Gnossienne | Tatavliano - 2026 Rock Trio Demo Arrangement
Preparing yet another instrumental for Valkania live performances, arranging for a rock trio (el. guitar, bass, drums).
It started as an interesting arrangement for Gnossienne by Satie, with a gentle Balkan rhythm and monotonic bass line, to simply enhance the atmosphere.
At the end, it was supposed to end up with an improvisation; instead, the number of bars (9) for Satie's main melody, fitted perfectly the opening melody of Tatavliano Hasapiko. This is a Balkan-type folk instrumental written around the same time as the Gnossiennes, but in Istanbul; it's composed by an unknown artist - it may have been Greek, Turk, Armenian, Bulgarian or Jew - there are versions of this tune in all these cultures. Listen to some versions on YouTube.
I thought it's a nice ending, and connection of the Western and Eastern European cultures.
That's the first version, from 10 July (bottom).
But then, a voice in my head kept telling me that I should continue arranging Tatavliano H. for a rock trio; and the voice simply wouldn't go away. So, for a few days I did that, and finally on July 13 I finished with the first draft (top recording). Both tunes are imagined as one composition, starting with Gnossienne, having a little phrase from Tatavliano H. in its last section; then 2 bars pause, and then starting slow and getting faster with the 2nd and 3rd phrases from Tatavliano H. Then exploding in volume and speed and repeating all three phrases from Tatavliano; followed by improvisation, and ending the feast with the 3rd phrase. What started as a simple arrangement, it turned out as a mini folk-symphony (if one can use these two words in the same phrase:-)
What really happened was - we Balkanized Gnossienne, and Westernized Tatavliano Hasapiko. And we found out that they are a perfect match for each other - born out of the same scale, of course. The Diminished Dorian scale.
Enjoy - I did a lot.