Trying to create some Kilrathi Music tracks

Actually, I have read this thread: Kilrathi Music. The discussion is very professional.

So, could I try to create some themes for the Kats? 😆 And I will use them in my Visual Novel.

So here are the results of some attempts.

In general I compose in equal temperament for the simple reason that I don't know much about any other temperaments than equal temperament, and the obstacles to using non-equal temperament techniques are numerous in my musical creating environment.

I'm not musically trained, so please excuse the music theory mistakes and my poor keyboard skills. The tracks are still drafts, so the mixing and arranging are rough.
 
[2020-08-13] Track 01 - Raving


The title of the track is taken from a line by young Jukaga in Action Stations:

"Yes. Strange, many of his maxims of war are nearly the same as the writings of Xag. Yet there is much of their writings I find odd. The poets of their first global war are filled with disdain for war and seem like the ravings of old widows. But so much of their effort has in one way or another been war, either real or symbolic."

That's it! So let's listen to the song of a Kilrathi female.

Fan fictional background story:

She is a mother who could not be accepted by her own hrai anymore because she persisted in following a warrior of another hostile hrai. With the warrior's death in battle, she had no hrai to live in because this warrior's own hrai rejected and even hated her, but wandered with her female cub. Once she arrived a planet which was just attacked. The chaos caused by the raid separated a newborn male cub from his birth mother, so she adopted the cub and then settled in a noble-owned livestock-breeding planet.

Time flied... In one year of Terran calender early 2660s, as the war continued, she and the two cubs, together with the other poor Kilrathi here, could only eat some simply cooked low quality meat left over from the livestock hunting industry to get by. One day, the cub got information that the hunting ground was holding an event similar to livestock mustering. He knew it was picking up potential recruits from the bottom class poors, but all he cared about was the prize for the top 10 this time: owning the livestock. He was doing well, making the top ten. While some of the other winners couldn't even resist enjoying their tasty prey on the spot (finally, fresh raw meat and blood), the cub just took the prize home and tamed it, regularly drew some blood as nutritional supplement for his foster mother and sister.

However, when the foster mother saw him return with the livestock, she was very worried that he would be taken away for showing his talent, or even sent to war. The cub was very confused by his foster mother's strange thoughts. At this time the foster mother explained nothing to him, but went outside and sang a song....

About the song:

It's not a war song, nor is it a typical melody celebrating war heroes. It's just a folk song sung by females to males and other family members, and perhaps a sort of thing despised by mainstream Kilrathi Empire culture.

It is still a draft, so please forgive the overly simplistic harmonic texture and arrangement as well as passage articulation. The piece is divided into two themes with two variations on each theme. I haven't written lyrics to this song yet. If any of you are interested in lyrics, that would be really appreciated.

[2020-08-13] Track 02 - Imperial Court Conference


This track is used in my visual novel as the BGM of Imperial Court Conference at which the Empire decided to wage war upon Terrans.

Honestly though, I just wrote this track to have a quick BGM. But after the draft came out, I felt it was acceptable and could do the job of atmospheric rendering.

[2020-08-13] Track 03 - Cross Examination 2010 Moderate Fan Art


This is actually a BGM I wrote ten years ago for a fan fictional Phoenix Wright - Ace Attorney story, and the form is a reference of Phoenix Wright Cross Examination Moderate BGM, but it is my original work. After remixing, it is now used as the BGM for the Imperial Military Meeting episode of the McAuliffe ambush.
 
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I'm not necessarily a songwriter - not even in English - but I'll happily help with translation to Kilrathi when you need it.


"Yes. Strange, many of his maxims of war are nearly the same as the writings of Xag. Yet there is much of their writings I find odd. The poets of their first global war are filled with disdain for war and seem like the ravings of old widows. But so much of their effort has in one way or another been war, either real or symbolic."

"Hagai. Gar'ha k'ro mas ga'hatakh ma'ins erg gar'toshlesivi, Sun Tzu Terran'hra, takh gar'lede'i, Rag'nith Xag. Qu hu'ha ga mas ni'is hu'kro erg garga'lede'i. Dagathleshki'ai'garga'sivmaks ar hadakutk rasu tasiv maks gar'sa takh gathkalxi'churgunonvrashi. Qu gaga erg garga'ko dyaha'ksiv du diqu'uniga uni, desh hequ'orks."

(New words: dagathleshki'a = "poet / songwriter"; gunonvrash = "widow (lit. 'dead spouse' / 'dead mate')". Almost had enough to translate the passage outright...)

EDIT: Once again, it's been a while since I've read Action Stations - Jukaga was talking about the writings of Sun Tzu, right? If not, I need to change that bit of the translation, obviously.
 
Jukaga was talking about the writings of Sun Tzu, right? If not, I need to change that bit of the translation, obviously.
Yes, that's right!

And, does the name here refer to the work, or to the author himself? Although it's customary to use the honorific Sun Tzu (孫子) to refer to the author most of the time, the author's real name is Sun Wu (孫武).
 
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And, does the name here refer to the work, or to the author himself? Although it's customary to use the honorific Sun Tzu (孫子) to refer to the author most of the time, the author's real name is Sun Wu (孫武).

As written, it's referring to the author - Sun Tzu Terran'hra = "Sun Tzu, the Terran". How he'd be referenced in trathkh dai'B'nal would depend on Kilrathi knowledge of him, which in turn is dependent on how the Terran inhabitants of Fawcett's World knew of his work, which in turn would depend on how The Art of War continued to be passed on to the 27th Century and how his name appears in the online library authority files of the time...

(Have I ever mentioned that my paying job is as a cataloger for the University of Oklahoma Libraries? It's how I occasionally come up with minor rantings like the last bit of the above paragraph. Truth be told I didn't know that Sun Tzu was also known as Sun Wu....and apparently looking in the authority file for The Art of War, the authorized name entry is Sunzi (孙子). So any one of the three would be applicable; it'd just depend on the one to which one Vakka and Jukaga were introduced. Since Fortschen uses Sun Tzu, that's probably the name they knew.)
 
"子" (Tzu or Zi, depending on translation) is a kind of honorific title, I think it could be interpreted as "Master". Several famous historical celebrities (Lao Tzu 老子, Confucius 孔子, Mencius 孟子, Chuang Tzu 莊子...) of that period have this honorific. And we know it is often rude to call a master by his or her real name without honorific, so....

Have I ever mentioned that my paying job is as a cataloger for the University of Oklahoma Libraries?
Wow, I knew that the first time. Should I address you as the esteemed university librarian? The original part of my script takes place mostly on a university campus, so maybe I should write the library episode.
 
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