Kretenzische dans = Cretan dance, 1970 - 1982

This intriguing song is truly international. Oosterhuis' text is a translation of a Chineses poem; Huijbers' melody is derived from a French opera by Ravel, L'enfant et les sortileges - The child and the Sorcerer (the tenth movement in part one, Adieu, pastourelles - Farewell, Shepherdesses); and Huijbers inspiration was drawn from the ancient Minoan folk culture of Crete, the whimsical song forms of the mantinades, which sing of love and hate, joy and sorrow, life and death, humor and drama. This song is a lamentation, a keening, which sings of desolation. The pulse of the musical setting resonates with the slow drama of the Cretan cafe. Dramtically poignant, it is accompanied by a free-form flute descant. Coincidentally, the transvers flute was first seen in 9th Century BC Chinese art. This is an open-form strophic song. Its verses are of uneven length, and an assembly refrain has been integrated as the final line of each stanza. In this refrain, the choir and the assembly echo the age-long dirge of women being left to bear the ravages and tragedies of war. It could be identifie as being in the Phyrgian mode. - Tony Barr