il Troubadore

il Troubadore has been putting the world back into “world music” since 2004.

[il Troubadore @iltroubadore]

From our performance at the Columbus Ethnic Expo yesterday! We had a blast as usual!

@RobertBruceScot @Silpayamanant

[il Troubadore @iltroubadore]

Playing the Columbus Ethnic Expo today at 1:30pm! Hope to see you there!

https://t.co/qVp3DYTnF7
@Silpayamanant @RobertBruceScot

[il Troubadore @iltroubadore]

Friday's (Aug 26) show after the VIP dinner at Fusion Evolution Belly Dance Fest in Chicago. Pic by the The Dancers Eye-Fine Art Dance Photography!

We played Googoosh's "Gol Bi Goldoon" (in Farsi) & Zeki Müren's "Bir Demet Yasemin (in Turkish).

@RobertBruceScot @Silpayamanant

[il Troubadore @iltroubadore]

Just opened the Friday night show and we’ll also be playing tomorrow night!

https://t.co/IbYaWgH4ZO

[Jon Silpayamanant โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ | Mae Mai @Silpayamanant]

One of the fascinating things we do in @iltroubadore is to research the origins of many of the folk tunes we play. Invariably the tunes' lineages trace back to 18th-19th c. published collections and they are often voice and piano arrangements.

2/n

[Jon Silpayamanant โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ | Mae Mai @Silpayamanant]

Oops, forgot @iltroubadore! 🤣

https://t.co/kSZxgzvJrr

[Saw Peep Pan-Asian Ensemble @SawPeep]

Osmanjan Ömer's (1932-1990) "Tengritaghda bahar" (1961). Ömer was a Uyghur composer who wrote this as a solo Rawap piece with hybrid orchestral accompaniment by Yu Lichun.

Our's is based on Wang Fandi's solo pípá version. An excerpt of the gorgeous opening from our 10/23 show:

[Saw Peep Pan-Asian Ensemble @SawPeep]

Kayhan Kalhor's "I Will Not Stand Alone" (2012) is probably one of our favorite tunes and a great show ender. Here's a short audio clip from the October 23, 2020 <Asian Diaspora & Hybridity> show.

We do miss having low strings (lost about half our players over the pandemic).

[89.3 WFPL News @WFPLNews]

It's a 🎶NEW EPISODE🎶 of Where Y'all Really From, all about music! Jon @Silpayamanant of @SawPeep Orchestra & @universityofky ethnomusicologist Donna Lee Kwon talk about music "as a window to understanding other cultures." https://t.co/FnFzEVUOzx

[il Troubadore @iltroubadore]

Might be difficult to imagine but we’ve probably played several dozens of tunes—including our own—upwards of a thousand times in our 17 years of gigging!

[Jon Silpayamanant โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ | Mae Mai @Silpayamanant]

This & that there’re far more performances of recorded tunes than recordings of them as anyone in cover band scenes know. Recordings are also scores (I prefer “score objects”). I wouldn’t be surprised if I’ve played some tunes a thousand times w/ @iltroubadore since 2004, for ex.

[The Klingon Xenomusicologist @Xenomusicology]

“Avoid death and cower” 🤣🤣🤣

[Jon Silpayamanant โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ | Mae Mai @Silpayamanant]

That time I drew myself as Gollum for an @iltroubadore album cover ("Black Cauldron," 2010). Yes, that's a cello bow in my hand! 🤣

[Jon Silpayamanant โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ | Mae Mai @Silpayamanant]

So we in @iltroubadore have decided to work on a Balkan album since our clarinetist/accordionist, a Croat American, and I have long played rep from that region in various groups. So as we choose rep, I'm sure 7/8s and 7/16s will abound!

[Jon Silpayamanant โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ | Mae Mai @Silpayamanant]

We (@iltroubadore) were discussing releasing a Balkan album since our resident Croat American bandmate & I have long played rep fr that area. I've been thinking how many folkloric tunes mid 20th c. deviate fr older iso-polyphony traditions to favor colonial tertian harmonies.
36/

[il Troubadore @iltroubadore]

@RobertBruceScot and @Silpayamanant courtesy of the awesome @LemonyPoppy during il Troubadore’s performance at Gen Con in the CW stage! So awesome!

[il Troubadore @iltroubadore]

Il Troubadore at Gen Con 2021.

Photo by Richard Trisdale
“Mr. Dick’s Photography”
https://t.co/RFRugKLlHa
https://t.co/4BIkpIRLU4

[il Troubadore @iltroubadore]

It’s really not that hard to do diverse repertoire by diverse composers/songwriters. Really, it isn’t!

[Jon Silpayamanant โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ | Mae Mai @Silpayamanant]

These sets weren't, by a long shot, our most diverse but gives a snapshot of what we've been doing for the past 17 years (and well over 1000 performances) as a group that straddles being an "ensemble" and being a "band."

18/end

[Jon Silpayamanant โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ | Mae Mai @Silpayamanant]

Black Cauldron, tune 10 on our 2nd Setlist is another
@iltroubadore original. A Celtic folk rock tune also on our Canterbury Road album.

16/

https://t.co/kqjS19tpXL

[Jon Silpayamanant โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ | Mae Mai @Silpayamanant]

Since we have a Star Wars band side project in which I perform as the @WookieeCellist, we naturally also play Yub Nub in the original Ewok. This was the 9th song of our second set.

15/

[Jon Silpayamanant โจนาทาน ศิลปยามานันท์ | Mae Mai @Silpayamanant]

La Bamba was the second tune on our second set, and there might be a connection to African slaves in Veracruz and may date even earlier than supposed to the 1600s.

10/
https://t.co/PAfWalUbnV