To fill in the gap in of nearly 5 years that followed the unsuccessful first 2 mods of Gaucho (February 2002) and the renewed trials in the lab (January 2007), here is the next track from Steely Dan’s Gaucho album – ironically titled Glamour Profession… True, it’s pretty glamorous if you ask me, being able to sit on an idea for 5 years and not be bothered by anyone...
I personally prefer the recorded version, which I invite you to listen to as long as you ignore the photo montage (sorry for repeating myself but this is really important; just close your eyes and make your own story board in your head; or read the lyrics as you listen. Do whatever you possibly can to always avoid watching photo montage from Youtube...
I have left for the Pampas as soon as the spark was lit. I first went on a short expedition trip and explored the lands with whichever tools I had with me. I jumped right at the vision of bonfires, ponchos, Asado, gray wool blankets, horses and cows grazing on dry thorny grass, and pretty much everything that I personally associated with the South America cowboy and could somehow relate to scent or texture...
In the very beginning, besides my imagination and vision for the perfume, I had only limited essences that seemed appropriate for achieving what I wanted. All I had was the exotic South American woods to play with, along with some smoky notes. Some other materials I couldn’t even think of at the time as I haven’t smelled them yet. Guiacwood, rosewood, cabreuva, this is where I started. Rosewood seemed too lighthearted for what I was looking to achieve, so I stuck to the guiacwood and cabreuva and added Virginian cedarwood to the top notes, to accentuate the smoky elements I was trying to play up.To this I added tobacco and cade to create and even smokier, leathery impression which was what I mostly associated with the concept of a gaucho; and costus for an animalic presence. For no clear reason, I’ve included basil, a note that seems completely out of place now, many years later… Thinking back I’m not sure what was I thinking putting it in there. Perhaps it was to represent the grassy elements of the landscape. Whatever the reason was, it did not seem to do justice to the blend at the time. It created too much of a dissonance with the other elements. To sum it up, here’s the list of notes for my first Gaucho attempt:
Top notes: Cabreuva, Virginian Cedarwod, Basil, Juniper Heart notes: Guiacwood, Allspice Berry, Clary Sage, Rose Geranium Base notes: Cade, Costus, Peru Balsam, Blond Tabac, Vanilla Absolute
5 maturation years later (for both me and that jus…), I have to say that this first Gaucho attempt does not seem so bad at all. The basil does add a bit of grassy and fresh linalool element at the opening that I now find interesting and not as out of place and dissonant as it did back than. This first Gaucho mod is very similar (not surprisingly, if comparing the elements in both) to Espionage, but with the additional herbaceous green notes. Still yet, I think it is a bit too muddy and I’m happy that I have, after this initial failure, decided to wait several years until the right time and let the ideas evolve within me.
I even tried an identical version with added champaca, hoping this will smooth out the composision, but alas, it made it too sweet, albeit somewhat reminiscent of a different perfume I’ve created that same year – Rebellius.
And now comes the song to soundtrack this part of the journey - Hey Nineteen, about a love affair with a 19 year old that is practically doomed, just like jumping at a perfume theme without knowing what you're doing... I'm posting this link from Youtube because of the music not the visuals; although I'm very thankful for the photomontage artists out there who put a lot of good songs out on Youtube, I can't say this artform is my cup of tea. So do me a favour and hit play and move on to read the rest of the blog entry please...
The creation of every one of my perfumes is signified by a succession of events that typically evolves as follows: a spark of inspiration lights a fire that feeds itself - an unexplained desire and longing, which in my case grows stronger and stronger the further I am away from reaching it. It is best defined as an obsession. And as most obsessions do, they are followed by a compulsive behaviour that is designed to settle that obsessive thought and bring it to peace and resolution.
Gaucho started with Steely Dan’s album of that name. I will let you on one secret: if there is any band I would seriously consider acting like a groupie around (well, I don’t think I would waste my time considering if I would ever meet them in person…) it’s Steely Dan. And it has very little to do with how the two musicians that form that band look (both are certainly not what you would typically refer to as good looking). There is something oddly powerful and particularly mysterious about their music. And lyrics. Which leave a lot to the imagination and therefore are both seductive and personable.
But let’s get back to Gaucho and why it stirred a perfume inside me. It is not particularly the theme song, but rather the general mood of that album that to me is the epitome of that distant/internally charged mood, and somehow the songs are all connected to each other. Most of the songs in Gaucho create an atmosphere of emotional distance that is disturbingly heart aching, as if you are watching a film, only that this film is about yourself.
The other part of the inspiration was that of smoky woods from South America. Namely Guiacwood, though this is not the only unusual South American wood I had in mind. The smoky, honeyed waxy rosiness made me want to create a perfume that smells different, and will evoke the proud loneliness of a gaucho in the middle of the deserted grasslands, surrounded only by animals and a vast silence not to be disturbed by a word but only the sounds of whispering grass, small explosions of branches caught on fire, the cries of animals...
