During the climactic scene of the Dark series we find a tremendous arrangement of the song “What a wonderful world” by Louis Armstrong, adapted for a female voice and in a rather dense setting.
I will start by mentioning that to achieve a feeling of heaviness in the work, they build the chords in the low zone of the sound spectrum, and this is key to achieving this sensation, since the harmonics of the lowest note tend to prevail over the other notes. (which are built in a middle or acute area of the sound spectrum). But by putting two or three bass sounds together we will feel a conflict of harmonics that could sound very diffuse (but for the concept of the series it is perfect).
The tonality is the same as the original song (F), this decision is peculiar, since adapting a work to a female voice would imply a rise in tone, but when rising in tone, the heavy sensation of the accompaniment could be lost (some sounds would enter the medium register and lose that effect).
The theme has 2 sections: The harmony of the first section goes as follows:
F - Am | Bb - Am | Gm - F | A7 - Dm | N.C. | Bb - C | F |
Here it should be noted that in the measure where there is no N.C. (no chord), a Db7 sounds in the original, but it is obviated to generate expectation, uncertainty and at the same time avoid that peculiar sensation of this tritonic substitute, which tends to embellish the work and give it a typical jazz sound. The second section goes like this:
C / G | F | C / G | F | Dm - C | Dm / A - C | Dm / A - C | Bb - C |
The use of the C / G and Dm / A inversions is very successful, since they maintain a movement of the most singable bass, without making abrupt jumps, to be precise, move a just 5 ° from C to F. It is also necessary to consider that these investments is that they tend to make the presence of a more serious fundamental felt.
Finally, note the tremendous expressiveness of Anja Plaschg (singer of Soap & Skin) who made subtle variations to the original melody in favor of the arrangement, as at the beginning, instead of intoning the notes C and E (which are possibly outside her vocal range ) prefers to sing G and F respectively, and considering that the chord that sustains it would be C7, it leaves us the first note as part of the chord and the second as a preview. The other thing is that the phrase “What a wonderful world” harmonizes it to at least for that moment feel something pleasant within the whole musical storm in which this arrangement surrounds us.
Successes
Social Media Author: Pablo Bobadilla Rider
