'Exotic' sounds

[carrie horgan]

There was a thread on the Banjo Hangout recently about 'Oriental Foxtrots' and it got me thinking about classic banjo tunes that have 'exotic' influences - I'm particularly interested in tunes that have a Klezmer/Eastern European feel (the A part of 'Coon Hollow Capers' is really cool) or a 'Middle-Eastern' harmonic minor scale sound - any suggestions?  

 

[Jody Stecher]

The Afghan Patrol

Yeoman's Call

Jumbo Rag

Zarana

El Contrabandista

Gryphon and Star

[carrie horgan]

Thanks Jody - great tune list.  I have a cd with Olly Oakley playing 'Yeoman's Call' - phenomenal playing.  I've just watched a video of you playing 'Gryphon and Star' - great original composition with an exotic flavour!  I haven't heard of 'The Afghan Patrol' before though (unfortunate title) - I will have to investigate... 

[Jody Stecher]

"The Afghan" is an Ellis piece.  It is similar in parts to Yeoman's Call. Last year I posted a video of the latter here, played on a Zither-banjo, inspired by Oakley's rendition. A "patrol" seems to be a tune form in old classic banjo playing (like March, Cakewalk, Polka, etc). 

carrie horgan said:

Thanks Jody - great tune list.  I have a cd with Olly Oakley playing 'Yeoman's Call' - phenomenal playing.  I've just watched a video of you playing 'Gryphon and Star' - great original composition with an exotic flavour!  I haven't heard of 'The Afghan Patrol' before though (unfortunate title) - I will have to investigate... 

[Jody Stecher]

Maybe it's named for a hound or a blanket. 

carrie horgan said:

I haven't heard of 'The Afghan Patrol' before though (unfortunate title) -

[Trapdoor2]

A "patrol" is a particular dance form. I think it is a minor variation of a 'lancer'...but very generally a type of march...and I think they're all a type of line dancing (like a contra, not a cowboy line dance).

I tried to look up 'Afghan Patrol'...but obviously got too many modern warfare hits, never found a banjo piece.

Is it in one of the Ellis tutors?

edit: a "Lancer" is a variation of the French Quadrille...which is related to American Square Dancing.

From Wikipedia:

The "patrol" format was popular in the second half of the 19th century, and other compositions bear titles such as "Turkish Patrol," "Ethiopian Patrol," "Owl's Patrol," "Welsh Patrol" and "Arab Patrol." The format was intended to represent a military band approaching, passing, and fading into the distance. It typically included an introduction played p or pp, in imitation of bugle calls or drums, then themes played progressively louder until a recapitulation of the first theme(s), gradually dying away and finishing pp, ppp, or even pppp. The original piano version of "American Patrol" follows this scheme.

[Jody Stecher]

I got my copy from the ABF. I was attracted by the title. I'll scan it and post it here. 

Trapdoor2 said:

A "patrol" is a particular dance form. I think it is a minor variation of a 'lancer'...but very generally a type of march...and I think they're all a type of line dancing (like a contra, not a cowboy line dance).

I tried to look up 'Afghan Patrol'...but obviously got too many modern warfare hits, never found a banjo piece.

Is it in one of the Ellis tutors?

[Jody Stecher]

I've posted the dots as a separate "discussion".  For some reason the bar line on the right margin of each line is cut off. My actual scan is not like that.  

Jody Stecher said:

I got my copy from the ABF. I was attracted by the title. I'll scan it and post it here. 

Trapdoor2 said:

A "patrol" is a particular dance form. I think it is a minor variation of a 'lancer'...but very generally a type of march...and I think they're all a type of line dancing (like a contra, not a cowboy line dance).

I tried to look up 'Afghan Patrol'...but obviously got too many modern warfare hits, never found a banjo piece.

Is it in one of the Ellis tutors?

[Jody Stecher]

OK, if you click on the image of the scan the right bars all appear.

[Trapdoor2]

Cool. Thanks, Jody. I'll post TAB and MIDI of it when done.