CordaSonora Family

Premium Content

Content in this page is reserved for CordaSonora Family Members and is accessible via the “super-secret password” shared with the family members only. You are welcomed to become one. CordaSonora Family came to be through love and support; the family includes people who have supported us in the way they see fit during our tours, production adventures and live-stream concerts during pandemic.  

The idea of forming a family out of people who believe in us came after the successful GoFundMe campaign for early music instruments the TWB Ensemble held that today we use in many albums we produce. Now supporters of any CordaSonora project between 2018-2020 are considered founding members of the CordaSonora Family, which allow them to gain access to premium content and get to read stories orbiting around music we make, have access to scores related to the albums, get to see the behind the scenes and development stages of various projects via exclusive vlog content and newsletter.

Our family is growing. You can become a CordaSonora Family Member by donating your heart’s desire through PayPal via paypal.me/esiny91 with the text explanation “CordaSonora Family” followed by your name and your e-mail address. If you prefer any other way of donating, you can also contact us to discuss alternative ways. We do not ask for monthly contribution nor we ask a minimum amount. We all give what we can to support art and artists and we believe you will too.

Each month a new Premium Content drops, so make sure to visit this page regularly! Click the button below to become a member now:

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STORIES OF 10 TO 30 MINUTES OF READING TIME, ORBITING AROUND THE MUSIC

(reading order not required to enjoy the works)

Other Premium Contents

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Exclusive for CordaSonora Family Members

PREMIUM CONTENT OF THE MONTH

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History: Part 3

On Martin Codax, Pergaminho Vindel, and Cantigas de Amigo

…Then some of these many many papyruses, parchments, papers and alike survived the fires, the earthquakes, the wars, the destruction, the reutilization, the sneezes and the touches of many many people. But many did not. So when we look at sources from hundreds of years ago, we always have to take into account that what we get to see today is only a fraction of what has been penned down in the first place.

Only with this awareness we can see the holes, the lacunas we have, in the written history and admit to our incomplete knowledge. And only after admitting this, the timeline we picture becomes more close to the reality that we may never know for sure….

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Esin Yardimli Alves Pereira

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Behind the Scenes: Part 6

The Quest Behind RETROQUEST

RETROQUEST is a contemporary, indie-classical, electronica/ambient/instrumental album that combines processed guitar compositions with an everlasting vinyl noise, creating an ambiance that sounds experimental in an inviting manner.

We have been suggested to become game soundtrack developers-composers-musicians by pretty much anyone we love and we cherish all their opinions, comments and suggestions deeply. With this one suggestion though, it is a bit trickier to pursue this specific suggestion than what it seems like from far.

But how does this tie to RETROQUEST?

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Esin Yardimli ALves PEreira

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Behind the Scenes: Part 5

Stories Behind CordaSonora Album Covers

Get to learn the creation process of each of our album covers!

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Esin Yardimli Alves Pereira

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Behind the Scenes: Part 4

On "Bright is the Ring of Words"

Get to learn how one of the most like melodies from “The Songbook of Tchinar” releases came to be based on a poem written in the 19th century! In this article we go through each line of music and word by Esin’s step by step & down to earth explanations, exploring the meanings of each word and its intervallistic counterpart. A perfect article for Tchinar enthusiasts and those curious to compose their own melodies.

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Esin Yardimli Alves PEreira

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Behind the Scenes: Part 3

On "Survivor's Dance"

There are some things I want to say about Survivor’s Dance, the track from The Songbook of Tchinar Vol. 3 (that is yet to come if you are reading this before 2nd of April 2024).

Like with any piece from any Songbook of Tchinar, there is a story behind this one. Sometimes they develop symbiotically with the “A Talk with Tchinar” volumes, and sometimes they gain life on their own. ​

I’ll explain the “psychology behind the scenes” after, but first, “the story behind the piece”:

Imagine you are in a dangerous and dark place. Your confidants are separated from you. You don’t have the strength to fight against the nightmares surrounding you, and the only thing you can do is to buy time while hope is leaving you, not being there for your peers is killing you in its own way by bleeding you out with sharp cuts of guilt, not knowing when they will arrive is haunting you and doubt is growing, as usual, in places where it’s less needed.

You are a musician. So you do what you know the best. You start playing.

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Esin Yardimli Alves Pereira

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Behind the Scenes Part 2

Medieval Manuscripts: 1

Get to learn how TWB works to make their albums! What do we pay attention to while deciphering historical sources, what goes on in our minds, and more.

