The Dead Man's Rhapsody with Monty

Here is one of the songs 'The Dead Man's Rhapsody' in the new project I've been working on which I've called 'Nomads of Elysium'. It is a loop pedal improvisation performance featuring sung poetry written by myself.

The music is inspired by Turkish, Macedonian and Cretan traditional musics from my travels through Eastern Europe and Turkey as a street musician and also from participating in and playing music for a whirling dervish sema which lasted 114 days in Termal in Turkey.

The drum I use is a traditional frame drum called a Bendir and the violin like instrument I play in my lap is a traditional instrument called a klasik kemence or a politiki lyra - both instruments are native to Eastern Europe and Turkey.

You can catch me playing live currently on the streets of Fremantle, Western Australia. I will soon be performing with the mysterious dancer Yema de la Maya.

Here are the lyrics - taken from my mornings of free-writing with a cup of Turkish coffee:

You will live forever
Are you ready for eternity?
You will die tomorrow
Are you ready to be forgotten?
Will you find a compromise
a stasis with nature
a half-way between identity

Join another cult of convenient amnesia
Blind yourself from reason
with collective belief

The demons in your suitcase, are there
waiting for payment
with the gold of your awareness

The beast is at the door
Moaning, biding its time
Stomping, writhing, laughing and playing

Breathe little child breathe
the future is coming oh oh
Breathe little child breathe
The past has gone again
Here we are at the threshold of oblivion

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