Plonsey was asked to speak about his recent activities. He sighed.

"Well, I finished this piece, Kabaddi Season, about seven months ago, though I've made a few minor changes since. I might still decide to re-master it. I started work during my last visit to my father before he died, and put it together during a year in which I felt I was living under a shadow of physical and mental deterioration -- real or imagined; also while feeling that my professional lives -- both as a teacher and as a musician -- have been meandering around according to some process I don't understand or appreciate." Plonsey paused to sneeze, and then to notice that the sponge he'd just used -- to mop up strawberry juice that was attracting fruit flies to his cluttered kitchen table -- was mildewy, and that now he'd have to wash his hands. Plonsey sighed again. "The whole thing is really..." Plonsey was then informed that people might be interested to know what had inspired Kabaddi Season. "Oh, I don't know." Plonsey rubbed his left eye. His allergies were acting up. "File under: Microtonal Pygmy & Balinese Techno Ornette-inflected Dance Music."

I've been driving around listening to this music, wondering what you all will make of it. It wasn't so much written as sculpted: I constructed approximately 50 drum loops, using samples of a Roland TR-808 drum machine, and about the same number of tenor saxophone loops made from single notes and short phrases excerpted from three improvisations. I made three or four copies of each of the single notes, tuning each one-third of a half-step below the last. I used the free program Audacity to assemble the composition, cutting and pasting sounds by hand. The completed drum loops were stitched together according to a scheme which assured that each loop would be heard in each of the three sections of the piece. The saxophone loops were ordered independently from the drums, according to a repeating sequence of found and invented poetic forms (e.g., AABC CBAB), to balance repetition with novelty. Next, I poked dub-style air-holes into both drum and saxophone tracks, made a couple bits line up, and replaced a few other bits I didn't like.

Kabaddi is a sport which combines tag with wrestling, originating in ancient India. To win a point for his team, a raider takes a deep breath, runs into enemy territory, tags one or more members of the opposing team, then must return without being wrestled to the ground -- proving that this is accomplished on a single breath by chanting, "kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi..." throughout. However, any connection(s) between the sport and the music are almost entirely coincidental. Kabaddi is my eighth "Season" piece.

-- Dan Plonsey, July 17, 2015, El Cerrito