misirlou

[jeffshuniak]

misirlou

I found the melody minus chords. no mandolin with me.
so is this, the tonic up a 1/2 step progression
or is it tonic- down whole step minor chord?

E and F

or

E and dm

or both? being they are relatives

[vkioulaphides]

Which song exactly do you have in mind, Jeff? The "Egyptian Girl/Woman", as the title indicates, does not ring a bell with me...

I suspect Phrygian mode, right? Half-step above the tonic, serving as "upper leading tone" to the tonic...

But I am speaking of a hypothetical song, so I can' t say more on this. Can you post something in jpeg?

[jeffshuniak]

I can email it. posting I have problems with pics and links. me dumb.

[Dolamon]

Close Victor ... that tune is in a double harmonic scale. Which is what they are now calling one of the classic taxima. I think I may have sent you an orchestrated version of it - which was pretty strange come to think of it.

[Dolamon]

Double Harmonic - this scale is made up of Root, b2, 3, 4, 5, b6, 7. Some of the chords which "work" in the key of E are: E, F, Fm, Ab, Abm, A. There are other color chords which work but this isn't technically complicated music - it is based on folk idioms from middle eastern tradition and the sound and texture is really driven by the rhythm.

It absolutely amazes me what a terrific, satisfying resolve you can get from such a limited pallette.

Victor - correct me if I'm too far off base.

[vkioulaphides]

"Double harmonic" is as good a term as I, too, can think of. The traditional name of this mode in the rebetiko is Hijazkiar, from the two Hijaz tetrachords that comprise it, i.e. half-step — augmented second — half-step (then a whole-step break, then ditto from the dominant up).

But I still don't recall the tune; if you sent it to me, Dion, I am sure I have it... SOMEwhere... #

[mandocrucian]

But I still don't recall the tune;

The surf guitar rendition by Dick Dale (mid 60's) was used as the theme for the movie Pulp Fiction.

[jeffshuniak]

for all to see

[vkioulaphides]

Capito. In answer, then, to your original question:

[QUOTE]"so is this, the tonic up a 1/2 step progression or is it tonic- down whole step minor chord?"

The tonic is (obviously) E. The "upper leading-tone", as in all such "Phrygian cadences", is F. The chord with which the upper leading-tone is harmonized is the subtonic minor, in this case D minor. Thus, in the course of the cadence, the E is approached bilaterally in descant: F down to E, D up to E.

I hope I have understood your question correctly and answered in sufficiently.

[jeffshuniak]

actually, my dad just came thru with the fake book. his has sections in the back, italian, greek, hawaiian, spanish. pretty neat, all the standards in the front. misirlou is in D this time. also, has ta matia, uska dara (turk?), sirtos, katinaki, myptia, evangelina,she na nai nai or chefte tel,another sirto, something in greek alph. I only copied a couple of italian tunes, the book is in very poor shape..

[Oren]

In the "Vancouver International Folk Dancers Music Book, Volume 2", the melody is called "Miserlou," it's written in G Minor, and the chords for the basic section are as follows:

:/D #/ #Eb7/D #/ #/:
/Gm #/ #/D # / #/
/Cm #/ #/D # / #/
/Gm #/ #/F # / #/
/Eb #/Eb7 #/D # / #/
/Cm #/ #/D #/ #/
/Cm #/ #/D #/ #/

I hope you can follow my "lead sheet." There are four beats to each measure. The first line repeats. In measure 2, the Eb7 comes on beat 3. All other chord changes come on beat 1. The first note of the melody is a "D."

Oren

[Oren]

Most international folk dance musicians play the tune in G Minor, and that's why I didn't transpose it to A Minor. I sometimes do fingerpick the tune on guitar in A Minor as it is written out above because that is a much more guitar-friendly key.

However, if you get into a folk dance jam somewhere, don't be surprised if they're playing "Miserlu" in G Minor.

Oren

[jeffshuniak]

thanks, I got a lead sheet for it now, it doesnt show how to play the 4/4
dick dale plays it with a 1, 2+, 3, 4+ beat underneath. I suppose it doesnt really matter too much, but would be nice to know. now I am playing with a 1-a, 2+, 3-a,4+ the first time, then I go into the 1, 2+ ect. for the repeat.
maybe I will start switching it up thru the first and second endings. I am thinking of stuffing it in the middle of another tune.

[Oren]

I wish I knew some cool way to notate music and time on the "qwerty" keyboard--anyone know of some way to do it? Anyway, "Miserlou" has a particular line dance that is done to it in recreational folk dance groups, and the rhythm is basically as follows:

/1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &/
#d d # #d #d # #d

i.e. an 1/8 note beat, a 1/4 note beat, an 1/8 note beat, and two 1/4 note beats--for the chord instrument.

The drum rhythm:

/1 & #2 & 3 & 4 &/
#d dd d d d d d

i.e. an 1/8th, 2 1/16ths, 4 1/8ths, 1 1/4.

A 1/4 note=126.

Source: Vancouver International Folk Dancers Music Book, Volume 2.

I hope this clarifies it somewhat.

Oren

PS: Looking at the "post preview" I'm not sure I've got the "d's" lined exactly under the "#'s" and the "&'s", but maybe you can figure it out.

[jeffshuniak]

odd, my version my dad got from his friend is in D MAJOR. I am bumping it up to E major so I can do the bridge in the first octave (mandolin first octave:D ) at least. the first version of this I found was in E, posted above, but what I posted is all I found... the second , the best part, missing!
the bridge seems kinda weak going from the d string anywhere, I like coming at it from the A on the G string. more close to the surf rock version I know. I know thats silly but I right now I am maybe playing 30somthing greek songs , most of them as verbatim as I can interepret them. ( sometimes some embelishment or improv on repeats) so its fun to goof around with one, plus its kinda recognizable for anyone my parents age, assuming they have ever heard the ventures or the beach boys or dick dale or any kinda oldies band that covers this.

[Oren]

Jeff--is your version in "D major" similar to the one that I posted, and that I called "G minor"? Similar chords?

Oren