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Second and Third Inventions for Djembe.

by Julian Broadhurst

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about

Second and third Inventions for Djembe - Drum music, Dm 13 - my 92nd album. Two sets of inventions for Djembe. It is the Spring of 2OO9, 2 years, and 39 albums, since the last Dm project, Dm 12 Underdrum. Musically it seems like the whole world had happened to me, just 2 years but it might as well have been 12. The end of my ‘Drum Silence.’ I’m Back. louder and meaner than before with a whole new style of playing - with something new to say. Something had been learned.

I called Dm 6 - those explosive, imperative musical ideas - the 'First Inventions for Djembe,’ because I was confident that there would soon be many more such sets for my signature instrument. I say ‘inventions’ after Bach - as a form of extended work - pushing my understanding of an instrument, and hence my ‘Invention’ for it. I had however, in that first set, pushed along way. It was only after a flowering of Electronic and Electroacoustic work, in my Golden Band Group - and most of this ‘Inner’ Blue group, that I felt able to return to Drum music and attempt another set of inventions. You see there is a big hole in my Drum music genre - that only experience could bridge. I had a lot of growing to do and I grew. In these Second and third sets I found new levels of invention and a marked difference in style. A new, open, punctuative, pattern based playing. These were quickly followed by a fourth, and eventually by a fifth and a Sixth set. I had then pushed Dm to a point where I could go no further. Together with the Twelve Sonatas for Solo Drum, these six sets of inventions form the core of my Drum work. I’ll say it again - something had been learned.

Second Inventions for Djembe nos. 1 to 8 - Rh 343 to 349

Third Inventions for Djembe nos. 1 to 6 - Rh 350 to 354


The Six invention Sets for Djembe

A structurally important Series of inventions for my signature instrument the Djembe Drum. The First inventions [Dm 6] is an early monument casting a huge shadow over my work until eventually I had five further sets in close succession - each tightening the difficulty - challenging myself and any future audience. Together with my other Drum Percussion series - the 12 Sonatas for solo Drum - form the core of my Drum Work.

- Inv. for Dj. in Group one - The Blue Cherry group -

[] Album Dm 6 - First inventions for Djembe

A cycle of inventions that just poured out of me live to tape. A cycle that surprised and delighted me and has stood as a signature set ever since. Cited as exemplary by the Professor of Composition at the RCM - Composer Ken Hesketh - and who am I to argue. It would be a long time before I’d attempt a second set.

First Inv. for Djembe nos. 1 to 7 - Rh 124 to 130


- Inv. for Dj. In Group 4 - The Inner Blue Group -

‘Don't it always seem to go’ - you wait around forever and then three come at once ?

[] Album Dm 13 - 2nd and 3rd Inv. for Djembe

Sec. Inv. for Dj. nos. 1 to 8 - Rh 343 to 349

Third Inv. for Dj. nos. 1 to 6 - Rh 350 to 354

[] Album Dm 14 - Fourth Inventions for Djembe and Sonata for Solo Drum no. 8

A very important album for the way my two percussion series’ - The Drum Sonatas and the Inventions for Djembe - meet on it - on their paths across my music.

Fourth Inv. for Dj. nos. 1 to 6 - Rh 359 to 364


- Inv. for Dj. In Group 5 - The Outer Blue Group -

Fifth and sixth inventions for Djembe - the most difficult of the sets Demanding quite some concentration both to play and to listen to.

[] Album Dm 22 - Fifth Inventions for Djembe.

The Fifth inventions are conceptually a little bit more difficult in that they have an Internal Set Structure - Sets A, B and C, or Parts 1, 2 and 3. This is not a silent structure, they represent stages of difficulty and importance and length in the overall Suite - Fifth Inventions. Physically these Sets are separated by longer silences - the distinctions are aurally quite perceptible. This ‘Set’ structure recalls my work as an Artist - where groups of pictures could also be in Formal Sets.

Fifth Inv. for Dj. [Set A] - nos. 1 to 5 - Rh 451 to 455

Fifth Inv. for Dj. [Set B] - nos. 6 i & ii to 8 - Rh 456 to 458

Fifth Inv. for Dj. [Set C] - nos. 9 & 10 - Rh 459 & 460

It’s a Conceptual Path - a ritual - an order of service - note that there 11 parts to count with no. 6 splitting itself into two parts 6i and 6ii. They are parts of the same Invention but take a significant pause in between two chains of the same thought.