Examplified with a song from The Wandering Bard’s latest album LEYRIATH: The Tale of Capricornus, which is CSM 330 “Qual é a santivigada”, this article provides friendly insight for those curious on medieval music and manuscripts, with the Códice de los Músicos in its focal point.

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Esin Yardimli Alves Pereira

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Behind the Scenes Part 1

The Photoshoot

A short trip down the memory lane, arriving to earliest memories of The Wandering Bard (TWB Ensemble) that include a Singer sewing machine, an outdoor festival and a good deal of sushi.

(Includes a timelapse video from a CordaSonora photoshoot)

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Esin Yardimli Alves Pereira

History:
A Small Bit of a Very Big Picture:

Alfonso X and Cantigas de Santa Maria

A musical note on itself is very hard to “obtain emotion” from, we need to hear the note in its melodic context to find its meaning, was it high? Low? Long? Short? Followed by many many notes? Was it the only note for a full minute? All those answers related to a note we hear depend on what we had heard right before, and what we will hear after; over time. 

Same applies to a king as well. So I will write a text some might find confusing now. Because history needs a before and an after to be really heard. Its very much like music. It needs time.

So, here we go. El Sabio, the wise one.

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Esin Yardimli Alves Pereira & Ricardo Alves Pereira

History:
Comparing manuscript to medieval notation

Cantigas de Santa Maria N.8

As premium content, we would like to share with you the connection we have with the past and the result of our research done for transcribing the music we will play in modern notation. The modern notation carries the neumes above each musical line, and you can “decipher our way of deciphering this music” thanks to that. 

Those of you who are familiar with Galician, Portuguese, or even Spanish can read through the original Codice de los Musicos manuscript to get the details of the story, and those of you who are not so familiar with either one of these languages can use the Codice Rico edition illumination to remind themselves the story, as the illumination was meant to be created for precisely that in the first place. We hope you enjoy playing, singing, reading or simply looking at this music that comes straight out of manuscripts written more than 800 years ago!

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Ricardo Alves Pereira

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Scores

Examples from a versatile repertoire of collaborations and participations.

Become a CordaSonora Family Member to access full resolution sheet music.

Scoring of the title track from CordaSonora’s latest release “Streams of Tranquility”, which is prepared for the classical guitar player and also for any other musician to enjoy as the original score is followed by the extracted melody, which is the first that will be followed by many.

“I wrote this and many other songs for the children I used to teach in order to provide them various aspects of music such as dynamics and tempo, that orbited around love, care and safety; as they really need to be present around those things.” – Ricardo Alves Pereira

“At that time I was reading Carl Sagan and one of his sentences; “The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”, touched me so profoundly that I was inspired to compose Stardust, linking it to love and unity.” – Ricardo Alves Pereira

Downloadables

Album Cover Wallpapers

Decorate your desktop
with CordaSonora artworks

This month’s premium content was long asked by many; the album artworks of 10 of CordaSonora releases in the format of desktop wallpaper with no additional text; perfect match for those who want to be in the atmosphere of music everywhere.

Available in horizontal and vertical formats, each wallpaper is suitable for computer and cellphone screens.

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Readables

(reading order not required to enjoy the works)

Exclusive for CordaSonora Family Members

by Esin Yardimli Alves Pereira

Notes on my travel: three

By the time I was supposed to set camp I encountered walls that seemed ages old, some mostly buried to the ground, others tall enough to hide sky. I distanced myself swiftly and went down the hill, since I could not check for tracks -night is starless- and I don’t want to trespass in case if this settlement is occupied. Apparently I set camp nearby a brooke, in the distance I hear its song—song? How funny! I am starting to write like they speak; I am beginning to notice music in every sound. 

My wound is healing. I applied some more of the capucha petals. Its been three days since I slept under roof, and I believe I lost trail because in the last inn they had told me I’d be hearing windmill of Meddhila by my thir— 

ENCOUNTER: Had furry ears-spotted neck-white dots over chestnut brown-

2996 words / 10-15 minutes

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BY ESIN YARDIMLI ALVES PEREIRA

A Talk With Tcihnar

Vol.3

And a good afternoon to you, sir, on this fine day, am I glad to arrive here! I felt a joy I haven’t felt for long, once I was walking over the autumn grass, entering this town the other day, I had spend a few days too much in the caves under the fort past week you see, and been looking for your precious store ever since! 

