Re: misirlou

[Owen Davidson <owend...>]

Not much of substance at that site, sorry to say.  And I notice that Seymour
Rexsite's Yiddish version didn't make the cut for the list of recordings.  I can
add a few tidbits about this if you're interested.  What follows will be my
usual pottage of slipshod scholarship, hearsay, and bizarre speculation, so feel
free to take it right to the bank (and throw it in).

Dick Dale first took the tune surfin'.  Dale (born Richard Mansour, of Lebanese
heritage) said in an interview that he first played it because someone had dared
him to play a tune one one string.  Hence the furious tremolo.  Of course, the
tempo and the surf-beat make it impossible to actually do the dance to this most
popular and enduring version, unless you also dance it "oyf eyn fus."

This seems to be the tune nobody wanted.  "Misirlou" seems to be the Greek
approximation of the Turkish "Misirli" (sorry, "i's" should be undotted, to give
a "schwa" sound, but I lack that ability), which means "Egyptian."  Or perhaps
the name is simply meant to evoke the exotic, in the same way that Klezmers
might call a tune "Oriental Melodies" or "Araber Tants."  If this is the case,
and an import duty is imposed whenever it crosses a frontier, Misirlou is one
expensive little ditty.

Part of the exotic sound comes from the mode, a variant of the familiar Freygish
we  know and love (and pay our bills with) called "Hijaz-kar." This consists of
two identical tetrachords joined at the hip. Each of these centers around that
reaching augmented second interval between the second and third degrees,
although the upper one is accidental-prone.  The resultant sound carries "Twice
the Love, Twice the Heartache."  It's pretty slinky and sexy, too.

Wholesale battled ideologically over how to harmonize the tune.  Our
traditionalists wanted to stick to the usual suspects of D major and C minor in
the first section, and certainly the precedent is there in Greek music.  Another
tune in the same mode, "O Bokhoris,"  uses the I and VIIm chords exclusively.
However, because it is an exotic number, I held out for the modern Greek
practice of using the II chord (in this case, Eb major) in place of the VIIm.
This works nicely to foreshadow the descending progression of the second
section, which begins with an extremely deliberate stalking and pouncing upon
the IVm (G minor), followed by a terrifying and inexorable descent through III
(F major) and II (Eb major) to II7 (Eb7: yes, I do play that C#, and Sherry
hasn't killed me yet!), and a final surrender and relaxation to the I.
Throughout all this horrific predation, the melody struggles and leaps ever
higher, reaching its poignant climax on the C#, where the sting is delivered,
and the resolution is then inevitable. Tell me why the concepts of "peace" and
"harmony" are always mentioned in the same breath?  In another world, perhaps,
but let's not go there.

As far as steps go, the Misirlou seems to me more an elaboration of the
Tsamiko.  That Zorba Syrtaki thing is a Hassapiko by-product.

In any event, we play this at weddings, and almost always, a group of women gets
up to dance.  It always astounds me how many people know this dance.  And almost
entirely women.  In fact, if a man joins the line, the whole thing inevitably
becomes a tsimmes in short order (sorry for a horribly mixed metaphor, I realize
that tsimmes takes a while to cook).  Like most "International Folk Dance"
steps, the grace and charm of it lies in synchronization of the steps, and it
only takes one bad apple to spoil whole thing.  Okay I'll stop with the food.  I
myself have learned the Misirlou several times, but that's not to say that I
know it.

Owen

Helen Winkler wrote:

> I noticed a few days ago there was a thread about Misirlou
>
> I came across a funny site, The Space Age Pop Music site that lists all
> sorts of discography and history about this and other music which the auhtor
> calls "Exotica"
>
> http://home.earthlink.net/~spaceagepop/nearsong.htm
>
> There is also a section on the site "The Art of Liner Note Prose" that
> quotes all sorts of liner notes from old vinyl LP's, which some might find
> amusing.
> My favourite is:
>
> --from Lose Weight Through Self-Hypnosis
> Warning: Check with physician before using. Do not play in automobile or
> similar type vehicles. Use in quiet surroundings.
>
> I'm still trying to find out how this Greek-American dance became an Israeli
> folk dance (apparently taught to the music Tzena Tzena when first introduced
> by visiting Israeli dance teachers).
>
> Helen
>
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--
Owen Davidson
Amherst  Mass
The Wholesale Klezmer Band

The Angel that presided o'er my birth
Said Little creature formd of Joy and Mirth
Go Love without the help of any King on Earth

Wm. Blake


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