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Produced by Eddie Guthman and Les Guthman
Songs 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9 recorded by Richard Fowle at Audio International,
Ojai, California
Songs 7& 10 recorded by Thomas Dawson at Dawson & Company Recording.
Cover Photography: Karen Guthman
Portrait Photography: Ron Seba
Design and Art Direction: Thomas Dawson
This recording
began as a soundtrack for several documentaries produced by Outside
Television that were broadcast in 1997 through 1999. I selected my
favorite cuts, edited a rough tape, and began to conceive and write
an album with the cittern as the centerpiece.
The cittern, like the guitar
and mandolin, is a descendant of the ancient Arab lute known as the
oud. The oud was introduced into Europe by the Moors during their
conquest and occupation of Spain in the Middle Ages. Exactly when
it was introduced into other parts of medieval Europe is less certain,
though it is possible the Moors brought the oud with them when they
invaded Sicily in the 8th century. By the end of the 10th century,
the Crusaders carried the instrument back with them to other parts
of Europe where it achieved great popularity during the Renaissance.
I first fell in love with the
warm sound of the cittern while listening to Irish music and seeing
John McCusker play it as a member of the Battlefield Band. The cittern,
sometimes called the octave mandolin, has five courser of strings
that are doubled (ten strings in all). My cittern was made in Scotland.
For this recording it was tuned either C# F# C# F# C# or DADAD. The
scale I use is known in Indian music as bhairavi and in Western music
as phrygian mode.
The tingklet, which I play on
"Bringing in Kaya" is a bamboo xylophone from Bali. It is struck with
mallets made of bamboo and rubber from old motorcycle tires. It is
tuned in a pentatonic scale and has eleven different tones with the
shortest being eight inches in length and the longest being two feet.
Traditionally, two tingklets are played together, each one playing
a separate but complementary part, or in a larger bamboo orchestra
called Jegog.
My acoustic bass was made in
1890 by the Djuzak family in what is now the Czech Republic. I play
a Wal fretless bass, an Ibanez mandolin, an Alverez acoustic guitar
and a Fender Telecaster electric guitar. |
Special Thanks:
To my wife Karen and daughter Roxann for your love and support…
To my brother Les for inspiring this recording…to Thomas Dawson,
You rule!…To Barb Dawson for your incredible hospitality and kindness…to
my father Edwin for always believing in my creativity…to Hans
and Linnie Sternik for being the gracious people that you are…to
Andro and Denzyl for your friendship…to Kenny Dixon
for all that you have taught me…to Aaron, Barton, Coolie and Richard
for your creative musical input.
All Compositions by Eddie Guthman
© 1999 Acoustic Medicine Productions
All Rights Reserved
Published by Acoustic Medicine Productions (BMI)
PO Box 1082
Ojai, California 93024
www.acousticmusic.com
email: eddiekaren@juno.com
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