Although diatonic, in that both the G♭ and C♮ appear frequently, yet the number savors much of the pentatonic.
At three places where the singer uses one or the other of the tones foreign to the pentatonic scale, he makes half-step progressions.
In the fourth line of the song we find the single instance in these records, where the performer takes an upward glissando. It is on the two-note embellishment F♮ G♭ shown in the last measure of that line. It is immediately followed by a downward glissando.
Balalognimas
Record II.
Two singers are heard on this record. They seem to be women. Possibly there are more than the two voices. As the song has such a well-defined swing and such a martial character, it must be wonderfully inspiring when given by a large company of singers.
It is cast in the natural minor diatonic scale of C♯, though it is strongly pentatonic in character.
The rhythm is partly 5/8 and partly 4/8, but it swings along so naturally that it seems as if it could not be otherwise.
The distribution of the accents, sometimes falling on the first and third beats and again on the second and fourth, helps to give it a character which puts it in a class by itself. It has the most character of any of the women's songs in this group.
There are several verses to the song almost precisely alike in words and music.