There an than, between those two flintstones - the urban sound of Steely Dan and the woody essences from South America - flew the spark that started the search for my Gaucho perfume…
Spring 2008 will bring two new perfumes from Ayala Moriel: Gaucho and Gigi. Gaucho will be accompanied by a matching tea, based on Yerba Mate. Gigi is a limited-edition gardenia soliflore, the newest addition to The Language of Flowers - Ayala Moriel's Soliflore collection. The following posts will be dedicated to Gaucho - the perfume and the tea. Gaucho was a particularly difficult to conceive perfume, for various reasons, and I would like to share with you some of my experience of this 6 year journey that took me to create it. There will also be some guest appearance blog entries by Dawna Ehman, who created the Gaucho Perfumed Tea. So tune in for an exciting series surrounding mate, bitter herbs and the story behind the scenes of creating this perfume...
The first rain in a desert country is something extraordinary. There is a word for it in our language, “Yoreh”. After the dead-dry months of dust and dried straw and broiling sun, the earth responds to the rain gratefully by releasing a haunting aroma and setting free the many seeds that are buried within her. They will sprout as early as the next day, and within a couple of days, the earth is covered with teeny signs of life of many species. The most significant plants, besides the bright green grass against the rich brown soil, are the Autumn Crocuses, aka Sitvanit ha-Yoreh (Sitvanit is from Stav, the Hebrew word for Autumn, and the Yoreh is the first rain). In other words – the Autumn Crocus of the First Rain.
The other species is a type of bluebell, which is called “Rain Bells”. A very modest sibling to the European species, as these flowers are tiny and quite rare. They don’t grow in groups as the European ones do, so one must remember where they emerged in previous years to find them.
After nine months of the best pregnancy I could ever wish for myself (or any other woman), and after 22 hours of labour (which I would happily fast-forward if it was only possible), on October 29th, 1996, at 12:50am, my 9 months and 22 hours odyssey to motherhood had reached its destination, and a beautiful girl took her first breath, which most likely had smelled of a combination of wheat germ oil in a hospital... That very night, the Yoreh had knocked on the roofs of the Western Galilee, and clenched the thirst of the dry earth. Two days later, when we came back home from the hospital, the earth was covered with the spouting grass. My mother and brothers came to visit. The clouds had already cleared (that’s what they do around the Mediterranean), and in the late afternoon and the magic hour just before sunset, the warm Autumnal sun has glowed on our euphoric faces and the little fruit-of-the-womb. We went for a leisurely stroll among the olive orchards and observed the same golden light glowing through the rare petals of Autumn Crocuses and Rain Bluebells with a peaceful feeling of wonderment in our hearts.
I am telling this as I am biting into the last creamy guava that has been scenting my house for the past couple of days. The scent of a guava fruit instantly reminds me of these first weeks ten years ago. The baby and me were fortunate to enjoy the nourishing abundance of Autumn fruit. My mom spoiled me with only the best of them: guavas, anonas (aka custard fruit), persimmons, pomegranates and the very first tangerines of the season – perhaps not quite ripe enough, but no one cares. The first tangerines are a symbol of autumn and the first days of school. They are still rather green on the outside but already ripe enough to enjoy, especially if you are a kid.
In summer 2004, I felt it was time for me to bottle that special magical hour and that magical autumn. I wanted a perfume that would be glowing like the diagonal sunrays just before sunset; I wanted it to be abundantly fruity; I wanted it to be as sweet as a baby’s breath, and tender as the scent of a newborn crown.
I overcame the challenge of the composition by using a few unusual essences to compensate for the limited fruity palette of the Natural Perfumery Organ (guava note was out of the question, unfortunately): The precious oil of Yuzu, an exotic Japanese citron with an intensely fruity, citrusy, bright aroma (reminiscent of grapefruit and Clementine combined, but much better) as the main fruity note along with black currant buds absolute. For the heart, I chose mostly white florals, that all have a hint of fruit and are sparkling and lively: Jasmine Sambac, Hyacinth Absolute, Ylang Ylang and Frangipani. The base is milky and musky, with notes of ambrette, Atlas Cedarwood, Sandalwood and a tad of vanilla. The results were an instant success with the first trial. I had to later on eliminate the hyacinth, as it is a very unusual building block and very difficult to find. However, omitting it did not make a significant difference on the perfume. It still smelled like “Tamya”.
The challenge was with picking the name. I was chasing my tail trying to find nice French or Italian names for “Golden Dusk”, “Fruit of the Womb”, etc. Sometimes, the simplest things just stand in front of us and we stare through them blindly… After a while it dawned on me that I should simply use the name of the muse for this perfume: Tamya. And so it remains to this day.
