Dan Gibson - Kumbaya

Topic: Lullaby - Instrumental
Lullabies are dead, long live the lullaby. That is, technology and marketing are obsoleting mothers’ singing, and replacing it with gadgets. A Canadian team found "infant sleep machines" were touted as de rigueur for nurseries. They were able to buy 14 different devices that provided "ambient noise" to keep infants from waking in the night. [1]

Capitalism expands by creating new markets for existing products, and these essentially were applications of ideas that were new when today’s grandparents were youngsters in the early 1970s. Then, Irv Teibel recorded the ocean at Coney Island [2] for a friend’s film about an aging transsexual. [3] He made an accidental discovery when he was editing the tape to fit the footage:

"Normally while working with loops, he’d have to turn the volume down to stop the sound from driving him crazy, but this one didn’t bother him at all. In fact, the longer the loop played, the more relaxed Teibel felt." [4]

Since his microphones did not capture his mental image of an ocean’s sound, he worked with Louis Gerstman of Bell Labs to rework the tape to produce the "Psychologically Ultimate Seashore." He released that in 1969 on his own Syntonic Research, Inc. album with testimonials to its effectiveness in curing insomnia. [5]

The release of Environments 1 coincided with actual research being done on the effectiveness of white noise in inducing sleep. Most papers were not scientifically rigorous, and at best proved music could help relax people if they were so inclined. [6] It did not matter. Folk science filled the vacuum with theories about entraining rhythms to heartbeats or brain waves that again have not been proven, [7] but did no harm [8] and were cheaper than tranquilizers.

Meanwhile, Dan Gibson was experimenting with microphones in Ontario that would better capture the true sounds of nature. He had discovered the wilds when he was sent to Taylor Statten’s Camp Ahmek in the 1930s, [9] and worked as a nature photographer after World War II. In 1989, he began including music with his commercial recordings of natural environments. [10]

His Solitudes record company tended to call it relaxation music when it sold its CDs on racks in gift stores. [11] Others use the word lullaby because it evokes images of a lost childhood, while the techno-jargon sleep aid comes from the noisy world of school, work, and traffic.

When people imitated his Solitudes’ model with "Kumbaya" as a lullaby, they almost always used a flute with running water. Gibson used both water and bird calls in 2003 with a flute accompanied by a piano.

Performers
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none

Instrumental Accompaniment: Louie Papachristos, flute; Attila Fias, piano [12]

Rhythm Accompaniment: running water, random bird calls

Credits
Traditional
Attila Fias, Arranger [13]

Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: slow

Basic Structure: five repetitions with variations in instrumentation, melody, and key; no intentional changes in volume.

Introduction: bird calls, then running water was added. A short piano section with chords and a few right-hand figures followed.

Repetition 1: flute melody; piano accompany with chords. The only embellishment was two tones for Lord in last line. Constant running water and random bird calls.

Repetition 2: piano melody by right hand, with chords and arpeggios in left hand. It introduced variations in the melody in lines 3 and 4. Constant running water and random bird calls. There might have been some strings in the background.

Repetition 3: deep-toned instrument played the melody with piano, running water, and birds. It sounded too deep to be a flute, was not distinctive enough to be a brass instrument, and had a greater melodic range than a jug.

Repetition 4: flute melody and pianist playing counter to it. The flautist used vibrato in lines 2 and 3. Constant running water and random bird calls.

Repetition 5: flute melody in a higher key with more vibrato. Piano accompaniment simple; may have been augmented by the deep-toned instrument. Constant running water and random bird calls.

End: flute repeated the last line with vibrato, piano played a measure, then running water and bird calls alone.

Notes on Performance
Cover: photograph of a mother with an infant over her shoulder. She was sitting in a white rattan chair with greenery behind.

Audience Perceptions
Gibson’s son entered the company in 1986. [14] Gordon and a friend took it over in 1994 as Somerset Entertainment. [15] With the bubbling of the economy, Somerset went public in 2005. [16] Three years later, just before the market crashed, Fluid Music made a bid to buy, [17] and succeeded in 2009. [18] That company was bought in 2010 by Mood Media, [19] and Somerset was resold in 2013 to another company [20] that was trying to save itself by going farther into debt. [21] Somerset was spun off [22] before Allegro’s assets were sold at auction in 2016. [23]

The corporate history is mirrored in the versions of "Kumbaya" offered by Amazon. Apparently, during the Mood Media period, songs were repackaged in cheap compilations with bad engineering. One buyer complained:

"The worst thing--and it’s not something that makes me want my money back--is the sound quality of a large number of the MP3 files. Bit rates vary between just under 100kbs to just under 220kbs. Fortunately we’re not dealing with highly complicated melodies so the variance in sound quality isn’t critical, but it is unfortunate.

