S Y N E S T H E S I A - Hanien Conradie

I was looking for an artist. I had met Hanien, and performed in front of one of her paintings, when we both participated in the Pieces and Puzzles exhibition, at the Lovell Gallery. It was a painting that was part of her Spore series. I loved hearing her talk about her connection to the natural world, and her sincerity in wanting to preserve it was eye opening.

Our art was so different though, and to be honest, my personal taste was very different. I liked hardness, clarity, and directness. I noticed that in that exhibition, I was probably the "hardest" artist there! Everything else seemed to have a delicacy, fragility and inviting quality to it. My art wanted to dual with reality, not subtly dance with it.

I looked and looked at Hanien's art, toying with the idea, but always keeping an eye out for other art that spoke to me. I was worried that I'd miss the message, but I had a dream. And that sealed the deal. Hanien told me "we need to learn to be softer". I took that as a challenge ;)

So I narrowed down two paintings that were familiar enough to my taste, (although, Hanien is a prolific artist, and it really was very hard to choose... her art is absolutely beautiful, check it out at www.hanienconradie.co.za)

FLOWERS AND DESIRE I
One special flower I have encountered is the Worcester Silky Puff at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. This critically endangered plant, named Diastella parilis, is being cultivated at their nursery. It used to grow on my grandmothers farm and I searched for it for a year in the Breede River Valley. The work was made before I had actually seen the flower and is about how I imagined it to look, but also about my desire to meet it, or experience it in physical life. It is part of the Invisible Flowers Series. - Hanien Conradie

This dusky, Turkish delight beauty was a breeze to compose for. The notes fell out of my guitar, because the familiar shapes that I latch on to to create a melody were there... the top line of the stamen were reflected in the harmonic melodic intro, rising and falling. And quite quickly an image of a girl revealed itself.

As I looked at her, I was reminded of a Japanese ghost story (probably the Japanese cherry colour that added to that line of thought), of the spirit of a woman, who was residing in the roots of a Hydrangea bush. She was constantly crying, because she missed her lover, and her tears were washing out the colour of the Hydrangea flowers. I echo this sadness, and loneliness in the discordant chiming, keeping an Oriental feel in the scale.  I think I actually cried when I was reminded of the story... it can be quite an emotional experience writing music.

I thought, it would be good to bring in the lines of the leaves, zig zagging up, and incorporated that into the melody. I develop the theme from loneliness to a stronger degree of anger, and built up the zig zagging lines.

In the story, a spirit guide is called, and she manages to reunite the woman with her lover, and they leave the Hydrangea bush to go to the afterlife. I included this reunion in the song, with a climatic meeting, an acknowledgement of the past longing and a gentle dance of reunion. I am optimistic, for Hanien's sake, that the Worcester Silky Puff will be reintroduced into it's natural environment again.

Have a listen to some of the piece here..

BABIANA AMBIGUA
This work is part of a series called Memento Mori, (something which reminds us of death). It is about flowers that sprout after difficult times, such as a winter or a fire, so most flowers are lily and virgina like in this series. - Hanien Conradie

So, this one, thank goodness, was about growth, no longing and loneliness! When I first looked at it, it reminded me of a sonogram... (I only found out about the birthing connection, after I let Hanien know I was composing for her painting, so I am quite glad my interpretation was so spot on). I start with a heartbeat, that is very subtle, thumping away on the guitar.

I develop a little theme over that, still all very subtle, but the themes begin to strengthen. For some reason there is an Arabic feel in the scale.... must be a phase...

The next section, I'll be honest, took me a long time to compose (if it were 9 months, I would not be surprised... I'll go double check on that). It was really difficult to develop the theme, while still keeping the heartbeat going. It was also very difficult to get into the mind space of the painting, without my own preconceptions and habits popping up.

I eventually did both parts separately. I recorded the heartbeat, and while sitting and staring at the painting, I developed the melody line over that. While staring at the painting, what helped to keep me in touch with the painting, was seeing another face in it. At first it looked like a half man/ half wildebeest face. It was quite trippy, as it would change it's expressions as I went into different moods/ thoughts in the music. It then morphed into a more half baboon/ half wildebeest face. I'll say it again, this is a very trippy exercise. No drugs were involved in the making of this music.

Okay, so time wise, I had actually thought of the next section previously, when I attended a salsa class on salsa music. What had led to the connection, was that the teacher explained that at the heart of salsa music is a heart beat. It was the same rhythmic heartbeat pattern that I was using in my composition. I wanted to use that connection, and added in the other rhythmic elements, in between the heartbeat, that are found in salsa music. This added power to the piece, and increased the development.

In this development, there are fluctuations in volume, and eventually it returns to the original theme,with the added development. It is powerful, and grown. The End.

Almost... while I was googling what the plant actually looks like (I had only looked at Hanien's painting) I found out that Babiana comes from the word Bobbejaantjie - Baboon. Apparently baboons like to eat it.