John Hardy - Blue Letters from Tanganyika: Arrival at the Lake (clip)

A clip from 'Arrival at the Lake' in the orchestra suite "Blue Letters From Tanganyika" by John Hardy.

The music is inspired by blue airmail letters sent home from Africa by John's mother as she worked there as a young teacher.

This part of the music imagines the first arrival in Africa and the dangerous travel, ending long after dark with the lorry falling through a rickety bridge over a swollen, crocodile-infested river. All the luggage was stuck on board while she and a friend were on the other side of the river. They had no choice but to continue on foot, through lion country, with no light, no guide and no protection. "We set off in a little line together... we sang most of the way, anything we could think of, including as much of Compline as we could remember! I nearly trod on a snake, which was lying curled up on the path asleep, but apart from that we covered the eight miles or so at some speed with no mishap."

CD available at:
Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003TNXTGW
John Hardy Music http://www.johnhardymusic.net/shop/
Ffin Records http://www.ffinrecords.co.uk/news/16/cd-blue-letters-from-tanganyika.html

MP3 album available at:
iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=336840520&...
John Hardy Music http://www.johnhardymusic.net/shop/
Ffin Records http://www.ffinrecords.co.uk/news/16/cd-blue-letters-from-tanganyika.html
and all major download stores.

"Powerfully cinematic" (South Wales Echo)
"Rhythmically charged, open and immediately engaging... bright and colourful while still managing to evoke the African landscape" (Gramophone Magazine)
"Colourful, finely crafted movements... 4 stars" (Classical Music Magazine)
"masterpiece of creation... an extraordinary piece of history" (Roy Noble, BBC Radio Wales)
"Colourful, filmic, and open to pleasurable listening at a single sitting" (Howard Smith, Music & Vision)

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