I figured not much of the town folk knows about your collection after a few queries, and now looking at your shelves I see why you don’t advertise, there is priceless works of art laying within these scrolls…

3746 words / 10-15 minutes

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Retold by Esin Yardimli Alves Pereira

The Song of Arva

Magic comes in different forms. It can be smelled in the sap of a tree, it can be tasted in the juices of berries, it can be felt in the flutter of a fairy’s wings or sensed in the glistenings over the sea. On a sunny day magic is warm to touch on the shinestones, and in winter it blossoms in winterblooms. Of course some are keen to hear the Whisper of the Breeze and some keen are talented enough to carry the Word whispered by her, and thanks to them and their words and their music, magic can be heard by the rest of the dryland folk too. 

But the dryland folk, who are created in corporeal forms resembling the Starborns in honour of Queen Nead, could not see magic until Nunium, the Wizard of Leyriath created the first Vision. And this is the story of how it came to be…

7748 words / 25-30 minutes

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Esin Yardimli Alves Pereira

Notes on my travel: two

—First night of waning gibbous, what I presume to be second harvest

The song of map that I heard from the mother of my family still in mind, I kept my destination to my promise and it has led me through the heart of an untamed woodland. The forest offered no path for a long time, but first the sun and then the stars she had mentioned guided me mostly. 

I am rather afraid of starting a bonfire, because so far I have not seen signs of any. What if the trees are sacred and some are not to be burned? Given they don’t even wear animal, I expect a high level of respect towards nature from this society, and I don’t wish to taint an encounterer of mine’s perception with unintentional misfeasance.*

I have found myself a hollow chestnut…

2929 words / 10-15 minutes

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Retold by Esin Yardimli Alves Pereira

The Path of Moonlight

When asked about her powers and whether one could learn the power of words as well as she did or not, the Mistress of Words would smile, nod her head “yes”, and she would say that it was pretty easy. With enough curiosity, one could learn anything easily. And then she would tell this story:

Once upon a time, there was a girl. She had olive skin, curly and flame colored hair and a mighty curiosity for figuring how things worked. For her, magic was in the mechanics, not in the songs and spells. She liked studying all gadgets, tearing them into bits and pieces to really learn how they were made. She could fix all her friends’ toys before she could reach a tavern’s counter; she could even mend the toys that needed winding up that came with all sorts of wheels and gears. And even though she was too short to reach, she loved to be by the counter in the tavern; the tavern in the center of the village by the river Liz on one’s way to Ervarya, for folk of the village would always meet there and they would pass on stories and lore to each other while merrymaking…

8475 words / 25-35 minutes

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Esin Yardimli Alves Pereira

Notes on my travel: one

-Day 3
The beginning is always the hardest. Three days it’s been since I arrived at this farm – of a small community, possibly familial -I began seeing resemblances in their facial expressions since I am gaining back my eyesight. So far I figured out how to say the essentials; the food and drink names, basic words like thank you, sorry, warm, cold, good, bad*; as I write this down the youngest one seems to be curious of my alphabet. He brought me the medicinal tonight, it’s nice to finally be able to look him in the eye and say ‘thank you’ in his tongue. They are friendly and their speach has a strong emphasis on melody, much different than many I heard; it sounds warm, kind and beautiful with variations of musical motives that sound unfamiliar to my ear -but I must put my quill down now. I don’t know when will I be able to find a supplier or what to make ink from in this realm yet, for the time being, so my logs will be short….

3050 words / 10-15 minutes

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Esin Yardimli Alves Pereira

A Talk With Tchinar

Vol.2

Yeah there, have questions or what? With that look on your face? Never seen a scar? 

I can’t believe it, here I am, trying to have a night off, spend some time and share my goods with the most loving people of this town that I just arrived at, and they can’t let me enjoy my mead in peace, can you get me another one? At least you don’t ask questions, madam, a privilege of your job. We talk and you listen; we talk even if you don’t ask questions and you listen even if you don’t want to. Thanks for the refill. 

Is it bleeding again? The crust is still fresh, I know, I’m trying not to touch it but can’t help it. Sorry if I mess up your counter -I will clean it, it’s not like I’m drunk! Not yet at least. Where was I?

5251 words / 15-20 minutes

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RETOLD BY ESIN YARDIMLI ALVES PEREIRA (AND HER FAVORITE SO FAR!)

The Tale of Capricornus

This is a story with a happy ending, and like many other stories with happy endings, it starts with a sad beginning. A beginning so old that it had lost its age in time; countless autumns drizzled rain and dust over it and buried it alive. This beginning reaches us, collected and translated by generations of bards, out of whispers of breezes over the mountains Ayr i Kandir. And sang by the bards too, many a times, to the Capricornus itself, back then trapped and chained to the giants that stood still, shadowing the edges of the Kingdom of Leyriath.

