Described as “Cylindrical whiskers with a metallic luster” by my colleague John Jaszczak who first discovered merelaniite, named in honor of the miners in the Merelani hills of Tanzania where the first analyzed specimens came from.

Merelaniite lacks the eye-catching qualities of the big colorful gems that the workers toil to unearth in the area’s underground tunnels, but its intricate beauty reveals itself when viewed up close. Under a microscope, merelaniite’s layers look like delicate paper rolled into a scroll, a rare structure in the mineral world.

-John Jasczak

I was drawn to John’s description of the beauty of the gem “revealing itself when viewed close up”, as well as images of “cylinders and whiskers” which were very interesting to me. To express this musically, I had each of the players live in their own musical “cylinder” with tiny gestures or “whiskers” that emerge with changes occuring subtly and slowly over time.