The Night Market - Minoo Dixon

Performance Notes
Score is transposed.
Accidentals remain in effect for the duration of the measure, only at the octave in which they occur. They are
sometimes rewritten in a measure for clarity.
Blowing air through an instrument when instructed to do so is not meant to be pitched.
Keep the Tale of a Young Grey Wolf in mind while performing The Night Market.
Approximate Duration: eight minutes
Program Notes – the Tale of a Young Grey Wolf
The grinning moon has taken control of the sky. A young grey Wolf looks over the “Seaport”,
drowning in mist as he has lost his way home. A smell… no not just that, a commotion too? The young
grey Wolf follows his senses as it races towards a large wooden gate— and as if the moon is
whispering to him, he reads “The Market”. Suddenly an Antelope asks him if he needs help, and the
Wolf hesitantly answers him as the Antelope uncovers his hands with only seven fingers left. Fear…
Shock… Hunger… surge through the Wolf’s body as the Antelope begins naming prices of his fingers
for the Wolf to consume. The Wolf is lost in a daze, he’s never consumed another animal, yet here’s his
opportunity. “The Finger Seller” pushes him again and again, his pinky worth less than his index
finger, the Wolf starts to salivate. His body brimming with hunger and his mind flooding with hatred
for himself, it becomes overwhelming. Teeth are shown, his mouth gaging open, saliva dripping down
his chin. He chomps his mouth down, the Antelope looks up, he still has all his seven fingers and then
sees the young grey Wolf sprinting into “The Market”.
The young grey Wolf has found himself in the center of The Market. Everything is bustling.
There’s every single type of carnivorous animal is present under the glow of the moon. Almost as if
moving like moths attracted to light, merchants stand with stronger scents draw in more people. To his
right, he sees a stand being flooded as new rabbit hide is being put up. To his left, he begins to hear a
voice call out to him— a merchant. He begins a rapid-fire sales pitch, words come tumbling out,
enticing and enchanting market-goers as they pass by. Louder and louder, the voices of the merchants
grow into a singular chorus…until he turns around to the Merchant.
Much grander than these past merchants, it becomes overwhelming, he can feel his heart, solid
thuds resounding in his chest. The Wolf is swept away by the crowd of carnivores flooding the stand.
Stranded in the middle of the market, he notices four tiger merchants switch their attention the young,
stumbling Wolf. They’re a rambunctious bunch, but they move in chaotic symbiosis, calculatingly offbeat
as they sway towards the wide-eyed Wolf. From behind one tiger’s back, a loosely wrapped cloth
appears in his paw.
The Wolf inhales.
The stench of a lamb. The Merchants push it onto him once, then again, and on the third beat, the
young grey Wolf falls into his temptations.
As the Wolf leaves The Market, he hears the tigers fade into the distance as they sell to another
customer. He finds himself back where he started, the “Seaport”, with the moon grinning above him
like a devilish cat. In his left hand, he grips a bloodied muslin cloth. As the mist parts in the horizon,
he makes out the faint glow of dawn. Somewhere in his mind, he remembers yearning for home. Yet
he stands rooted, as the silence and the hollowness of the disappearing Night Market consume him.
~Written by Minoo Dixon & Nguyen Pham
© 2020 by Andrew "Minoo" Dixon. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright secured Copying or reproducing this document in whole or in parts violates the
Federal Copyright Law.
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