The literature of this "portfolio" is a combination of music journal entries and DAPHA Projects journals done by Daryl Ali.
It is a digital account of his life experiences, works of many and accomplishments.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 15th March 2022)
Dear Diary,
This piece was a random selection
for the Sunday School band in church. I don’t remember if it was one that Mr.
Sharma had asked me to the door I had chosen myself. I was glad that the
introduction worked out. However, my intention for the ending was to have a
grand symphonic sound. It did not work and it blew up in the middle of a
rehearsal.
This piece was presented in
church after the Sunday practice that it was put together. Sir was not there in church but we had a final rehearsal on a Saturday evening and I had decided
to recycle the introduction to end the piece.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 16th March 2022)
Dear Diary,
The Sunday School band was asked
to play in this service again. I felt proud and happy to be able to go and play
music for the church again. I really did love the colourful cover for the program
today.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 15th March 2022)
Dear Diary,
Another examination event came
and I was involved in three groups: the Indian Classical Ensemble, the Indian
Classical Music class, and the Intermediate Ensemble. As customary, the two Indian
Music classes and Ensemble went in the first act of the show. The Ensemble did
three pieces and the class did two pieces we were working on for the whole
semester. There is a copy of the programme saved for public viewing.
During the early parts of the
semester, I had left the Intermediate Ensemble. I was not doing it for credit
and just like Youth Group, I did not want it to take up time that was only going
to suffer me. However, I was still invited to come back and play with the band for
the show and I took the offer. There would be other students brought back on the
final night to pay for more support. The songs played for this ensemble were
Bailando, Diamonds, Iron Love, Allez, Smile Jamaica, Pegate, Obeah Wedding,
Redemption Song, All Aboard and Bacchanalis.
There was a lot that went occurred this day. Mommy was sick and I had to be wakened to rush out in the road to
stop the ambulance for her. Sometime after, I had to get ready and go down to
DCFA to help with the instruments and then down to Dagga for the rest of the
evening. I had to go home to change into Indian wear and come back down to the "Big UWI" (Main
Campus) with my book bag and a separate bag of other clothing to change for the
groups. I did walk with other clothing to change when returning to school for
the packing.
I had to sit with Mr. Maharaj
after he had consulted with his certificate students for us to see who was present
and absent. That was part of the awarding for the final marks. Got verbally
stabbed in my back twice for the night before going onto the stage and then someone
I called a friend sent a verbal sword through my heart that night while
trying not to scream through the pain in my legs. There are still other hurtful
things that would be left anonymous in the Indian Classical Music course. I thank God that I was able to make it through
another torturing night for the Music of the Diaspora exam’.
The edited video recording was created Friday 5th August 2022 and became a DAPHA Project.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 16th March 2022)
Dear Diary,
Today was Easter Sunday. The tune
of Choice for the Sunday School Steelband was “Broken for Me” that I did. It
was easy or the background pans to play. The tenors had the most difficulty
towards the ending. I did leave two measures in the piece as a gift for Zara.
There was something that she usually did in church like a signature in her
music that I found good to add in the score. The service was longer than usual.
I cannot recall if we had practice on that day after the service.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 15th March 2022)
Dear Diary,
It was a weekend in the same
month that I was contacted by a Hillview acquaintance of mine. He asked me to
do some work in music for a friend of his but the task/challenge given to me
was from the perspective of songwriting. The goal of the challenge was to take
the song Congo man and create new lyrics and use the same melody. I knew I was
not good at songwriting but I was still willing to make try.
For this individual challenge
given me to do, I had to study “Congo Man” for a proper first time listening
to the entire song. Next, I tried to take the first verse and come up with
something. I decided that I should focus my attention on one specific topic
because I kept the idea of how calypso can discuss any topic. I was not sure if it
was a good idea to do different topics for each verse., or if I should have
done one overall topic for the entire composition.
The chorus was done over as well.
I was asked to do three verses but instead, I had given eight verses to whoever was to get this creation of mine. I also am not sure if this was used for some
competition, pastime, or may be part of some course assignment for UWI.
A lot of this had to be based on
my experience doing sonnet writing. Some of it seemed to be uneven to the
rhythmic structure of “Congo Man” but I’m sure the person(s) would have been
able to fix it if they did that or had someone else move the words around.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 15th March 2022)
Dear Diary,
This afternoon the Sunday
Schoolers had another function to attend. We were going to play for the
Induction Service of Reverend Anthony Rampersad, to be our church’s minister.
The tune of choice was “Yesu Ni Kaha” which was sung by the congregation at the
previous function. It was the first time that we played it and it felt so
amazing. I was proud of the introduction although it was a huge risk I was
taking. It sounded like music from a movie but not as great as the Jurassic
Park theme song.
