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Video: new exotica from Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica Mini + percussion talk

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MH
Mr. Ho posted on Thu, Apr 8, 2010 9:30 PM

Low-quality recording (hey that's not what I meant!) of my exotica group doing a new composition entitled Phoenix, Goodbye (first performance with this quartet last week in NYC). Hope you enjoy it! It's a bit more "outside" the genre than most of the other new tunes (and classics) that we do, but given it's focus on percussion and flute, I think it's safe from the exotica police :wink:

Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvOYR5pUXzM

For those of you who are curious on some background; there is a large body of old percussion instruments and styles from other parts of the world not found in the traditional exotica repertoire. So, being a percussionist, I'm exploring a lot of that area with my new group - for example, frame drums (a large body of many different drums and hand techniques) are missing from many old recordings. There was definitely a focus on the typical instruments you'd see in the states: those being instruments from countries close to the USA (caribbean , american, and some hawaiian stuff). Anyhow, while I primarily play vibraphone in this group, I am also doing a lot with various tambourines from around the world including pandeiro (my favorite instrument, the brazilian tambourine!), riq (arabic tambouribe), and the tammorra (italian massive tambourine) and other instruments like cajon - all of which I play frequently in my other ensembles, which is partly why they've made their ways into the Orchestrotica Mini. We're also not using drumset which has never been my favorite sound (exception: swing tunes) as the cajon works beautifully as a "drumset in a box." I'm also fortunate to have 3 pianists in the group and a wonderful percussionist who doubles on vibraphone as you will see in this video (Noriko Terada).

Enjoy!

Mr. Ho

p.s. No offense intended towards the bongos, conga, and other typical exotica instruments. The bongos are not going anywhere and are in full force in the Orchestrotica Mini. I just finished a new tune this evening entitled, "Would you like bongos with your fugue?" and yes, I did attempt to write a fugue in the middle of an exotica piece :wink:

Very Cool Mr. Ho, I love that you're not using the usually obligatory drum kit!

MH

Just an FYI I posted a new MP3 for download from a recent rehearsal with the Orchestrotica Mini. Cal Tjader's Colorado Waltz - good 6/8 latin jazz feel and one of my favorite vibe players. Might record this one on the album!

Download it at http://orchestrotica.com/exotica.cfm

cheers!

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