Bonus: The Beat of Three Motherlands

MUSIC: THEME SONG - "IN THE TIMESTORM" (ALTERNATIVE)

Witness. Find. Remember.
The hidden past seeks its dawn, showing us that we belong.
Horacio, Alexa, and Beni take back time, find history in the timestorm.
Witness. Find. Remember

MICHAEL
Hey, hey, listeners. I’m Michael Aquino, audio engineer, sound designer, and composer for Timestorm. You just listened to an alternate version of our theme song—“In the Timestorm”—co-written with creator Dania Ramos and performed by me. Here we are for another bonus installment where we take a sneak peek at the music of Timestorm. This time, we’ll dive into the theme and approach for season two: The Beat of Three Motherlands. 

You might remember from last year’s music episode that my job is to create the music and to make sure the audio sounds balanced and pleasing to your ears. And as a sound designer, I find or create all of the sound effects that paint the action and environments in each episode. 

For this season, I really enjoyed creating what is called Foley. Now, Foley is the art of recording every day, or maybe not-so-everyday, sounds to use in film, TV, or podcasts—like Timestorm. So once a completed script, lands in my hands, I’ll go through and mark the sounds for that episode. For this season, we needed some specific sounds that were not easy to find on sound libraries or websites, which are where I find most of the show’s sound effects. 

So, in order to get those specific sounds, I set-up a microphone and record sounds like—

SFX: A SIGN SWINGING ON A DOORKNOB.

And—

SFX: SOMEONE TAPPING A RHYTYM ON A WALL.

And—

SFX: SOMEONE WRITING.

People who do this type of work for a living are called Foley artists. You can actually watch videos of Foley artists and you’ll see that capturing the perfect sound can sometimes be a real workout.

Now, let’s talk about our approach to the music.

When Dania began outlining Alexa and Beni’s journey for season two, we quickly realized that rhythm would play a very important part of the storyline. Now, you might remember from last year’s music episode how I talked about MIDI, or Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It’s a computer language that allows you to play instruments digitally. I used MIDI a lot in season one in combination with live instruments like guitar. But this year we used drums and other rhythm instruments that are not commonly created for MIDI since we had a lot more live instruments to record.

In episodes twelve and thirteen, when the twins visit land in the year 1810 in what is now called Senegal, we wanted to incorporate sabar drumming, used by the Wolof people as part of their celebrations and other social gatherings. We brought in two amazing West African drummers, Lara Gonzalez and Christopher White, who play traditional drums, including the Wolof sabar drums. Let’s take a listen to one of the rhythm transitions: The Beat, Part One.

MUSIC: “THE BEAT, PART I”

And another transition: The Beat, Part Two.

MUSIC: THE BEAT, PART II”

And here is the rhythm played when the twins attend a baby naming celebration: The Naming.

MUSIC: “THE NAMING”

Next, the twins travel back to Borikén—or what we now call Puerto Rico—in 1488 before the arrival of the Spanish. They witness an areíto—a spiritual ceremony of storytelling, dance, and music performed by the Taínos, the native people of the island. During the areíto, we hear a mayohuacán, or a slit drum. A mayohuacán is a beautiful melodic instrument with different notes or pitches. It’s made from a hollowed-out piece of wood with slats and is played with wooden two sticks. It’s kind of like a wooden xylophone that can be heard for miles. We called in percussionist William Ruiz, an expert player of the mayohuacán, who created the following transition: The Beat, Part Three.

MUSIC: “THE BEAT, PART III”

The Beat, Part Four.

MUSIC: “THE BEAT, PART IV”

And The Beat, Part Five.

MUSIC: “THE BEAT, PART V”

William played traditional rhythms that would have been heard at an areíto. Here’s a bit of the song called Areíto Heketi.

MUSIC: “AREÍTO HEKETI”

And here’s some of the second part: Areíto Yamoca.

MUSIC: “AREÍTO YAMOCA”

In a later episode, the twins attend a festival at Branch Brook Park in their hometown, Newark, New Jersey, where they hear bomba drumming. Bomba is a traditional dance and music style that originated in Puerto Rico. The main bomba drum is typically made from a large rum barrel, or barril, topped with a leather skin. Luis Diaz, a local bomba master, was featured as a guest musician for this episode. Luis plays with the percussion and dance ensemble Segunda Quimbamba. Their mission is to “promote bomba and plena in New Jersey and the rest of the country.” Here’s Luis playing “The Beat, Part Six.”

MUSIC: “THE BEAT, PART VI”

And The Beat, Part Seven.

MUSIC: “THE BEAT, PART VII”

Luis also played the track in this scene: 

FLASHBACK:

BENI
”...the baby-naming ceremony with the musicians circling around the dancers.

ALEXA
It’s kind of like the areíto, too, in a way. 

BENI
I mean, the instruments and the rhythms are different. But, still, it feels like they’re all related.

ALEXA
Related cross time!

END FLASHBACK.

MICHAEL
Let’s hear a bit more of Bomba, Newark.

MUSIC: “BOMBA, NEWARK”

When the twins travel to Spain in 1852, we featured another melodic instrument that can be played rhythmically—the classical guitar. The classical guitar has roots as early as fifteenth century Spain. It looks like a steel string guitar, but it has nylon strings. We invited frequent collaborator and classical guitar slayer, Deivis ‘Deivito’ Garcia to record these transitions. Here’s The Melody, Part Eight.

MUSIC: “THE MELODY, PART VIII”

And The Melody, Part Nine.

MUSIC: “THE MELODY, PART IX”

In episodes seventeen through twenty, I combined rhythms and melodies from the three motherlands: Africa, Spain, and Borikén to create new transitions. It was a way of connecting the dots for Alexa and Beni and their Puerto Rican identity through music. It was powerful to hear these beats, rhythms, and melodies intersect. They may be played on different instruments from different parts of the world, but at certain moments, they sound as if they’re meant to be played together. I’d like to share a bit of that rhythmic combination. I hope you’re ready to move. I even added some of my own MIDI instrumentation to the mix. Here’s a previously unreleased song we’re calling, The Beat of the Motherlands and Beyond.

MUSIC: “THE BEAT OF THREE MOTHERLANDS AND BEYOND”

I think Alexa and Beni were right. These rhythms feel related across time and place.

MUSIC: “LETTER“

We hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes peek at the music of Timestorm, season two: the Beat of Three Motherlands. If you have questions or thoughts about the music and audio of Timestorm, please write to me at cocotazomedia@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you!

MUSIC: “IN THE TIMESTORM” INSTRUMENTAL.

NARRATION
This bonus episode was written by me, Michael Aquino, and edited by Dania Ramos. Audio engineering, sound design, and original music by Michael Aquino. Additional music from this season of Timestorm was performed and created by Luis Diaz, Deivis Garcia, Lara Gonzalez, William Ruiz, and Christopher White.

Timestorm is produced by Cocotazo Media and is a proud member of TRAX from PRX.

If you enjoy the show, ask your parents to subscribe to Timestorm on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or the Kids Listen App.

Timestorm is produced in Essex County, New Jersey, which is situated on the traditional territory of the Leni Lenape people.

As always, thanks for listening.

ATABEY
Witness. Find. Remember.