All sounds, sequencing and programming created using a Yamaha CX5M 1 computer by Cos Chapman: Norwich 1984.
With grateful thanks to Sarah for her forbearance and to Rebecca with love.
And apologies for cultural appropriation - it was in an effort to understand, honest.

In 1984 I splashed out on a Yamaha CX5M computer. What followed was a four-month burst of musical activity. It came with a keyboard, an editor for its built in four operator FM synth (no pre-sets*) and a score based sequencer**. All that was needed was detailed knowledge FM synthesis and music notation - hmmmmm... Well I already used subtractive synthesis with the lovey EDP Wasp, programmed computers at work, and was (sort of) getting my head around music theory and acoustics via library books. FM synthesis was learnt by first imitating flute, guitar and piano - progressing to drums, wood-blocks, vibraphone and gongs - then pure electronics and evolving textures. These sounds were applied in these 65 short pieces.

The Can series of the same name inspired the Ethnic Forgeries (EF).
I was interested in non-western non-"art" music and as you can hear much was picked up from books without ever hearing the real thing - it was difficult to find “world music” in 80s Norwich. I also tried to imagine the lost music of ancient civilisations, reading about Mesopotamian, Harappan (Indus Valley), Olmec and early Indonesian cultures. We have the buildings, statues and some words, but what was the music like?

The Etudes include attempts at species counterpoint, functional harmony, 12-note serial the techniques and other bits of applied theory. A few years later Antony Pople heard Etudes 61 to 65.

“Who’s this?” he asked,
“Me” I replied.
“Would you like to study Composition?”
My jaw dropped. He was Lancaster University’s Professor of Music. “… er… Yes please…”

But that’s another story…

* It was capable of playing up to eight different sounds at once, with a limit of eight voices: one sound playing eight note chords or eight different sounds playing one note each. There were no pre-set sounds.

** The sequencer/score software used musical notation with things like ties, slurs, fermata, accidentals, bis, accel., rit., pizz, legato, sfz, volume controlled by “pp" and ffff", duplets, and durations from semibreve down to hemi-demi-quaver triplet. A lot about written music was learnt without playing from a score.