Asante 46
Ben Finn
Composed for Upendo's joint concert with Ishirini in Stapleford
Première: July, 2010
An interweaving of a Tanzanian melody with a Tudor part-song, this represents the culmination of our joint musical project with Upendo.
After experiencing Tanzanian musical culture for ourselves in our tour to Tanzania in April 2009 we asked Upendo for recordings of some of their simpler melodies. Ben Finn, who also sings tenor in the choir, then wove one of these pieces together with Gibbons' beautiful part-song Song 46 otherwise known as Drop, drop slow tears. The piece starts with the haunting soprano solo from Upendo, then supported by the rest of the group. Soon the strains of the Gibbons are heard and the two choirs sing together.
Upendo lead singer Joshua Mlelwa explained the group's reaction to the piece: "when you first mentioned the idea of us sending a CD, and then someone mixing one of our songs with one of yours, I was really asking myself – how is that going to work? And in the end, I didn't expect you'd choose the song that you did. But when we came to perform – it was amazing. We were there singing “Asante Yesu” and you were all there singing in your style – it was so moving."
Listen to the recording of the première in Hamba Lulu below (you will need Flash to play this clip)
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| Tanzanian choir Upendo is heard in the aural 'foreground' and Ishirini in the backround, some distance away. |
| ...with thanks to Nicolas Soames and Sarah Butcher for recording and editing |
