Sedayne : The Raging of May
This assembly represents a process began in the dark days of January 1993 which assumed a compositional & ceremonial nebulosity until there arrived an invitation from Martin Archer to contribute a 90-second miniature to the first volume of his Network CD series, the response to which subverted free-improv vocabulary (alto clarinet / prepared guitar / percussion) over which a particular narrative was intoned by way of spoken word (or even storytelling).
This sequence ran into several parts, each of them under 90-seconds long, from which the most appropriate was selected for the Network CD - the remainder being woven into the fabric of the music begun back in January much as one might add even handfuls of finely chopped garlic & ginger to a mix of grated Cheddar cheese & tomato ketchup (note: it has to be ketchup - puree just wouldn't do) to create a crumpet topping fit even for Sir Tarquin Wetherstone & his notorious Parliament of Misrule.
Note:- All of these are included herein (including a newly mixed version of the one that appeared on the Network Volume One CD which sold out years ago) and are set like diamonds within the context of a music that gathers light from the winter sun refracted in hoar frost on furrows torn in the arable hinterlands of Northumbria; hoof-beat rhythms on the frozen earth as horses shattered the silences and run leaping for the spring.
As I said on the Network CD: -
This music was recorded on the 3rd of May 1993 in response to the rising excellence of that year - therein touched by the glad raging that twists in the sap and blood and sexual vibrancy and weaves a transfiguration of all being and becoming.
Raging of May : Prelude (1.17)
(alto clarinet / gongs / camel bells / may blossoms)
Astray '93 (5.54)
(spoken word / prepared guitar / diverse whistle flutes / birds / khun )
aye, listen close & it shall be told / aye told in the telling between the setting of the sun & the rising of the moon / aye take of no food nor drink & stir not from yr places & open not yr eyes & let yr ears hear whatever it is that they hear / aye listen, for is that not the hare that passes by this place? / hopper of ditches, a cropper of corn, a wee brown cow with a pair of leather horns / in this place one eye shall become open & that eye that leap from out of the head & go as a fish in the silver stream / and my tongue shall fly out of my head & go as a bird from tree to tree / I am the fish / I am the bird / I am both the fish & the silver stream / I am both the bird & the trees / & let them go from this place & let them return hither / & the fish shall once more become an eye / & the stream will be tears of joy & sadness / & the bird shall once more become my tongue / & the trees become words chosen one to the other / is not my story the forest? / is not the stream the waters of life that wash over this forest giving it the dance of living? / O'Piobaireachd / of the puzzling eye & the hidden smile / alive to no other advent yet but that of the may moon / is that not the stag that passes by this place? / I have seen it / stir not / for in stirring we shatter the silence / hopper of ditches, a cropper of corn, a wee brown cow with a pair of leather horns / aye still my own bonny sweet who rode so many the mile over hedges ditches brooks & bridges & gates & cleared many the stile / aye listen close & it shall be told / aye told in the telling between the setting of the sun & the rising of the moon
Flute Song 1 (2.49)
(kalimba / rabab / cymbals / bells / whistle flutes / birds)
The Raging of May 1 (1.26)
(spoken word / prepared guitar / alto clarinet)
seeing only / the raging / of may / across this night / finished / seen / harvest home / finished / broken wonder / broken wonder seen harvest / across this raging night / seeing only the raging of may / across / seeing / raging / may
Harvest Myth 1993 Part Two (8.23)
(gardon / bird / crwth / whistle flute)
The Raging of May 2 (1.15)
(spoken word / cymbals / prepared guitar / alto clarinet)
leaping wide eyed / leaping wide in wonder / glad / leaping wide eyed in wonder over / glad / land / till bodies sang / flowing / burning / still leaping / at the touch / still leaping / glad / strong / flowing always / motion / rhythm faster / that / beating / to flare leap high / no flow / always flow
Epiphany (2.22)
(gardon / cymbals / bells / rattles / angklung / whistle flutes / khun / wee moothie)
The Raging of May 3 (1.19)
(spoken word / alto clarinet / adapted guitar)
no flow / always flow / against / light / against light the first day / the first day ablaze / any tracks made / any tracks made we will cover / until wonder pursues us from dark / to dark / never finding the day / never finding the day we / never finding the day we rest in / we rest in / lifted glad / wings beat the rising air / cool the warming day / unbroken / to find / at last
Trinity (6.07)
(crwth & crwth drones)
Flute Song 2 (3.35)
(birds / kalimba / rababgardon / whistle flutes)
The Raging of May 4 (1.21)
(spoken word / alto clarinet / adapted guitar / cymbals)
wind / gull seeking / wind / amid sun wave glare / amid / waves / eyes numb / breath / silent heart / to beat touch stone broken wonder seen / finished / harvest home / across this night / and seeing only night across this / broken wonder / and seeing only night across this / broken / wonder / finished / seen / harvest / home /
Bright Pad Ye Aye (0.51)
(flutes / rabab / khun)
Harvest Myth 1993 Part One (19.37)
(khun / flutes / crwth / birds / cymbals / gardon)
The Raging of May 5 (1.13)
(spoken word / alto clarinet / cymbals / adapted guitar)
flowing always / motion / flowing faster / rhythm / that / beating to flare / flare flame leap high / at the falling water / against no flow / my flow / seen / finished / harvest home / across this night / seeing only the raging the may / broken wonder / eyes numb / breath silent / heart beat / touch stone / broken wonder / seeing only of may / seeing only the raging of may
Tempus Est Iocundum (7.31)
(gardon / crwth / koboz / whistle flute / bird)
The Raging of May 6 (1.24)
(spoken word / khun / alto clarinet / adapted guitar / cymbals)
amid wind / gull seeking / sun / glare / wave / back / eyes numb / breath / silent / heart / beating / beating / touch / stone / touch / stone / broken wonder seen finished / harvest home / across this night / and seeing only the raging of may / and seeing only the raging / of may
Passover (9.15)
(two crwths)
The Raging of May : Coda (1.15)
(alto clarinet / adapted guitar)
All compositions & performances by Sedayne & recorded on Nanny Goat Island January to May 1993 with the exception of Tempus Est Iocundum which differs inasmuch as it features melodic material from the 13th century Codex Buranus ms.
This edition mixed & realised in the Deerness Valley, Durham, April 2002
