Derrik Jordan: Home
Derrik Jordan is an award-winning composer and singer-songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist (electric violin, guitar, keyboard and percussion) and recording artist.
"Derrik Jordan is something of a one-man musical force of nature." -Vermont Sunday Magazine
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He performs his songs solo as a singer-songwriter and instrumentally on the 5-string electric violin under the name SuperString Theory and in many groups including Tony Vacca and the World Rhythms Ensemble, Impulse Ensemble, Zabap!, Natural History, FunkyTown and Simba.
Living in the hills of beautiful southern Vermont, he sings and plays throughout the northeast USA.
You can find all of Derrik Jordan's CDs and mp3's of his recordings at http://www.cdbaby.com/all/jordan and at I-Tunes and many other download sites.
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What's happening?
I have been writing world fusion/classical music for the past couple of years, taking my African, Asian, Middle Eastern and Brazilian musical influences and creating pieces for classical musicians.
As I announced in my last newsletter - I was chosen to be the the featured composer for the Vermont Symphony Orchestra's 2009 "Made In Vermont" Fall Festival Tour. I was commissioned to write a 12 minute piece for the VSO chamber orchestra. This year is the VSO's 75th anniversary and Vermont is also celebrating the 400th anniversary of the discovery of Lake Champlain by Samuel de Champlain. The VSO wanted a piece about the lake and I thought it would be nice to write something that paid respect to the Abenaki, who after all were here long before the French explorer decided to name a beautiful lake after himself.
The piece I wrote is called "Odzihozo And The Lake." Who is Odzihozo you might ask? Well, he is a supernatural being of Abenaki legend who created himself from the leftover dust that fell from the Creator's hands. He was pretty clever at making himself but somehow he forgot to make himself legs. So he dragged himself over the land, pushing up mountains and gouging out rivers and eventually made Lake Champlain, which he considered to be his masterpiece. In fact, he liked it so much that he decided that he would stay there and watch over it forever, so he turned himself into a rock island that sits in the Burlington Bay. The piece tells this story in music.
The piece was performed in 10 locations around Vermont in the fall of 2009. It was a lot of fun writing it and I learned a lot in the process. It is written for a chamber orchestra of 28 musicians, which includes one flute, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 french horns, violins, violas, cellos, bass and a percussionist who plays vibraphone, timpani, bass drum and cymbal. I have worked two Abenaki musical themes (a greeting song and fragments of friendship song) into the piece to honor the Abenaki people and their connection to the lake and to Ndakinna ("our land"), which is their name for Vermont.
It's hard to believe that it was only back in Feb 2008 that I had the premiere of my first world fusion/classical piece, "Four Unknowns" for string orchestra and percussion in Bennington, VT with The Sage City Symphony.
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And on another composerly note:
I am very pleased to announce that I was awarded the Shakuhachi Chamber Music International Prize 2008 for "Sky Mirror," a piece I composed in February 2008 for shakuhachi, string quartet and electric guitar with effects. The composition contest was held to encourage the writing of new chamber works that included shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) with other traditional orchestral instruments to expand the chamber music repertoire for shakuhachi, "Sky Mirror" was premiered in a concert in December 2008 in Melbourne, Australia.
If you are interested you can go to their website to see for yourself. http://www.shakuhachichambermusic.net/index.html
Are you curious what world fusion/classical music sounds like? You can listen to the third movement of "Sky Mirror" on the top of my music page on this website or just click on the top of this page to hear a recording of excerpts from a number of my pieces beginning with the opening from "Odzihozo And The Lake."
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You can listen to, look at, read about and buy all of Derrik Jordan's CDs at CDBaby.com!!!
http://www.cdbaby.com/all/jordan
"SuperString Theory Goes To Senegal," featuring Derrik's world fusion 5 string electric violin was written and recorded in Senegal and Vermont. You can order one by sending $17 (includes S&H) to Worldsoul Records, PO Box 403, Putney, VT 05346.
What people are saying about "SuperString Theory Goes To Senegal" -
"...a world of sound so harmonious and brilliantly compatible that a truly diverse and universally human vision is brought into existence." -CD Baby
"If you listen to this CD at one sitting, you will realize (at least a little of) the magic involved in creating music - especially music that forms bridges between cultures." -Rotcod Zzaj
“One of the best CDs of 2007" says the Indie Acoustic Project http://www.indieacoustic.com
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