Michael Blake
TOMBEAU DE MOERANE for Soprano Birbyne & Tape
Bardic Edition BDE1229
Born in Lesotho in 1904, Michael Mosoeu Moerane was one of the foremost composers working in South Africa from the 1930s till his death in 1980. Though mostly disregarded by the white academic composer community, he has had a far-reaching influence on subsequent generations of young black composers in South Africa.
Tombeau de Moerane takes DNA samples from three of his most-loved choral pieces, and synthesises them into a new music, while retaining essential elements of his musical language. A composer very much ahead of his time, he may well have composed music like this himself, had circumstances in apartheid South Africa allowed it.
Tombeau de Moerane was composed at the request of Darius Klisys. The tape was created in August 2011 in the Alpha Studio, Visby, Sweden.
The work was recorded by Darius Klisys for the MBED label in 2013. The first concert performance of the clarinet version was given at the ISCM World Music Days in Ljubljana on 29 September, 2015 by Valentina Strucelj (clarinet) and Neven Smolcic (sound diffusion). The first concert performance of the original birbyne version was given at the online Bowed Electrons Festival in Cape Town on 6 December, 2020 by Darius Klisys.
The tape part can be downloaded from the composer’s website: www.michaelblake.co.za
Duration 13½ minutes
Tombeau de Moerane takes DNA samples from three of his most-loved choral pieces, and synthesises them into a new music, while retaining essential elements of his musical language. A composer very much ahead of his time, he may well have composed music like this himself, had circumstances in apartheid South Africa allowed it.
Tombeau de Moerane was composed at the request of Darius Klisys. The tape was created in August 2011 in the Alpha Studio, Visby, Sweden.
The work was recorded by Darius Klisys for the MBED label in 2013. The first concert performance of the clarinet version was given at the ISCM World Music Days in Ljubljana on 29 September, 2015 by Valentina Strucelj (clarinet) and Neven Smolcic (sound diffusion). The first concert performance of the original birbyne version was given at the online Bowed Electrons Festival in Cape Town on 6 December, 2020 by Darius Klisys.
The tape part can be downloaded from the composer’s website: www.michaelblake.co.za
Duration 13½ minutes
