Sören Sieg: Umlanjana

In 2013 Elisabeth Richers-Byrne from Dublin asked me to write a duet for her pupils Frankie and Ciara for Jugend Musiziert. I did so (it is duet No.9) - and immediately wanted to write more. I was bubbling over with ideas - and very quickly finished 20 pieces. I tried to produce a great variety: From easy to difficult, from fast to slow, from joyful to sad, from high flutes to low flutes. They all share a style that I call african: the musical material only consists of the seven tones of the major scale - but rhythm and metrics are quite complex at the same time. I have always been a big fan of freedom of interpretation. So I would like to encourage you to experiment with different tempi, instrumentations and articulations. I wish to thank Ebba-Maria Künning-Zeijl from Flutes en bloc for her detailed review of the first version and Gritli Kohler-Nyvall from Ensemble Pipelife for the great title suggestions that she and her pupils made (thank you, Angelina!).

In spring 2020 the Duo Smartholz - Susanne Modrej und Sabine Mildner - recorded these two duets for me on Youtube - thank you very much!