Haragei

Haragei (ha-rah-gay) – literally translated from the Japanese as “stomach art,” or an exchange of thoughts or feelings to express intention and true meaning through implication.

“Haragei” was a chance for us to create vocal duets in a collaborative fashion for us to perform. Both of us are used to a very narrative style of programming, so it was fun to intentionally break from that and create wordless pieces that have no emotional or programmatic motives. (The titles were an afterthought.) We were creating purely based on what might be musically fun or interesting. One of us would write a complete vocal line, record and transcribe it, and email it to the other. Then the second of us would write a complementary line to go along with it. We did very little editing to each others’ contributions. Once we started rehearsing together however, there was a more organic relationship between the sheet music (really a guide at this point) and our performance, and so we’d alter the music to suit how we felt it should be performed. At no time did we feel like we were stepping on each others’ toes – that HE was changing MY music. At that point they became OUR pieces, and we both wanted the best for them.

– Paul John Rudoi and Timothy C. Takach, 2017