While working on the project mentioned earlier on the
pages of my Journal, I wanted to
know about the origins of the
word "tribute", used so
frequently today.
According to the page on Wikipedia, the word "tributum" (Latin. Tributum) was originally used to designate a special levy in ancient Rome, which
the properties of citizens and
provincial lands (as part of the public property (ager publicus)) were subject to.
Most of these charges were used for military purposes, and if, during the next war, the enemies were defeated,
they had to cover all the military
expenses, out of which citizens received their tributum back. Subsequently,
the very essence of tributum and meaning of the word itself changed, but this is not the topic of our conversation today.
So what is a "tribute" in terms of music? “This is when musicians gather together and record their own versions of songs of some artist, which are then published in the form of a music album", many would reply.
The longer we live, the older and "more classic" becomes the music on which many generations grew up and new musicians were brought upon; it dissolves in our minds and nature, becoming an integral part of ours, blurring the lines between the present and the past. Music written many years ago is being played and replayed over and over again, sometimes by surprising line-ups and in unique arrangements, and it is not surprising that the works of Mozart or Liszt can be played during the same concert, by the same team on the same scene as those of Lennon or Blackmore. Young musicians want to play classics, and it's good!
However, if there is "good", it is always possible to find something "bad" hanging around. To anticipate the question "what is wrong with us playing the classics?" I would like to say: not moving forward. In a way, the word "classic" goes side by side with the word "past", so how can one go forward when he is constantly dwelling on the past? Even if the reader hasn’t yet formed this question in mind, I would say, "Yes, we must go forward!" "What about you? Are you going forward?", you may ask me. "Time will show, but for now I need to pay my tributum, which, in the event of a successful battle, will get back to me."
The idea of the tribute project, which is now in its sixth month of pregnancy (the duration of which has a chance to coincide with that of human) was born during another attempt to direct strengths and creative abilities of the members of one of the social network groups in order to repeat what was done in mid-90s, with the difference that this project will be implemented solely by the participants of one group, and the only basis for their work is to be their enthusiasm. No promises, no obligations, no expectations of any commercial benefits (it is supposed that the result will be available for free download). It will be a Labour of Love[1], a tribute, and a gift for.... for birthday, maybe, or it could be for Christmas. We'll see.
The readers of my Journal already know what artist I am talking about, especially since I participate in this tribute project myself (oh, what a narrow-minded person I am!). From the very start of this work I already knew who the person I had to ask for help was. I needed an experiences musician, with decent musical luggage and specific musical flair. Moreover, it was necessary for him/her to know what the studio work is about. Finally, s/he had to be able to play drums. From this perspective, it would not be surprising to meet me sitting on the bench in front of the State Philharmonic Hall together with Ashot Korganyan.
Having spent two hours of that spring evening in discussion, we parted.
Shortly after, the idea of involvement of another musician
established. It was due to the violin in the song proposed by Ashot. At first, I was skeptical about this idea, because it seemed impossible to me.
However, Ashot insisted, so we gathered together for
one single rehearsal on one day in May. One
hour passed by almost instantly, but it was enough for me to confidently
say "Yes!" My question "and what about violin?" received
Ashot’s calm reply: "Rima can listen to the songs and prepare the music sheets ". That
is how Rima Mirzoyan appeared in our
part of the project.
Soon, the list of the songs to be recorded in the
studio was formed. It
took several weeks to reduce the number
of candidates from a dozen to
four. I have to say that for
the tribute only one song (maximum - two songs)
was required. Initially, we had just a few
performers to go with the project, so it would be wise to have one reserve
track to be able to provide a full-length album in terms of duration. Today, the number of possible performers increased to sixteen, and there is the prospect of a "double" album (and maybe the Volume Two of the project). However, I have already been nurturing a new idea, the implementation of which is
necessary for me to make one step forward: to make my own tribute
album.
How can you recreate what has already been created, and created brilliantly? The
task is very difficult, but at
the same time it is quite interesting. As it was
mentioned above, recording a tribute is not a big surprise at all nowadays. Tribute songs
and entire albums are being regularly devoted to many significant groups. They are all different, just
like are the approaches used for their
creation. Let’s consider some of
them in the list below, which does not claim to be
complete in any way.
- Just to replay a song, to play it "as is" is one of the approaches. It is less attractive to me, for it lacks the aspect of creation. However, it clearly demonstrates the skills and abilities to recreate what was heard. It's like a qualification in sports.
- To play a song in your own way, or to play it "as is" with addition of something different, something special, listening to what will make people say "your version" of this or that song.
- To absorb a song so deeply that you start playing something that is not in the original. "Sorry, I can do nothing about it, I just hear it that way", the artist would justify himself in this case.
- Change the song so that the listener is shocked and does not accept your performance at all.
Of course, other approaches are possible,
but you always have to leave the essence of the song, something
that is important and which does not contradict with the spirit of the original, so to speak.
I have listened to only two performers from the whole list so
far. They turned out to be so
good that now I am dying to listen to the rest. However, it will require some time to make the project alive, and, in my turn, I need to spend this
time wisely. One of the activities
I am going to dedicate this period of
time to is understanding the concept of my personal
tribute album, which was mentioned above.
What does it going to contain and how do I see the process of its creation? Of course, it will include all the
songs already recorded in the period
of preparation for my portion of the team tribute project. A few more songs will
be added as well. Which songs exactly will be recorded is yet unknown
even to me, although there are obvious
candidates. Such choice became apparent because the essence of the choice is clear
to me, and the choice is well-grounded. The process of creation, I think, will
not differ from how we prepared
the first group of songs: homework, sleepless night hours in the studio, the final mix. Just two lines…. so easy to write them but difficult to implement. However, this is what must be done.
I will be covering the working process of both the team tribute and my
personal one. In the meantime, I need to
think about the implementation of another creative idea that has only an
indirect relationship with the music.
