping device). I also checked out records of virtuoso clarinetist Ivo Papasov. Finally, i got a lot of ideas and inspiration from Engin Kaan Gunaydin of the NY Gypsy All-Stars and, last but not least, master Bulgarian drummer and tapan player Stoyan Yankulov.(Links below).

"Haemus Mons are today known as the Balkan Mountains. In ancient Greek, the Balkan Peninsula was known as the Peninsula of Haemus (Χερσόνησος τοῦ Αἵμου) probably named after King Haemus of prehistoric Thrace (Θράκη). "

---This track is the first in a series of tunes i wrote inspired by the traditional music idioms of the Balkans, Meditterenean and Middle East areas. There is so much music happening in this corner of the world and it amazes me that despite the advent of internet, youtube etc. not many people from the West have become hip to it. One of my goals is to change that! ;) 

Thanks for your interest.

LINKS:

Traditional Kopanitsa:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd46EuW32IQ

Kopanitsa by Ivo Papasov:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeWtJ3l561Y

New York Gypsy All-Stars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwWuPlYQyyQ

Hopla Loon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdC8mKh2Dl0

Stoyan Yankulov:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYqPjBJ1hjc