[] Album Dm 24 - Sixth inventions for Djembe

The Final set in this long process of discovery of techniques and sonorities for my Signature instrument, the Djembe - increasing in difficulty each time in performance and for audience perception of the process. Here I reach a point where I push as far as I can go almost to the point of incoherence - do I lose the message in the method ? In this direction this really is the end. Album Dm 25 - the Sonatas for Solo Drum nos. 11 and 12 - bring that series to a cannonic end. Together these Series form the Core of my drum work.


An early reorganization of my music research interests had defined my music into dedicated sets of Albums. This way things of a kin got heard together - as one type of album or another - by Genre - or Tranche as I styled them. In this case Dm, music for Drums of various kinds. By Convention Dm.

Beginning as a percussionist my first 7 albums are for Drums of various kinds, Drum music or Dm, my first area of research interest or Tranche. I soon realised there was a second area of percussion, as a generality over a specialism - percussion on anything other than Drums, Metal Percussion music, or MPm. The third of five is the Phase music, realised by tape looping and timing, Phm. The fourth, a genre of Electro Acoustic composition, Music for Strings, Electronics and Percussion, or MSEP. The last genre is Electronic music, Em, taking the longest processing detour from an original acoustic source.

Album numbers 76 to 95 form my fourth ‘Group’ - a 4th time division across my Genres, my Inner Blue Group. This builds on the foundational 'Blue Cherry Group' [where I had introduced my 5 areas of research interest] and the big 'New Horizon Group' - [where I explored to see where these five genres were leading me]. There then seemed to be a ‘band of gold’ across my discography. My Golden Band Group, that mark a particularly successful time for me. The albums that follow that, 76 to the end, are a ‘Blue Horizon’ - after the phrase’ blue sky research’ - the ‘Blue Horizon Group.’ For convenience, I divided this Huge area into the Inner and the Outer Blue Groups. So the Fourth Group is the Inner Blue Horizon - or Inner Blue Group.

Returning after a long absence from my work, there are two Dm albums in the Inner Blue Group - Dm 13 & 14.

[] Album Dm 13, Second and Third Inventions for Djembe, marks the return of Dm to my work after I left it away back in my New Horizon Group, with album Dm 12, Underdrum. I felt then there was little more I could add to the genre. I return here with a Second and a Third set of Inventions for Djembe. Something I’d thought unlikely, after my immense first set, back at the beginning of my work - at album Dm 6 - in my foundation group.

[] Album Dm 14 is a fourth set of such inventions, in quick succession - only days apart from the last. Something was in the air - a new Drum music - a new open punctuative, pattern based playing. Fourth inventions are coupled with Drum Sonata no. 8. At this point I take a renewed interest the Drum Sonata as a form - it becomes the core of my Drum music - alongside the inventions for Djembe. In the next Group up - my Outer Blue Group - I reach a 12th drum Sonata, the cannonic number.


Inner Blue Group - Dm []

DCM 076 - Em 29 - Auda
DCM 077 - MSEP 19 - Assign 1 - 4
DCM 078 - Phm 8 - Deep Pink
DCM 079 - Em 30 - Haus music
DCM 080 - Em 31 - Magic lily music
DCM 081 - MPm 10 - 1st and 2nd Da Su for Mp
DCM 082 - Phm 9 - Beriom 1 - 3 (6 Tromb.)
DCM 083 - MSEP 20 - War Skies Over London
DCM 084 - Phm 10 - Beriom 4 - 7 (4 & 5 Fl)
DCM 085 - Em 32 - Beriom 8
DCM 086 - Em 33 - Beriom 9
DCM 087 - Em 34 - Beriom 10
DCM 088 - Em 35 - Untitled
DCM 089 - Em 36 - Rothko Triptych
DCM 090 - Phm 11- Sound Prints
DCM 091 - MPm 11 - Kontact Dance

[] DCM 092 -Dm 13 - 2nd & 3rd Inv for Dj []

DCM 093 - Em 37 - Ober

[] DCM 094 -Dm 14 - 4th Inv Dj - Dm Sn no. 8 []

DCM 095 - MSEP 21 - Bela Whispers

The DCM album numbers list volumes in a [for the most part]
chronological edition - the ‘DCM Broadhurst Edition’ - Prepared for the British Library in 2021. The volumes or albums themselves were actually released as and when it was possible. The Edition though, was planned from the start to stand on the 'foundation Stone' of the Blue Cherry group.

The Rh catalogue, numbers my individual works in order of Completion.

credits

released July 26, 2013

Both sets recorded live at Isabel.

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