The Party

In The Party I imagine the sounds of a kind of musical party. Upon entrance, solemn expectations (part 1). Dance steps are being made, little clusters of dancers form and dissolve (parts 2 and 4). A ceremonial refrain (solemn again) calls for everybody’s attention, but eventually gets lost in a current (a torrent even) of rhythmic movement (parts 3 and 5). Besides the rhythms of various dances, we hear manyfold voices calling for our attention, in tongues that seem to derive from a plethora of non-European folk musics. Even though it concerns an ‘imaginary folklore’ (to speak with Bartók), it definitely points to Africa and the Caribbean, where, through popular musics, many a European style is rooted. The piece was written for the Open Dutch Recorder Days in Utrecht in 1992 and recorded by La Fontegara Amsterdam and Amsterdam Loekie Stardust on the cd Time and Time Again.