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Sofdu Unga - This is my slightly jazz-bluesy take on a trad lullaby which dates back more than a hundred years. And I must tell you right of, our trad songs of old are not sugary-sweet and filled with love & pink fluffy clouds, not even the lullabies! This one was used in a play early in the 1900's. The play was, in turn, based on the very real lives of one of our most known outlaws, Eyvindur, and Halla his girlfriend, who fled from captivity and roamed the harsh nature of our country, from ashes of erupted mountains to freezing blocks of glaciers... but at a terrible cost. You see, before he was outlawed, the couple had had a child, which they kept with them on their flight (parents of young children may want to stop reading here). So the scene from the play where this lullaby is used, is where they're in grave danger of getting caught and Eyvindur is considering parting from his loved ones for they slow him down. In a terrifying moment of desperation, facing the possibility of losing her lover & protector, Halla sits herself and her infant down near a waterfall and sings this lullaby to her child, (in my crude non-rhyming translation): Sleep, my sweetest, dearest young.
Hear, the rain is weeping.
Mommy keeps your trinkets close,
gnawed sheep bones and box of stone.
We shall not stay awake when nights are falling.
There is much the darkness knows,
heavy thoughts within me.
Oft I saw the black sands blow,
burn the greenest grass of old.
From cracks of the ice, I hear the dead ones screaming.
Sleep, my angel, sleep so tight.
Late shall be your morning.
Misery would be your life,
fast the dimming days go nigh.
And all man can do is love and lose with mourning.And with that, the baby sleeping at last, the young woman rises - and drops her child into the waterfall, never to look back...
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!
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BBox 2022 Audiophile, Mac Pro Intel, OSX 10.6.8, 800x600 (TV VGA)
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Fantastic! Love the drama.
Was waiting for the vocal that never came.
The story is wonderfully goth.
Like a gory comic. Cheers.
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Hey Eddie, I enjoyed listening to the music. For the life of me, though, I can't hear it as a lullaby. It's beyond my ability to imagine. Those words you translated sound pretty scary! But then I suppose, a baby and cradle falling from the tops of trees is just about as gruesome. I guess the motto is that it pays to be resilient if you're a baby. This is the first Icelandic song I've ever heard  Thank you for that. All the best, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Nice arrangement and mix. I enjoyed my listen and reading the back story of the lullaby origins.
Charlie
BIAB 2026:RB 2026, Latest builds: Dell Optiplex 7040 Desktop; Windows-10-64 bit, Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz CPU and 16 GB Ram Memory.
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I can certainly hear tension within the arrangement as things don't quite resolve as I expect them to.
The music conveys the conflicts you describe in the story. Definitely feels old world to me.
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Was waiting for the vocal that never came. yeah well, sorry about that. I'm quite the "Instrumental artist" around here, if you didn't get the memo, heh  If it's any consolation, there's a plethora of 'traditional' vocal renditions to be found of this piece on youtube. I highly recommend this one here!
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!
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BBox 2022 Audiophile, Mac Pro Intel, OSX 10.6.8, 800x600 (TV VGA)
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Lovely and sad video! Enjoyed it. Cheers.
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Hi Eddie,
This is beautiful! Haunting too.
which realtracks did you use?
Rob & Anne-Marie
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This is beautiful! Haunting too.
which realtracks did you use? Ah yes, the 'technicalities', glad you reminded me! I deliberately omitted all that stuff from the initial post so it wouldn't detract from the concept and story of the song, for added effect if you will. Here are the fundamentals, from Memo: Style is _JBSLBPD.STY
RealTracks in song: ~~732:Bass, Acoustic, Jazz Ballad Sw 060
RealTracks in style: ~2314:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm JazzSwingSlowKenny Sw 085
RealTracks in song: ~1984:Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm EZListening Sw 085
RealDrums: RealDrums in Style: JazzSwingLewis^01For those who don't know the style, I swapped the bass and added an EZ guitar Rt. The accordion tracks (melody & comping) is yours truly. But the biggest credit goes to the brilliance that is Karsten Chikuri on his EWI (Electric Wind Instrument), who helped me with that solo part (in one take, would you believe!). I had been using the "Rocket project" via Cubase a good few years back (allowed cubase users to 'jam' and exchange music together in real-time via net), and that's where we collaborated. I had submitted this arrangement to the pool there in all-midi and he asked about this song. Then once I had told him the story, he thought he might have ideas for a solo - and this is what he came up with. I haven't changed a single note! I did play around with trying out a number of 'the real deal' of RT soloists, but kept coming back to this original. There's something just so fundamentally haunting about it, something that interprets, rather than merely does all the 'right notes', if that makes sense (I admit I actually lumped up the first time I heard it howl those high notes into the stratosphere, and still do).
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!
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BBox 2022 Audiophile, Mac Pro Intel, OSX 10.6.8, 800x600 (TV VGA)
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Hey Eddie,
I enjoyed listening to the music. For the life of me, though, I can't hear it as a lullaby. Well, good!  It's like I said, our lullabies aren't like any you've heard, that was my whole point. Glad you liked it still This is the first Icelandic song I've ever heard Thank you for that. My pleasure, but you're technically wrong about that - I happen to know for a fact you've heard one of mine before, and I'm Icelandic!
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!
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BBox 2022 Audiophile, Mac Pro Intel, OSX 10.6.8, 800x600 (TV VGA)
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I can certainly hear tension within the arrangement as things don't quite resolve as I expect them to.
The music conveys the conflicts you describe in the story. Definitely feels old world to me. yup, I agree. I too, as Richmac, expected a vocal. An interesting listen Alyn
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My pleasure, but you're technically wrong about that - I happen to know for a fact you've heard one of mine before, and I'm Icelandic! That's true!!! In my head I don't associate jazz with Iceland. I'll have to update my thinking to incorporate Viking jazz All the best, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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In my head I don't associate jazz with Iceland. I'll have to update my thinking to incorporate Viking jazz No need to restrict yourself that much, for I was thinking of my last song there, which most certainly wasn't jazz! But it's kinda neat how just being on this forum expands our musical horizon regardless 
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!
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BBox 2022 Audiophile, Mac Pro Intel, OSX 10.6.8, 800x600 (TV VGA)
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And now, thanks to the new release of BBox for Mac (at long last!), this track is on YOUTUBE!
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!
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BBox 2022 Audiophile, Mac Pro Intel, OSX 10.6.8, 800x600 (TV VGA)
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Eddie,
Thanks for sharing the back story and the tune. While it is a smooth sounding song, it also sounds sad and regretful so the sound matches the story. Very interesting solo.
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Thanks for sharing the back story and the tune. While it is a smooth sounding song, it also sounds sad and regretful so the sound matches the story. Very interesting solo. The story to me was just too integral part of the whole arrangement, so this time around I felt it had to be included. As for the "sound matches the story" - what greater compliment can one ask for in cases like this (for that was the intended goal), thank you!
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!
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BBox 2022 Audiophile, Mac Pro Intel, OSX 10.6.8, 800x600 (TV VGA)
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