Work
Seringapatam
for solo classical guitar
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About
This composition for solo classical guitar is a musical tribute to Seringapatam, a town in the Mandya district of the Indian state of Karnataka and place of great religious, cultural and historic significance. The non-anglicised version of the name is Srirangapatna (also spelled Shrirangapattana.)
The music was specially composed by Bruce Paine for his music DVD Alberton (BNP DVD 01) which was inspired by the iconic 1863 homestead Alberton in Auckland New Zealand. The mixture of Scottish and Indian architectural styles of the house and the Kerr Taylor family's similarly mixed bloodline were the main sources of inspiration for the music. The name Seringapatam was chosen because it was the birth place of the founder of Alberton, Allan Kerr Taylor born in 1832, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel William Taylor of the 39th Madras Native Infantry.
The composer’s intention was to write something that encapsulates both the Scottish and Indian aspects of Alberton, so what transpired was a remarkable marriage of melody and invention. The traditional song ‘The Blue Bells of Scotland’ was transformed by the use of glissandi to gently imitate the tonal nuances and technique of bending notes on a sitar that is such a feature of Indian music.
The classical guitar cannot precisely reproduce the sounds of an instrument such as the sitar however the repeated accompaniment figures in this piece are intended to be suggestive of the drone effect heard when the sitar is played. It is an approximation that works in the context of the guitar’s tonal capabilities.