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Music For Christine Feehan
At Christine's request, Chris created Carpathian, the language of the Carpathians. Most Dark Series books have passages written in Carpathian, and each book has an Appendix that provides more details about the Carpathian language and a dictionary with hundreds of Carpathian words. Chris also wrote music in the Carpathian language, mostly the music accompanying various rituals of the Carpathian culture (for healing, marriage, lullabyes, warriors' chants, etc.) Because the Carpathians originated in the geographical region of the Ural Mountains, Chris created music that has a distinctly "Eastern European" sound.
In a scene from Christine Feehan's recently released book, Betrayal Road, lead character, Andrii Federoff ("Maestro"), sings a song he wrote for his lady, Azelie Vargas. He has just been on stage, playing and singing with his band; but now he sings alone, accompanying himself on the piano. Azelie is the name of the song. In real life, Caedyn Feehan wrote the lyrics for Azelie, and Chris wrote the music, created the piano arrangement, and sang the song. Lifemate Healing Chant Chris: In writing this chant, the most challenging part was the middle section (which starts at 1:03 - 2:31 remaining). It is a choral piece, written for four voices. But rather than the more usual "tight harmonies" of many more recent Eastern European traditions (in which all the voices move together, in melodic imitation), the four voices here are arranged as counterpoint: each voice has an independent melody, but the melodies all still fit together harmoniously. The piece introduces the first melody, then repeats, adding the second melody; then the third; and then the fourth. Contrapuntal music (music with counterpoint) is an ancient European tradition, most recently appearing in late medieval music (organum music) and Renaissance music (Josquin des Prez, Palestrina), as well as the music of the Baroque period (Bach). Counterpoint is largely missing from contemporary music, so part of the fun here was making a musical contribution toward restoring counterpoint to a more central place. Song To Heal the Earth Carpathian Lullabye Chris: Musically, the Carpathian Lullabye is in 3/4 time ("waltz time"), as are a significant portion of the world's various "lullabye" traditions (perhaps the most famous of which is "Brahm's Lullaby"). The actual musical context is simple: a mother singing to her child, unaccompanied. This recording is an "arrangement for chorus and violin ensemble", illustrating how musical even the simplest Carpathian pieces often are, and how easily they lend themselves to contemporary instrumental or orchestral arrangements. Ritual Words Chris: The "Ritual Words" is the sacred ceremony where a Carpathian man and his lifemate pledge their life and love to each other. The Warriors' Chant Chris: The Warriors' Chant accompanies the warriors' council, which take place deep beneath the earth in a chamber of crystals. This is a sacred place where the warriors bloodswear to their prince and people and affirm their code of honor as warriors and brothers. |
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