Background Music

Free Background Music 32: The Hidden Path

longzijun5 Comments

The Hidden Path is the 32nd song in the Free Background Music series. The full version of the song is 11 minutes long. A seven-minute version of the song is also available.

The song is influenced by some African styles, most notably Juju music. If you are interested in finding out about this music form, King Sunny Ade is a good place to start.

You can find the East African music influences in The Hidden Path in the way that the song:

  • Relies on a strictly pentatonic scale. In this song’s case, the scale is related to C minor and only includes the notes C, E flat, F, G and B flat. This means there most of the traditional triads found in Western chord progressions cannot be formed. For example, the typical C minor chords of ii (D diminished), iv (F minor) and VI (A major) would need an A, while v (G minor) and VII (B flat major) would need a D.
  • Emphasizes the interplay between melodic instruments playing rhythmic, repetitive lines and percussion instruments of offering a kind of melodic counterpoint through the use of different pitches and timbres. The distinction between melody and rhythm is slightly blurred.
  • Features a song structure that doesn’t really on the usual verse chorus and bridge structure. It focuses more on the different kinds of grooves created by combining melodies and rhythms.

Of course, there are electronic music influences as well, such as the music in the album by David Byrne and Brian Eno—My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (which is also influenced by African timbres and rhythms). The Hidden Path was composed as a companion piece to my most popular song: Dreams, which is loosely inspired by Balinese Gamelan music.

The song was recording using Cakewalk’s Home Studio. Most of the parts were played on a Korg M50 synthesizer. I also played alto saxophone in one section. The percussion parts were mostly created using pre-recorded hits and loops.

Duration: 11:00 (full version) & 7:08 (short version)
Tempo: 115 bpm

Short Version (7:08)

Terms of Use

As with the other songs in the Background Music series, this instrumental work can be used for free in non-commercial projects and in YouTube monetized videos (that are otherwise non-commercial in nature) as long as credit is provided (‘music by longzijun’). For more information about the terms and conditions for using the music, you can refer to the detailed Terms of Use.

Music Download Links

The Hidden Path (full version)

The Hidden Path (seven-minute version)

Related Song in the Series

About the Video

Lee Chan
Lee Chan

The video features Lee Chan. who choreographed and performed the dance, which combines classical ballet, contemporary dance and yoga. Teresa Ng helped shoot the footage. Lee also features in the video for Free Background Music 35: Broken.

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5 thoughts on “Free Background Music 32: The Hidden Path”

  1. “The Hidden Path” (background music by longzijun) is so beautiful. The video was such a pleasure to watch with Lee Chan performing so professionally. Her mastery of dance (and her ‘pointed feet’) are just pure perfection. Thank you all for sharing this very enjoyable video. It was wonderful! I loved it so much!

    • Thanks for commenting. The feet is one thing I noticed when editing the video (I know next to nothing about dance). I also noticed something when I was taking photos that day–the jumps, like the one in the photo on this page, look graceful, but that split second of landing, where the dancer is absorbing the shock and gaining her balance, is anything but delicate and elegant. I find it interesting that when a dancer is in motion, those ‘ugly’ moments can slip by unnoticed.

      • Yes, longzijun, the feet are the most important thing in dance and usually marks a real dancer.
        I would have like to see her do more of her jumps (and more turns as well), but the length of her dress probably prohibited much of that. But just watching her, you could see that she has mastered her art with so much grace and skill. Your music is wonderful as always and your ‘variety’ of pieces is so nice to listen to as well. Thank you again for sharing. Hugs, Lyn

  2. Hi. We use one of your clips on our videos and credit “Music by Longzijun”. I need to know how you pronounce this for our audio description track. Can you send a clip or sound out in text? Thanks!!

    • Hi, the vowels are the ‘o’ ‘lone’, the ‘i’ in ‘pin’ and the ‘u’ in ‘pun’. I normally put the stress on the first syllable. The pronunciation isn’t too important as it is just a pseudonym :)

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