DAYTIMES by Zekkereya El-magharbel

Western tuning makes me uneasy. In the wake of aural colonization, sometimes it feels like the only thing I truly know.
It’s also part of the reason why its so hard for me to internalize any music, other than that which has been maimed by it.

Even though Islamic 24-step tuning has more range for specificity, the 12 added quarter tones still do not truly encapsulate the spectrum of beautiful melodies that I hear.

This one, and ensuing “microtonal” notation systems, only provide a partial solution. They allow composers to write music that sounds different than what they’re used to hearing of the Western cannon, but still don’t attain the level of specificity of tuning models that exist outside of it.

This is an earnest attempt at embracing my true ear.
I accept that I am comforted by Western melodies,
because I know them so well.
I also accept, that I bare much bitter resentment towards this fact.

This piece is a letter of gratitude to John Coltrane, who's commitment, discipline, persistence, and heart, showed him the redeemable aspects of equal-temperament, in the form of its natural cyclicality. The geometric patterns explored by Coltrane abolish tonality, while still preserving a strong functionally harmonic core; the most elegant algorithm.

Coltrane’s music is a sonic pillar of creative freedom in the Black American artistic realm-
freedom from labels of what Black American Music what ought to be.

And yet, the very nature of the harmonic structure of Coltrane’s music, much like his own instrument, is European.

To find freedom for yourself and others,
in the unrelenting continued aural genocide of European settler colonialism and its legacy, is something I still strive toward.

Educator and Artist. Afro-futurism and visual/aural design are the tools I use to help myself and others when I can. I love cats and cooking for my loved ones.