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propagate

by lesley mok, david leon

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Lesley Mok
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Benjamin Rolston
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Webb Crawford
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Jacob Hiser
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David Leon
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Just visiting not staying
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好一朵美麗的茉莉花
好一朵美麗的茉莉花
芬芳美麗滿枝椏
又香又白人人誇
讓我來將你摘下
送給別人家
茉莉花呀茉莉花

What a beautiful jasmine flower
What a beautiful jasmine flower
Sweet-smelling, beautiful, stems full of buds
Fragrant and white, everyone praises
Let me pluck you down
Give to someone else
Jasmine flower, oh jasmine flower

I was reminded recently of the song 茉莉花 (Muo Li Hua or “Jasmine Flower”). It’s an ancient Chinese folksong I learned as a child, one that is passed through generations of Chinese people through ancestral memory and oral tradition. I can still hear the Souna (嗩吶) accompanying the melody, its shrill and operatic presence a dramatic addition to what is otherwise a fairly simple song.

Earlier this spring, David had been studying the Souna and its influence on the Corneta China in Cuban music. He adapted many of the instrumental elements—its nasal quality, microtonal inflections, and idiosyncratic articulations—to its western doppelgänger, the soprano saxophone. I thought about “Jasmine Flower” and the way cultural & musical traditions take on new forms as they travel from place to place.

To propagate is to breed specimens of an organism from a parent stock. This three-movement piece re-contextualizes the Chinese Souna and personifies the instrument in a new light. Like many sonic bridges that are built between the East and West, Propagate is my interpretation of the many ways in which our shared musical and cultural histories continue to take shape.

July 24, 2020

credits

released July 24, 2020
Composed by Lesley Mok
Performed by David Leon

Recorded May 2020
Sound Engineering by David Leon
Mixing and Mastering by Lesley Mok & David Leon

Album Photo by Lesley Mok
Album Design by Lesley Mok

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Lesley Mok Brooklyn, New York

Lesley Mok is a drummer and composer living in Brooklyn, New York.

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