RAGA KRAYANG

August 4, 2022  by Stefano Palleni

CONTEMPORARY RAGA #3: KRAYANG

The first song drawn from the Contemporary Raga open collection that I released here in the studio version is Krayang, while the previous two were recorded live in two videos. Krayang - heron in Thai language - is a pensive and melancholy composition that recalls the advent of the rainy season in Southeast Asia, full of lush and mysterious atmospheres. 

I developed this melody out of an early fragment that came to my mind in Thailand in 2017, when I was looking out the window and saw a marsh bird standing still on one leg in the middle of the paddy field. The morning mist hovering over the country made the scene look like a dream. The constant presence of water brought by the arrival of the monsoon, along with the colors and the changes in the rhythms of daily life, has no equivalent in Europe but can vaguely recall Autumn.

This piece includes harmonic and melodic elements typical of traditional Javanese music with its elusive scales and ambiguous tuning that have no equal in Western music and are therefore unique. For the occasion Indonesian violinist Kelik Desta Rahmanto joined the session contributing with his warm sound and intense interpretation to the successful outcome of this recording. I later added the alto saxophone, a double bass pedal with harmonics effect and some samples of the rain I caught in the porch the very day of the session. This continues in the track of an approach that integrates nature as a structural part of the music and not just as an ornament.

I decided to arrange this particular version in order to include it in my music therapy project at Malang State University, since I consider it apt for inducing a state of relaxation fit for meditation, deep sleep and the elaboration of mourning. As a composition within the Contemporary Raga repertoire, it fits didactic purposes as well, so I will include it in the new method I am writing which is aimed at the improvement of musical creativity, which will be published later. In the future I will also make a video version of this song, in the meantime, good listening!