Guitar World

 Koyunbaba bay in Turkey, noted for it’s beauty and it’s wild weather patterns… It is also the title of a holy man, and a solo guitar work, a modern classic, written by an Italian guitarist Carlo Domeniconi, who lived for some years in Turkey, with a keen folklore interest.

          Koyunbaba by Domeniconi

In my experience, this four movement work is one of the most talked about works in the modern guitar repertoire. Whilst a few dismiss it as a “circus piece”, reliant on it’s unconventional tuning and “tricks” for effect,  others are enchanted by it’s exotic beauty and great power. But what exactly is the piece all about?

Koyunbaba by translation means “Sheep Father” or Shepherd. The late John Duarte wrote of the work having two concepts…The natural beauty and climate of the region,  and instruments emanating from there, in this case, the Turkish national instrument, the Saz. The second concept is the Sheperd himself, and his wise words and folkloric tales, who has the wisdom, and the time, to appreciate the wondrous  beauty and awesome power of nature.

In this way, Domeniconi presents the portrait of the Koyunbaba offering a prayer for the safe delivery of his flock.

         Skodatura

A key feature is the retuning of the guitar, Skodatura. The tuning is a C# Minor chord when played open strings, enabling different harmonic possibilities. From the bottom string upwards;

6th= C#  5th=G#   4th= C#    3rd= G#    2nd=C#   1st= E.

Probably no other piece in the repertoire has such a radical retuning.

After the opening movement, during which the main theme is established, beautifully capturing a world of sparkling sunshine, a theme which haunts the whole work in different disguises, the second movement is a short series of semi quaver patterns, interspersed by improvised harmonic featured contrasts. It is then that the thrid movement, Cantabile, comes into play…

Cantabile extract

The serenity of the opening part of this movement gradually gives way to arpeggio’s of increasing tempo and intensity, reaching a climax, before dying down, until the final movement Presto, where the guitar belts out notes like hail pellets, before the final repeat of the main theme brings the work to a close.

        Technical Factors

According to Domeniconi, too many guitarists simply play the notes on the paper, without feeling the need to improvise, for which the piece gives great scope. Myself, this particular passage in the Presto  has always given me the most trouble;

These bars, which are repeated, rely on a very high speed to be really effective, andI find it so easy to fluff the rhythm. If anyone has a tip on playing this movement at high speed, I’d like to hear from you

There have been many fine recordings and performances of the work, notably, John Williams, Stein Erik Olsen, William Kanengiser, Li Jie…My personal prefrence is Daniel Bolshoy, who’s video of the work, taken from his DVD recital  Concert In The Desert will be uploading, by permission, in my next post…

Top image Koyunbaba Bay  by ByteBak of flickr.

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