"Gordon Williamson - "Utitia`q’s Song"" genre: Choral
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	For SATB choir
	Story Behind the Song I found this text while I was looking through an anthology of 19th century North American poetry. I was immediately drawn to the text, as it somehow manages to be sad, nationalistic, and funny all at the same time. Utitia`q’s Song Aja, I am joyful; this is good! Aja, there is nothing but ice around me, that is good! Aja, I am joyful; this is good! My country is nothing but slush, that is good! I am joyful; this is good! Aja, when, indeed, will this end? this is good! I am tired of watching and waking, this is good! Translation by Frank Boas Frank Boas was a German anthropologist who the summer of 1883 on Baffin Island living amongst the local Inuit population. He published his own translations of this and several other Inuit songs in the Journal of American Folklore. This particular text comes from an Inuit named Utitia`q, who got stranded on an ice flow while sealing, and he found himself adrift in the ocean for a week. In setting this text for choir I tried to compose a piece of music which could represent the many contrasting elements I found in the text. The main figure throughout the piece is a kind of sighing figure, which comes in and out repeatedly in different voices at a varied rate. These sighing figures accumulate to form a kind of repetitive wave-like texture in the choir. ___________________________________________ Bio- Gordon Williamson (b.1974) Gordon's composition studies began under Dennis Farrell at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. Having completed his undergraduate studies in 1998, he is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Composition at Indiana University, where he has studied with Sven-David Sandstrom and currently studies with David Dzubay. His music has been performed in recitals and at festivals in Canada, the United States, and Japan.

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