Redowa I

Apologies for the delay between posts -- Graham's been out of the country and work has been keeping me quite busy.

Notes on some of the redowa music from Richard Powers' Social Dance Discography:

E.S. Posthumous - Nara (152 bpm). You can hear a full preview on their website. If you've been to a Jammix or Friday Night Waltz you've probably heard this. It's a great redowa in terms of both tempo and musicality. I love the tension in the piece and the way it builds in great swells of music. The original, however, is almost five minutes long, which is tiring for a redowa. I'd suggest cutting it down to 3.5 minutes or less for social dancing, unless you have strong calves and good endurance.

Dae Jang Geum - Yun Bap (160 bpm). The link is to the CD on Amazon because I could not find anywhere to download an mp3, but you can find a WMA version linked from here. I first heard this song, which is from the soundtrack of the Korean TV drama Dae Jang Geum (or Jewel In The Palace), in Richard's "History of the Waltz" social dance class at Stanford. It has a fantastic percussion section which just begs for redowa. I spent hours and hours trying to track down an mp3 version online and eventually resorted to creating a membership on a special-interest "Asian OSTs" site so that I could access a private download link on their forum. I'd suggest using the WMA link above or asking me to send you the mp3 rather than duplicating my quest. But back to the song: it's quite dramatic and has cool eastern-sounding instruments that I can't identify (how crass).

The Corrs - Erin Shore (160 bpm). The "last waltz" at Jammix. This is the only full instrumental piece on The Corrs' album Forgiven, Not Forgotten, though it isn't the only waltz. It's based on a traditional Irish tune which is often sung with lyrics about "Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore." I found a number of different versions of the lyrics online, but here's the chorus of the one I like best:

So, fare thee well my own true love
I'll think of you night and day
A place in my mind you will surely find
Although I am so far away
And when I'm alone, far away from home,
I'll think of the good times once more
Until I can make it back some day
Here to Paddy's green shamrock shore

Like both previous tunes, this needs a bit of editing to be good for dancing, as the original is over four minutes long. I think Richard cuts some of the build up to the extra-redoway drum solo.