Desert Trail, one of Joe Morley's exotic pieces and definitely a challenging one. This one reminds me of Albert Ketèlbey's style and "In a Persian Market" or "In the Mystic Land of Egypt" in particular, what with the steady drum beat and all that. Overall a very fun piece to play, and one which showcases the great versatility of Joe Morley as a composer and a banjoist.

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Comment by Sylvia on January 31, 2012 at 11:54
Mike, sans hat, good. Music Brill. I agree, some of it sounds a bit like "Persian Market. Minor Key ?
Comment by thereallyniceman on January 31, 2012 at 12:01

Very, very good. Your playing is getting better and better!  6 ******  from me.

Comment by Mike Moss on January 31, 2012 at 12:29
Thanks Sylvia and Ian.

I've always been terrible at the circle of fifths and such but I think it starts out in C minor, then the middle part is Ab Major and then back to C minor? At least I think so, hopefully someone who knows more about music theory will correct me if I'm wrong.
Comment by marc dalmasso on January 31, 2012 at 12:45

great ; same banjo . ? ?

 and the camera ?

Comment by Mike Moss on January 31, 2012 at 12:52

Same banjo, same camera, same lightbulbs -- I managed to improve visibility by making it black and white and increasing the contrast.

Comment by Russ Chandler on January 31, 2012 at 18:52

Great tune, beautifully played!

Comment by Trapdoor2 on January 31, 2012 at 19:10

Great tune, well played. I wonder when this was written? Middle Eastern themed music started becoming popular right after WWI. The Brits were very active in the Middle East during the war. The novel "The Shiek" was published in 1919 and the movie based on it came out in 1921 (Valentino, etc.). In 1922, Carter unearthed King Tut and by the end of the year, the "Oriental Foxtrot" craze was in full swing (some of my favorite music).

Comment by Mike Moss on January 31, 2012 at 19:18

Yes, I've been giving this some thought as well. It was published by JAT in 1933 (could have been written earlier, though) which is about the time at which Albert Ketèlbey had reached the peak of his popularity with his Orientalist compositions... here's a 1928 Columbia of "In a Persian Market"

Comment by Trapdoor2 on January 31, 2012 at 22:14

Yes. Probably one of the earliest 'popular' ones would be the Paul Whiteman version of "Cui's Orientale", written by Russian composer Cesar Cui in the 1890's...by the 1930's it was so often ripped-off that the motifs are now completely assimilated as "Arabian".

Comment by Jody Stecher on February 1, 2012 at 2:33

Speaking of Orientalism on the banjo has anyone else noticed that Cammeyer's Yeoman's Call with its thoroughly British title is very similar to a Herbert Ellis banjo solo called The Afghan Patrol? I'm guessing that the Ellis piece is older but I don't know.

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