This beginning is of pain and separation, when Ayr i Kandir, twin sons of Terreon rose during the Great Tremor, destroying the Ancient Leyriath and dragging the Children of Maaré away from her aquatic womb, forcing them to the dry lands. The titans rising from their realms, passing through seas of Ancient Maaré, had pulled with them at least one of the Portals of Zodiac, the mighty Capricornus itself, and many of the offsprings of Capricornus.

Few might not know but the Zodiacs, of magic and yet formless, in the times of Ancient Leyriath when…

5320 words / 15-25 minutes

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Retold by Esin Yardimli Alves Pereira

The Song of Lumino

Nobody powerful had actually wished to be powerful but they wished to become powerful; because no power is realized unless needed. They stay still. They rest. They sleep. They wish not to be called upon, because great power can only awaken under grave danger. 

Ask any true hero, they will all say the same. They would all rather the circumstances that proved their unbelievable capacities to not happen in the first place. Great power asks to be needed so strongly that it appears out of nowhere and overrules everything. Great power belongs to heroes and heroines born to misfortunate lifelines; to destinies full of obstacles that need ambition to navigate through, bravery to face fears and powers to overcome deadly tragedies.

But even if some might not have an ending, every lifeline has a beginning, where powers are all resting within, and growth needs time and becoming needs a story. Surely there was a time when Lumino did not know of his powers. And surely there was a time when Lumino had to find out about…

4388 words / 10-20 minutes

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RETOLD BY ESIN YARDIMLI ALVES PEREIRA

The Wizard of Leyriath

All must hold hands when in need. Need can change, as the hand. All must create when the end is inevitable. Creation can change, as the end.

Creation can not be done alone, this is to be, at least for most of us. Creation of one needs two. Creation of mind can not be of one either, as it is of all that is in the mind, beyond the one itself. This is why we all look for inspiration out there. May it be the life that we create, or the story of it, it is always out there, and no creator is alone, since it can not be. It is said that Nunium did not only have more than one in his mind, but also in his heart. It is said that he carried two heart beats instead of one.

This is the story of how that came to be.

Nunium, the one that we know today as the Disciple of Lumino and Adamante, Hermit of Ervarya, Guide of Capricornus and the Wizard of Leyriath, was once not shouldering all the names we know of him today. He was to carry them one day alright, he was to travel to worlds far beyond Leyriath, but not that day.

That day, Nunium, titled of no one of nowhere, was wandering by the banks of the rivers Liz and Lena, in search of the…

5320 words / 15-25 minutes

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Retold by Esin Yardimli Alves Pereira

The Birth of Lumino

It is assumed very naturally of course, that when there is a glorious act, there is a bard present. Because it is a bard’s duty to turn one’s destiny into a legend for all. A bard bends time and emotion and makes the story real by making their audience feel the heartbeat of the hero, the cold of the dawn, the smell of the monster, even in a tavern’s warmest corner. 

But who could tell how it all began for Lumino, the Song of Hope? Which bard was to be present at the ends of the waves, facing beings that once lived through the Great Tremor? Not even the most talented of the Bards of Salyr could swim to the horizon to experience the birth of the greatest hero ever. 

So was thought for thousands of years. Nobody knew how Lumino came to life. Nobody knew how Lumino began his journey, or how did he get to be followed by a shadow larger than his own, on each step he took. 

Generation upon generation, dryland folk and the Salyrians alike, wandered about it, but no bard dared to tell the story. It would be…

2252 words / 5-10 minutes

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BY ESIN YARDIMLI ALVES PEREIRA

A Talk With Tcihnar

Vol.1

Liked that song? Oh my, thank you! Care to help a thirsty musician? 

Who am I, you asked? Ready to drink some more? Well, the music is nice, I know these people -good musicians, the bartender is friendly, why not say yes? Hey Tandra, can I get a refill? As long as you make sure my cup is full, I’ll tell you my story!

Oh thanks for the refill… You are very generous. Well, it is not about “who you are” sometimes you know? Without luck, none of us could’ve made it. I wouldn’t have made it to this inn. You wouldn’t have made it. I’ll start my answer with another question.

What am I? 

I am lucky.

Lucky to be found -more than once -more than twice -by the correct kinda people in the right place -in the right time. It all matters…

4328 words / 10-15 minutes

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