"The good thing about this collection is that it will provide agreeable background music that varies from flute, to Christmas standards, to decent classical excerpts for barely $0.06 per track. If you just want some music that won’t demand your attention while working or relaxing, this collection is fine. It’s not for music critics or audiophiles, but let’s be honest here, does anyone really expect 101 tracks for $5.99 to be a major music release?" [24]

As mentioned in the post for 23 January 2018, companies serving the niche music market were highly variable. Solitudes controlled 85% of the market before becoming the target of more ambitious men. Then it was valuable because it had pioneered new digital marketing tools, not because it had high quality recordings. [25]

Notes on Performers
Fias was born in Budapest and immigrated to Toronto with his family. He had a jazz trio and had worked with Indian musicians. Both experiences may have given him ideas for the sustained accompaniment in "Kumbaya." [26]

Papachristos was the son of a Toronto music teacher. He remembered his father constantly brought home instruments for him when he was a child. He preferred the flute because it "makes beautiful sounds and is an extension of your voice." [27]

Availability
CD: Dan Gibson’s Solitudes. Lullabies: From Nature’s Nursery. Solitudes. Metalworks Studios, Mississauga, Ontario. Released 23 September 2003. [Owned by Somerset]

CD: Relaxing Music: 101 Songs To Help You Relax and Sleep Better Nature Relaxation Edition. Relax Me. 8 February 2010. Downloaded file also called, Christian Children’s Songs. [Owned by Mood Media]

CD: Dan Gibson’s Solitudes. Lullabies: From Nature’s Nursery. Solitudes. 22 October 2013. [Somerset spun off by Allegro]

CD: Chris Beaty and Dan Gibson’s Solitudes. Nature’s Lullaby Collection. Lifescapes. 2016. This is a different recording with crickets, a guitar, and xylophone. Uploaded to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises on 26 July 2016.

End Notes
1. Sarah C. Hugh, Nikolaus E. Wolter, Evan J. Propst, Karen A. Gordon, Sharon L. Cushing, and Blake C. Papsin. "Infant Sleep Machines and Hazardous Sound Pressure Levels." Pediatrics 133:677-681:2014.

2. Wikipedia. "Irv Teibel." The film was Tony Conrad’s Coming Attractions.

3. J. Hoberman. "Tony Conrad, Experimental Filmmaker and Musician, Dies at 76." The New York Times, 9 April 2016.

4. Mike Powell. "Natural Selection: How a New Age Hustler Sold the Sound of the World." Pitchfork website.

5. Powell.

6. K. V. Jespersen, J. Koenig, P. Jennum, and P. Vuust. "Music for Insomnia in Adults (Review)." Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 8, 2015. They found 465 articles in the scientific literature, but only six that met their criteria of rigorous research.

7. Stefan Koelsch and Lutz Jäncke. "Music and the Heart." European Heart Journal 36:3043-3048:2015.

8. Hugh’s team tested the decibel levels of devices sold for use with babies and found some had the potential for harming infants’ ears.

9. Ahmek was in Algonquin Park, Ontario, where Gibson did much of his work.

10. Alan Niester. "Nice and Easy Does It." The [Toronto] Globe and Mail. 31 May 2000, last updated 30 March 2017.

11. Niester.
12. "Dan Gibson: Lullibies from Nature’s Nursery." All Music website.
13. All Music.

14. Catherine Dunphy. Comments occasioned by Dan Gibson’s death. The Toronto Star. 24 April 2006.

15. Kelly Gadzala. "Forest Hill Pals in Tune with Music Market." My Town Crier website, Toronto. 1 May 2008.

16. CCNMatthews. "Somerset Entertainment Leaders Receive Entrepreneur Of The Year Award." Market Wired website. 23 October 2006.

17. "Fluid Music Tables Somerset Takeover Bid ." The Toronto Star, 15 July 2008.

18. Ed Christman. "Allegro Media Group to Acquire Canadian Label Somerset Entertainment." Billboard, 9 May 2013.

19. Wikipedia. "Mood Media."
20. Christman, 2013.

21. Ed Christman. "Hastings Entertainment & Allegro Media Corp’s Different Strategies for Handling Financial Woes." Billboard, 13 June 2016.

22. Natasha Rausch. "Music Distributor Lays off ‘Dozens’ of Employees, Keeps CDs from Labels." Oregon Live website. 9 June 2016.

23. GA Global Partners. Auction notice for Allegro assets.

24. J. V. Donnant. Comments posted 16 August 2010 to Amazon website for Relaxing Music.

25. CCNMatthews.
26. "Attila Fias Trio." CD Baby website.

27. Lorianna De Giorgio. "Papachristos Helps Orchestra Toronto Celebrate 50th Year." My Town Crier website, Toronto. 1 August 2005.