Mikhail wins the 2022 Dolphy Prize with his work Ton yo han mek Fashan

2022 Dolphy Prize Winner

We are pleased to announce the 2022 winner of the Dolphy Prize- Professional Category, Dr. Mikhail Johnson.

His work for bass clarinet and marimba, Ton yo han mek fashan (2020/21), was described by one Dolphy Prize reviewer as “mesmerizing and masterful.”

The piece will be available for purchase in the Alea Publishing catalog in 2025. In the meantime, listen to the world premiere recording, performed by Transient Canvas, the ensemble which commissioned the work.

This piece is inspired by two instruments found in the Jamaican Mento Band. The first is the rumba box or in other countries called the marimbula. It is like a large thumb piano, and it provides the "bassline" of the band. This instrument has only five to six fixed pitches tuned like a scale, so the bass is implied as it will not always be in tune with the other instruments. It however, adds great rhythmic effect. The second instrument is the clarinet. Although a familiar Western instrument, in this context, the sounds produced are very bold, honky, reedy, earthy, unrefined, as the instrumentalists are self-taught. Nevertheless, they produce highly virtuosic improvisatory themes, or improvisations on folk songs; full of character and life congruent to the moment in which this mento music is being played.

The marimba mimics the rumba box very well, and the bass clarinet is already of the clarinet family. The advantage of these two instruments lie in their extended upper/ lower ranges, making it possible to play with the dynamic of their interaction. Starting from the traditional role of melody-accompaniment, I reverse, warp, or even abandon these roles so these instruments can even represent other instruments found in the mento band (i.e. the guitar, banjo, or drums). The result is somewhat a set of variations on the theme of a two-man band.