Terry Riley composed "Barabas" for the Bath International Guitar Festival in 1997. It is the third work in his Abbeyozzud series of works for solo guitar, multiple guitars or guitar in ensemble, each of which celebrates Spanish music and its traditions. In the Bible, of course, Barabas is the man whose release a crowd demanded of Pilate, leaving Jesus to be crucified; but according to Riley it was the angular, ascending sound of the name that inspired him rather than the biblical story.

Appropriately, Riley has written a work whose main feature is its angular, ascending melodies. The work uses a quasi-chromatic scale related to a north Indian classical scale, which gives it an edgy and craggy feeling, and its melodies seem to be moving upward against some force. They rise and drop and rise again over a bed of counterpoint. Often, the melody and harmony move disjointedly, seeming out of step with each other. This music gives the impression of moving forward with difficulty, but also with great force.

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