Númenna Music Video

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We intended to release this at the same time as The Hobbit premiere but my internet connection was doing funny things. I'm sorry that the quality is really fuzzy and has the strange extra several seconds of black; if anyone has tips on getting videos to upload to YouTube properly, please let me know!

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A few months ago, I sent my friend Julie an email: "So, this is probably going to sound crazy, but what do you think of trying to do a music video in Elvish?"

Most people, I think, would have either backed away slowly or rolled their eyes. Not so my geeky and talented friend.

She spent a while translating Into the West, the song sung by Annie Lennox in the credits of The Return of the King, into Quenya. She began with a version on the website Quenya 101, but took some creative liberties with the lyrics and pronunciation in order to fit the words to the music. Kelsey very kindly offered to accompany the song on the piano.

None of us really knew what we were doing. I was the techie; I used an old keyboard, a Guitar Hero mic, and GarageBand to record the song. We had to do three or four takes before making a recording that did not have any coughs, sniffles, or missed notes. By the end of the final recording that afternoon, Kelsey's hands were shaking and Julie kept taking deep breaths. It was rather funny in a not-funny sort of way, because they were uptight and nervous for a solid two hours of recording-- but I got to relax on my bed and listen to beautiful piano and singing all afternoon.

We got some very interesting background noises that I couldn't totally eliminate-- but it was an experiment! Experiments are allowed to go badly in the hopes that they actually go quite wonderfully.
Julie says that next time we're recording a song that is actually in her range.

The video was a TON of fun to shoot, even though I now know many things that one should never do with a camera. The shakiness... yeah... it's really bad... Hey, this was my first time making a video that doesn't consist of simply pointing the camera at my hands as I demonstrate an arts and crafts technique!

My favorite part of this project? (Besides hanging out with friends, learning to use awesome software, and being unabashedly geeky?) Listening to the song over and over as I edited the video. :)

By the way, the lovely red-and-blue dress was made by Laura Cook, whose blog Sew Many Seams is definitely worth checking out! This was the dress she made me in exchange for the Entwife jewelry.

Here's a little photoshoot we did:

NÚMENNA

Á caita lissë ar lumba carelya

Lóm lantëa; utliel mettann lendava

Á humë sí álen óla quenion tuller nó

Tultëantë olla haira falassello

Man nyénlyo cast? Man nier sinë antalyassë?

Rato istuvalyë ilyë caurelyar autuvar

Varn rancunyats, nalyë er lorna

Refrain

Man polil cen i menllénassë?

Mana i cast i ninq maiwi ramar?

Olla i ëar marya Isil orta

ciryar utlier colien mardenna

Ar lli queruv telp calcanna

Cala i nenessë, ily fear^autar

stel sinta i ambarenna lómva

Ter lëor lantëar t enyal_llo ar lúmello

Áv quet utlielvë sí i mettanna

Ninq falss tultëar, le^ar ni hostuvar ata

Refrain

Ar nauval sís rancunyats, er lorna

Ar lli queruv telp calcanna

Cala i nenessë, sind ciryar autar

Númenna.

Leave a comment if you think that Jules' singing rocks and that Kelsey's piano is awesome-- I'd love to show them your feedback!