zompist wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2020 9:27 pm
The piece he did for the Patreon video is intended to be (correct me if I get this wrong, sasasha) a Verdurian dance influenced by Xurnese music.
So an appetite whetter here. I'm wanting to pin down a decade in which a craze for a particular type of dance borrowed from Xurno sweeps Eretald. Let's call it the "žažarka řohuepë" (unequal dance)*. (Please note that everything here is just me thinking aloud; please suggest any changes!)
In Xurno, the rhythmic form underlying this dance holds deep significance amongst the Endajué faithful, because it symbolises both
reatudo ('movement', aka 'fortune') and the Greater Principle.
How? There are always two alternating sections to this dance-form, with a recapitulation, either slow-fast-slow or the inverse — and technically each dance can go on forever alternating one then the other — this embodies the circular alternations of
reatudo.
Typically one of the sections is in 4/4 time (in other words, the music is grouped into measures of four equal beats. To think like an Ereláean musician, imagine each of these measures as 2,2,2,2, where each beat '2' is containing two beat-fraction '1's, eight beat-fractions in total). The other section twists this: now there are 3 equal beat-fractions in the time that there were 2 before (i.e. in Western musical terms, we get triplets). However, we still only allow eight beat-fractions in a measure, and we group them irregularly: 3,3,2. Perceptually we've gone into triple time, but the third beat is shortened. (Alternatively, the 3,3,2 section is presented before the 2,2,2,2 section, with four beat-fractions where there were three.)
The result at each transition between sections is a sensation that a fundamental change has occured, and yet there is still an appreciable relationship in tempo between the two sections. The perception that there is something underlyingly 'equal' or 'regular' about something outwardly 'irregular' (the 3,3,2 pattern) — that
deeper patterns, even
unity can be assuaged from the appreciation of what at first seems chaotic — is the chief mystery of the rhythmic form, according to the Salons. The lack of a third beat-fraction in the 3,3,2 section is felt as a jolt, and symbolises the appreciation of loss or lack as a part of beauty and wholeness.
In its Xurnese form this dance is thought to have first been danced for the
pucigeseč of Bodeusirc, particularly during the play showing the loss of Bozan and its later liberation, though it quickly gained wide popularity and has remained a common form for centuries. To dance it is to grasp the words of Zim:
"Like a dance, the movement of the All is complex, varied in rhythm, and beautiful.
Like a dance, it brings unity and harmony out of separation."
~~~
Of course, all this was a little lost on the Verdurian and Ismaîn court composers of the 34th and 35th centuries. On occasional travels south (well, at least as far as Cerei — though a few made trips into Xurno proper), adventure-seeking composers from Eretald heard a type of music that was consistently keeping the listener on their toes with the regular appearance of irregular rhythms, and found it all rather good to tap one's feet to. Romantic notions of esoteric significance only heightened the appeal. Half amusing, half horrifying the Xurnese Salons, courtly ballrooms across Eretald started to ring with imitation dances, played by ensembles complete with the exotic-sounding
isaur itu 'sharp/striking division'* — a pitched percussion section reserved in the most traditional Xurnese music for the depiction of the moment of martydom during the various
pucigesešes.
The jaunty 3,3,2 section became such a craze that before long no court dance could be without it in Verduria, Ismahi or Érenat. It was said to produce ecstasy and exhilaration in the dancer and was frowned upon by the conservative-minded even as it swept the continent. Its appearance revolutionised Verdurian dancing, suddenly producing twin fascinations for stark contrast and for the irregular. Practically every
beom employed a composer to write a
žažarka řohuepë better than their neighbour's, and dance forms with different irregular sections began to proliferate - always contrasted with the predictable 4/4 section, to keep the soul rooted.
In some ways, the
žažarka řohuepë fad resembles the spread of the waltz in 18th century Europe. After the craze has died down in courtly circles, the form slips into popular folk music, where it will remain common, until unintentionally helping along the development of jazz-like ensemble dance music in the 36th-37th centuries: since crowds of dancers in informal settings were keen for popular dances to continue, musicians customarily improvised over repetitions to reduce monotony, and improvisation became increasingly common.
The Patreon video features a slow-fast-slow, regular-irregular-regular example, which is the most common variety (you don't get to hear the slow section again, though). You can also hear a slow-fast-slow, irregular-regular-irregular example
here, a more ponderous piece by an Ismaîn composer working in Žésifo... The craze certainly led to upward social mobility for the musically-minded. That this piece has a very different mood demonstrates that this was a versatile form capable of suggesting a wide range of emotion to the Verdurian ear.
*Sorry for under-researched grammar, please correct; also, better term welcome!
