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- Kevin Volans
Matepe (for reed quintet) (1980)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Transcribed for the Calefax Reed Quintet
Programme Note
This piece was originally written in 1980. It is based on the traditional Shona piece Aroyiwa Mwana from Zimbabwe. The Matepe is a type of lamellophone – a metal keyed instrument of the Mbira family. It is also related to the kalimba. I have taken the chord progression of Aroyiwa Mwana (but in Western tuning, not the original tuning) and written a series of variations in (by and large) the traditional manner of Mbira music, but with a number of more Western features – like octave transpositions of the whole or part of the patterns, the addition of sustained lines, an exposition of the chord progression itself, and of course, the formal structure. A few of the patterns could be considered strictly traditional. The tempo however, is somewhat slower than traditional performance practice. A principal feature and pleasure of Mbira music is the effect of shifting downbeats. The same patterns (usually in a higher register) are suddenly heard in a different way when a new bassline is added, shifting the emphasis forward or backwards by a quaver, or placing stresses in different groupings of three or four beats. We have little equivalent in Western classical music.
Kevin Volans
Kevin Volans