Our SCA activity in 2002: news and pictures

Jan 2002: South Downs 12th Night - Powder Springs, GA

We played a few tunes during the feast. First (unannounced) public performance of "Marco Polo".

Feb 2002: Midwinter A&S Faire - Hampton, GA

Barony of the South Downs. We performed "Üsküdar Gideriken" during the day. The judges gave us high marks for our performance! Kamuran, Sherifa, and Sabah also played at the hafla, hosted by Blodwen, Amber, and Isabetta from Tribe Zareefat.

Feb 2002: Saltare - Birmingham, AL

Hosted this year by the Barony of Iron Mountain. Some of us taught classes during the day: Chandani taught full-figured dancing and dancing with veils, Sabah led a class on adding melody to drum circles; Sherifa taught three of the dances she created for songs on DWI, Haaziq did an impromptu class on men's Middle Eastern dance, and Kamuran did a basic class on playing doumbek.

At the hafla, we played some of our songs as performance pieces, and the rest of the time accompanied an arc of fifteen or so drums. We were also joined by a master musician, our friend Albert Cofrin, known in the SCA as Master Avatar of Catsprey. He played an Arabic 'ud, very similar to those used in the 15th century, both at the hafla and at the "Romeo and Juliet" ball for European dance.

Apr 2002: Spring Coronation - Royal, AL

This one was for Artan and Hanna'. We played at the revel accompanied by several other musicians - players of both melody and percussion. Sherifa's last performance with us before moving west.

May 2002: Lusty Month of May - Whitesburg, GA

Incipient Shire of Tal Mere. An event with a light-hearted theme and extreme weather! Three years ago it was HOT. Last year it was WET. This year it was COLD and WINDY. Chandani and Haaziq taught classes during the day and we played during feast.

Chandani again taught Frisk the Eunuch (like last year, this was VERY popular) and we played while the young ladies danced 'round the Maypole and wrapped the willing victim with colorful ribbon. Night fell and we hosted a hafla by firelight where Haaziq and Javaria served up what we'll call "enhanced" watermelon.

The music ran until about midnight - until degenerating into bawdy bardic songs (have you ever had anything quite like a moose?) and debauchery with cloven fruit (heh heh heh, yum yum). You won't see any pictures from the hafla, it was after dark - and you just had to be there...

Pictures

*	The full version of the one above, our friend Nyssa with two swords; behind her are Kamuran (out of image), Haaziq, Javaria, Apsara, Tariq, and Sabah, with Chandani standing in back [view]
*	Nyssa and two young ladies dancing to our music [view]
*	Another look at the two young lady dancers [view]
*	Band members, left section, with Nyssa behind [view]
*	Band members, right section [view]

(Credit for all photos at this event: John Beckett)

May 2002: Kingdom Arts and Sciences Faire - Millbrook, AL

Hosted this year by the Barony of the South Downs. On Saturday night, we played for a small, but appreciative crowd and encouraged plenty of dancing.

On Sunday morning, we entered two performance pieces into the Faire. The first was a reverential Islamic chant from the 7th century. Photo by Emmachia >>

Haaziq and Javaria opened on frame drums with a matching background chant... il o wa, il o wa, le i le he il o wa... Then Tariq started playing softly over that on flute.

After the flute solo, Kamuran sang a meandering high-pitched solo with the flute complementing it here and there. This was quite unlike anything we'd ever performed before and unlike anything most of the audience had ever experienced in person before. It came off really well! We received many compliments. *G*

Our second entry was an updated version of our rendition of "Üsküdar Gideriken". Some of our fans said they missed the sound of the hammered dulcimer (Sherifa had recently moved on to a new life in a faraway land). To enhance the authenticity we used no amplification - and frame drums instead of goblet drums. We did pretty well on this piece too.

Many things happened at the event, but some brief highlights were: the dinners (superb on both nights), the dancing (always fun), and the other Faire entries (all kinds of cool stuff).

Jun 2002: Arabian Nights - Pensacola, FL

About half of the band attended. No set concert this time, just mostly noodling. No pictures from this one, we played indoors and the lights were turned down very low. We met a few merchants and the organizer of two new Renaissance Faires in that region. We played at the Faire held at the Mobile Zoo in November 2002.

Jul 2002: Royal University - Cloudland, GA

Hosted this year by the Barony of Thor's Mountain at Camp Adahi. No concert, but Johara taught a dance class! Kamuran led some informal drumming that night and taught two drumming classes during the day.

Sep 2002: Coronation - Winder, GA

Hosted by the Barony of Bryn Madoc. What a wet event! It sure was nice to be able to play indoors. We were quite pleased to have a number of ladies dancing to our music - especially those better known for their skill at European dancing! We were having so much fun we didn't take any pictures... oops!