Finding the right music for my trapeze act The Owl proved unsuccessful so I approached my friend Tamara Taylor, a classical Middle Eastern musician, to compose a frame drum piece especially for it. After a trapeze and drum jam session together (very fun) we got excited about using a Moroccan trance rhythm as a base and adding in all kinds of different sounds and instruments to create a hauntingly rich and textured soundscape to describe the different parts of the piece: the awakening, the frenzy and release.
Tamara’s husband Mike did sound production and played the tapan drum for the bass rhythm and also ney (Persian flute) for the soft and gentle release at the end of the track. Tamara played her Moroccan frame drum, Persian daf drum and also used some shells and seeds to create textured sounds. She also recorded of my breath and used a real owl call to give life to the track.
See here for the video of ‘The Owl’ trapeze act where you can also hear the musical track.