Arranging folk music for jazz performance

Where does one begin? The Big Book of 200 Must Know Macedonian Folk Hits, that’s where. But seriously! There are myriad Balkan music appreciation sites online, with transcriptions of hundreds of tunes - it's an exploration well worth jumping into. Let’s briefly look at two of our member’s approaches.

For Eddie, some of these songs have been played so many times they have become muscle memories. Having deep roots in this music means that he can point the group towards players in the folk and jazz traditions. These artists' work can be used as jumping off points for the group’s own ensemble arrangements, worked on collectively.

For Colin, a Georgia boy (not the one next to the Black Sea) whose coming-of-age soundtrack included Aha and Tears For Fears, the work is a little more complicated! Gathering materials, plunking out melodies through big collections, and finding tunes that spark some sort of recognition of potential..."this could be a real rave-up!"

Regardless of our intrepid arrangers' backgrounds, the tunes need embellishing to bring them into our strange, electric world. Since the tunes are typically sung, their charts tend to be short, simple, and repetitious, comprised of basic melodies and chords.

Many methods can be used to build a folk tune into a more complex piece of music. Using the arrangement for 'Tvoite' as an example, one hears an introductory synth ostinato pulled from the initial melodic statement; new rising and falling chords are written to underscore the ostinato, create a mysterious tension, and drive to the song proper; gradually rising harmonies on each section repeat; and rhythmic and melodic repetition to generate excitement throughout the performance. Voilà! A Balkan-jazz arrangement complete with a few Mannheim mannerisms (à la Stamitz, not the Steamroller - except for the synth!).

Listening to folk musicians play (and particularly sing) these tunes is eye-opening. The performances are loose, the melodies embellished with all sorts of trills and ornamentation, and the Western notion of trying to get somewhere by the end of the tune is not always present or even required. The music exists in suspended time, and won’t be harmed if one attempts to drag it into the noise of the 21st century. We can only hope that we do the song justice while also being true to our musical voices.

Shar Planina. photo by Mile Paševski (via Creative Commons)