If you're looking to spice up your iTunes, give Andrew Lipke a good listen (The following video speaks for itself). Born in South Africa, Lipke has found much success as an artist, producer, songwriter and entertainer in the Philadelphia music scene. The interview to follow sheds light on his new EP, Siddiqah, and Lipke's musical inspirations.
How
did you come to title the EP “Siddiqah”?
The piece "Siddiqah" -
which is the majority of the EP - is based on a tragic story I read about in
the NY times. A young man in Afghanistan was in love with a young woman. He was
already in an unhappy arranged marriage and she was about to be forced into one.
So they decided to elope. After they had left their village and taken up with
some relatives in a not too distant town they were subsequently contacted by
their hometown families, urging them to return home...promising that the young
man - Khayyam - could take on his love as his second wife. Although not
interested in sharing a marriage, the two were ultimately convinced to return
to their village. But it was a trap, and the Taliban grabbed the couple out of
their homes the evening they returned and placed them in front of the men of
the community the following day so they could renounce their love and admit
their sin. The couple refused to denounce their love for each other and were
then stoned to death. First the young, 19 year old, woman, and then the man.
The woman's name was Siddiqah. Hence the title of the piece, and the title of
the EP.
The
two-track EP has two very different sounds- what was the inspiration behind it?
Have you recorded anything similar to this before?
The inspiration for the first and
more substantial piece on the EP I related in the last answer. The story seemed
so operatic, so like something from a Shakespeare tragedy or tragic opera, yet
was heartbreakingly true. And I'm continually frustrated by the needless hatred
and violence fueled by religious dogma so it spoke very directly to the core of
what drives much of my artistic inspiration.
The second song on the record -
Passing By - was a song I wrote many years ago and never got around to
recording...and I had played at a few shows recently and many people seemed to
connect with the words and images in the song. So I decided I wanted to record
a definitive version of it and figured it might serve to balance Siddiqah as a
listening experience.
Siddiqah is by far the most
ambitious recording I have made in regards to sheer number of instruments and
tracks, so in that way I suppose it is the first of it's kind for me.
What
was the writing and recording process like for all the string and brass
instruments on this EP?
I arranged all the instrumental
parts for Siddiqah as if I had unlimited resources at my disposal - as I do
most things I orchestrate or compose with pencil and paper - and then set out
to try and figure out a way to realize what I had written. It is more
often than not that the latter takes quite a bit more time than the former. I
tracked the strings as a quartet and then had them play the parts multiple
times to build what is essentially a string section of about 20-25 players at
its fullest, and a simple quartet when needed. The horns were tracked together;
again multiple times from multiple positions in the room, and the trumpet,
trombone parts were performed by one person, overdubbing each part. The tuba
part was performed by the same person who played the trombone parts, Steven
Duffy. And then there were many hours of editing and mixing.
What
was the experience like?
Exhilarating, frustrating,
painstaking, slow, rewarding. It was like most worthwhile things I guess.
What
is your favorite instrument to write for? To record?
I really think more of ensembles
than instruments when it comes to the more traditional sense of writing or
composing. I love collaborating when in a rock band setting, and throwing
things at different members of the group to get their thoughts and ideas, and
hitting upon that sound that everyone is excited by. But when I'm working by
myself with pencil and paper I'm much more focused on the relationship of each
instrument to the others, to the ensemble as a whole, and to the meaning of the
music should it be connected to a narrative - as was the case with Siddiqah and
is so with much of what I write. In that regard my favorite ensemble to write
for at present is the string quartet. Granted this might be because I have
access to amazing string players who enjoy playing my music and four players is
a lot easier - although not easy - to assemble than a 30 piece orchestra. But
it is also an amazing representation of what is possible in music and there is
such a wealth of possible interaction and gorgeous sonorities that I can't
imagine I will ever tire of writing for string quartet...even if I have an orchestra
at my disposal one day (fingers crossed!)
Can
your fans expect more of this sound from you in the future?
Yes! I am more and more drawn
to longer, larger, through-form compositions that blur the line between song
and something else. Much like my last release "The Plague",
"Siddiqah" is another example of an attempt to combine the aspects of
long form, large ensemble, classical music that I love - Mahler, Wagner - with
the immediacy, vibrancy, and youthful energy of pop music. I see this as
something I will work on for many years. There will undoubtedly be tangents and
other non-related creative endeavors, but there will most certainly be more
similarly ambitious attempts as Siddiqah in the future. Whether they will be
successful or not is a whole other question!
How
do you feel your music has changed since your first solo album, Ghosts, in
2005?
In some ways, not much at all and in
other ways, drastically. It was while I recorded “Ghosts” on a little BOSS
recording machine in my closet sized studio that I wrote my first two string
quartets. So I was operating in both musical realms at that time but had not
yet found the way to merge my two equally powerful muses into one. I feel with “Siddiqah”
and “The Plague” I am just starting to figure out how to combine these two
distinct voices into one that I can call my own. Perhaps it's a bit late
to be finding my voice in my early 30's, but that, I suppose, is the way things
have turned out.
Connect, Follow, Listen:
Alexis Canary
AlexisCanary@WeAreMonsterEnt.com
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