Dissecting a Li

If we thought the last two weeks were a trial, worse was to come when the clock struck September.
They do say the last mile is the hardest and we have found that out the hard way.
Now, the last man standing has finally succumbed to the rains of Kohima and caught a cold. (do we actually catch a cold or does the cold catch us?)

Well, so there we were struggling with the most epic song of all times which we had saved for last :)

September started with a bang on the triumphant finish of a very difficult but absolutely heartbreaking song "Phrozü li" and now we were on to "Shecho mo me" (we have written about this song in one of our earlier blog posts).

Lo and behold! we realize that we have forgotten all about another "Li" worth breaking our heads over. Hmmm! but we have decided to treat you to that number eventually and saving it for our next album :)

Shecho mo me is such a complicated song, with four transitions in melody and tempo; and as many as 8 parts but hey! we are only four voices? so then we go into creative brainstorming mode and decide on just 4 of the most harmonious parts.  We finally settled the song 'Shecho mo me' and recorded it singing the four parts, Li re (Soprano), Li so (alto), Li shrü (tenor) and Li bo kürükrüyo (higher bass).

Corresponding to western music, the parts in Li are usually divisible into the following :

1. 'Li re' or the soprano
2. 'Li so' or alto
3. 'Li shrü' or tenor
4. 'Li bo' or bass 
5. 'Va khre' or higher alto and three more parts,
6. 'Li bo ubo' or the male voice singing bass/ lower bass
7. 'Li bo kürü krüyo' or higher bass
8. 'Li shru kükho yo' or higher tenor sung by a female and a male

Since we obviously don't have a male voice, we tend to sing only the Li re, Li so, Li shrü and Va khre or in certain songs, Li bo. Now, we will leave you to guess who sings which part. Hint: we keep switching parts :D

Certain Li have four parts or more leading and the same parts ad lib. Those songs were quite challenging to record. For duets, it is mostly Li re and Li so. They do make a beautiful combo. Li so is the supporting voice for the Li re and one can liken it to two intertwining vines. We have at least two beautiful duets in our soon to be completed first album and we are very much looking forward to sharing them with you. It was certainly a pleasure to record it.

If recording 'Phrozü li' was like scaling Mt. Everest, recording Shecho mome was well...like the movie "The way back". We decided to record the four melodies in four different sessions and the first few sessions were a flurry of high emotions and total chaos. So we had to quit and start all over again. Slower and way unsteadier than the proverbial tortoise it progressed until two weeks later, we have one last line to go. And this is before the song goes to the editing table and mastering! Phew!  You can imagine our frustration. But besides the imperfect takes, so much has happened and is happening in our personal lives so recording has almost come to a pause. Life as a recording artist is not so fun :)

And there is the matter of the unceasing rain of Kohima which can be quite a spirit and plan dampener. But as the month progresses, we stop to realise that there is a lot of things to be thankful for: life, our fans and their love & support, our music, good health, family, friends, the great food placed before us day in and day out....the list goes on and on. Las but not the least, the opportunity to share our thoughts with you and to hear back from you!
What a joy it is to be alive and to be able to do so.
Hopefully, this week will be a better week for us all and at the end of it, we'll be a step closer to presenting our debut album to the world. Have a lovely week!
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