Ngbaka Polyptych

The Ngbaka Polyptych is based on the polyrhythmic model kódà, which is played on the small Pygmy harp ngombi in ceremonies celebrating the birth of twins in the Ngbaka tribe from Central Africa. I took this model as the motive foundation for building the whole cycle. The composition is somewhere in the intersection of contemporary classical music, jazz and world music written for piano trio, in this version with flute. The first movement is the closest to the traditional original, the second movement is, as the title says, an improvisation, the third movement is a cantilena, the fourth is a ricercar in palindromic form; the fifth is a quasi passacaglia and the last is in a simple repetitive form. Globally, as the overall form of the piece moves, the music moves further and further away from the original to eventually return to its original spirit.

Dušan Bogdanović