Noriya/port-cruinn

Noriya is a men’s generational song celebrating and praising Ngitamo, the guinea fowl. The original recording of the Larim people in South Sudan in 1979 was from a time of relative peace, with the Ngitamo generation existing alongside the Nyoletiang (gazelles) and Nyitulabok (sheep). The melody, compound rhythm and tempo reflect this balance and resonate as song of celebration and joy, even one to dance to – a port-cruinn perhaps? 

Port-cruinn (pr. porsht-crooeen) is Scottish Gaelic for "jig" and is intended to sit alongside the joyful Noriya. The main jig melody draws on the Noriya theme, flipping from minor to major, and is carried by an underlying drone. The generational nature of Noriya is reflected in the instruments played. There are two Scottish fiddles from two different generations. The main jig melody is played on “The Annmarie”, a fiddle made by James Dooley in Glasgow in 1987 (named after his daughter who passed away very young). The secondary melody is played on a Dundee fiddle, made in 1918 by James Cochrane. The two fiddles also carry the drone with mandolin and guitar layered to emphasise the rhythm and tempo of the original recording. 

Men's generation song from South Sudan reimagined by Moray Newlands.

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Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds