06.10.08
Manchu Shaman Reincarnated as Brit Pop Star?
Sometimes you just can’t explain things.
I have a friend who likes to send me YouTube links of bands, and sometimes I send some back. I had been trying to think of songs that I liked when I was growing up. Somehow, David Essex’s 1973 hit Rock On came into my mind, so on April 9th of this year, I sent it to him, wondering if he liked it too. It’s really a one-of-a-kind thing. The drums are sparse with no snare or cymbals — only hi-hat, toms and bass drum, and the hi-hat and some of the drums have a single echo (not a repeating echo), as strong as the original signal, slapping back one sixteenth note later. The bass is very unusual as well, being stronger than the drums and having a very muddy sound. It too has the same echo on it. There is no guitar at all, which may be the strangest thing about the whole song; pop songs of that time were dominated by guitars. The song’s production is extremely complex, with a wide variety of vocal and percussive effects, and a striking string ensemble “solo” featuring glissandi. It left a big impression on me as a child. I guess I was seven or eight years old when I first heard it.
Yes, this does in fact have something to do with Manchu. Keep reading.
If you’ve been following this blog, you know that I took a trip to the Manchu village of Wulajie, and recorded a man singing a ritual chant. If not, please read the post and listen to the chant at the end of the post. April 15th is the day I went. I had never met the man before, nor heard that chant.
A few weeks later, after both songs had been stewing in my head for a while (that’s what happens in composer’s minds — we don’t simply listen to music; if it’s good, we mentally record it, and then it stews in our brains), I realized that they were practically the same.
To show you this, I used a wonderful piece of free software called Audacity to put them together. I had to drop the key of the chant down a 4th, and slow the tempo down to match Rock On. Since the Manchu man sang only one stanza of the chant, I chose one stanza from Rock On and put the two recordings together.
Here’s the Manchu man’s stanza:
And David Essex’s stanza:
And both of them together:
The Manchu chant was written probably hundreds of years ago here in Northeast China, and quite possibly has not been recorded anywhere on tape or film. The chances of David Essex coming in contact with this chant are zero; he grew up in England. Even given the fact that most music tends to gravitate toward 4/4 time in four measure phrases, as these two pieces do, randomly coming up with two four measure phrases from different pieces of music that can simply be laid on top of one another is very rare.
If I had heard the chant first, and it had reminded me of Rock On, that would be understandable. But I dug up Rock On a week before I went to Wulajie. That’s just downright spooky.
Oded Fried-Gaon said,
June 12, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Hmmmmm, i dunno!
Randy, you are usually right on when it comes to picking out musical phrases and nuances in production. And you’ve an amazing ear for pitch. But i don’t see the absolute similarity here. They resemble one another - particularly the first part - but then it sort of becomes vague.
I commend you, applaud you, in attempting this argument, but can’t agree.
Both songs, respectively, are melodic and enjoyable, and i appreciate your intoducing me to them (the Essex version i already know from my own childhood!).
Terry said,
June 13, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Randy, I just discovered this wonderful blog and thank you for it. I do see the similarity and enjoyed your putting them together and thank you too for bringing back memories of David Essex.
Randy Alexander said,
June 25, 2008 at 11:11 pm
@Oded: of course not an absolute similarity, but a striking one to my ears. Actually, what struck me the most was how they both end the same way, with a rest on the 3rd and 4th beats of the last measure.