No artwork
Get Flash to see this player.
Description
Riu Riu is my take on the 16th century Spanish Villancico. It's a carol, and I wanted to get it out before Christmas, but there was a lot of tweaking to be done on it. It was pencilled in note for note in Harmony Assistant.
Leave a Comment
You must be registered and logged-in to comment.
Lyrics
There are lyrics in the original, but not in this version. However, for those who are interested, the spanish lyrics translate to something like this:
'Riu, riu, chiu' cried the shepherds by the riverside.
God kept the wolf [Satan] away from our lamb [the Virgin Mary].
The raging wolf wanted to bite her,
but the more powerful God knew how to protect her.
He wanted to make her incapable of sin,
and this Virgin did not even have original sin.
He who is born is a great King,
Christ the Patriarch clothed in human flesh.
He has redeemd us by making himself a child:
Although he is immortal, he made himself mortal.
Many prophesies have foretold it;
And in our time we have seen it fulfilled.
We see God in human form here on earth,
and man raised to heaven because God loved him.
Since now we have our hearts' desire,
let us all go together bearing gifts;
we shall all submit our will to him,
because he came to make himself equal with man.
'Riu, riu, chiu' cried the shepherds by the riverside.
God kept the wolf [Satan] away from our lamb [the Virgin Mary].
The raging wolf wanted to bite her,
but the more powerful God knew how to protect her.
He wanted to make her incapable of sin,
and this Virgin did not even have original sin.
He who is born is a great King,
Christ the Patriarch clothed in human flesh.
He has redeemd us by making himself a child:
Although he is immortal, he made himself mortal.
Many prophesies have foretold it;
And in our time we have seen it fulfilled.
We see God in human form here on earth,
and man raised to heaven because God loved him.
Since now we have our hearts' desire,
let us all go together bearing gifts;
we shall all submit our will to him,
because he came to make himself equal with man.
kristyjo
Right now, I'm into a couple of Basque Carols, and this is in the same vein - strong, yet mystical lyrics, the Spanish rhythms, Minor key, etc. I like this as a sketch that pulls me into the melody and harmonies, but my mind was whirring with the possiblilties of adding percussive effects and ostinati, using some minor-like modal harmonies, and of course, adding a real singer over the top of what you already have there to bring the lyrics to life in the song. You have a nice light mezzo voice that would be very nice for this. I think if you have some time over the summer, you could develop this into a powerful Christmas Carol that people would really enjoy listening to during the Christmas of 2007.