Come Journey in to the common ground

Mark your calender for 1-11 July, 2022. 

in Those 10 days, Krista Tippett, Padraig O Tuama, Rhiannon Giddens, Francesco Turrisi and Joe Henry welcome you on the Greek Island Patmos. 

We’ll meet with these five luminous cultural creators near the slow rhythms of the Aegean Sea, take time to explore the sacred island of Patmos, swim (and float) in salty waters, venture on the sea by boat, share bread around common tables, and build & bond a community of enriched souls for the journey ahead. There will be plenty of time to be on your own to reflect and explore, as well as moments to connect with a diverse range of other wonderful humans. goodworldjourneys.com.

 

What to expext of these days :

For ten days in July 2022, You’ll come together for an extended conversation that asks: how can we speak to each other in a way that moves us all, individually and collectively, to growth, learning, creativity and change? ... You will delve into eternal spiritual questions and sacred stories and tap into the wisdom of poetry & song.

Register on goodworldjourneys.com .

'There is no other' concert in Belgium (And the fragility of it all)

Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi made an incredible album entitled 'There is no Other'. It was produced by Joe. 

Last weekend the 'There is no other' Tour came to Belgium. It will not surprise you, it was a concert I couldn't miss.

I have seen Rhiannon play a few times over the last few years, and it was again a joy to hear her sing, and see her perform. It was, as always, a privilege to enjoy her music, her storytelling, her wisdom, Grace and joy. Off course this time, I got to see and hear Francesco Turrisi also perform live. The fact that he is an incredible musician is already documented on their (and other) album(s). It is even more incredible to see him perform. You'll never find the Tambourine a simple instrument to play after you've seen this. (And I think Freddy Mercury is verry proud a 'Queen' song made it in to the set).
But besides that, we also got to know Francesco Turrisi, the Entertainer. It was wonderful to hear his stories and funny anecdotes. And Yes! I do hope that projector will be arranged next time you come over. (Just kidding of course).

Jason Sypher exquisitely completed them on Upright Bass. Like Rhiannon told us : "It is not easy to explain a trio in a duo-show".

Anyway, Rhiannon advised us, for our own good health, to take a walk during intermission towards the merchandise table, and off course I'm a good boy...

In my albumreview I wrote about seeing and hearing those songs in a more 'formal' enviroment. Yes, I did got to sit in a soft red seat, and I really had all those lovely people around me. But then the path of reality and fantasy took different directions. And it was a wonderful reality we received. But that evening, that reality, also displayed for me once again, the fragility of live performances. (Whether it is music, dance, theater, .... ).
I deliberately say 'for me', because these are all thoughts that go through my mind. So, it's OK if I've lost you from here on in this post.

The music we received on sundayevening can not be ordened in a specific box. Like Rhiannon also explained us, they try (and succeed) to blend so many forms of music. Not only Popular, but also f.e. Opera and so on.
I'm sure, for an artist, it is important to surround that Art with all those same intentions. Just like trying to give the right surroundings to your children.

And then you go on tour...

You step in to a van, and a part of your Art becomes dependent on the circumstances of the places you visit. Take for example a Chef who spreads his own reccipe around the world, but the final spices are left open to choose by whomever cooks the dish.
It is only those, who truly understand the recipe, and the intentions of the Chef that will choose the perfect spices. That will make the difference between receiving that great meal, and receiving, as if it was cooked in heaven.
I don't think we (I speak in name of my Country) could offer the circumstances to Rhiannon, Francesco and Jason that emphasised their Art on sunday. I'll leave the details of that for when we can talk in real life, but subtleness is not helped with standard services.

To worsen it all : After the break, 2 loud feedbacks occured through the monitor, within 2 minutes. Just when Francesco started playing the piano, a loud noise shot out of his monitor. For us, it was even loud! How it must have been for him, sitting only 1,5m away from it.... He literally jumped 2 meters back. As if he felt the need to justify his reaction towards the audience, he explained how dangerous that can be for your hearing. But Francesco : "There was no need to explain it. It is indeed dangerous."
(It is only fair to mention that I am working almost my entire professional career now, on the technical side of entertainement, so I have the advantage of that extra knowledge, in comparison to the bigger part of the audience.)

Naturally, when this happen to you, as a musician, you are thrown out of balance. You have to regain your trust in the equipment around you, and the people handling it. It affects your performance. But also the audience itself feels it. We all know technical stuff can provide technical issues, but suddenly we are verry aware of it, and it takes a while to forget about the practical side of shows again. The atmosphere in the room has to be rebuild again...

That's why I think, 'I'm on my way' didn't have the power it can have.
That's why I think we didn't spontaneously jump up, clap our hands, and sing along with the last song.

It is all so fragile.....



Rhiannon, Francesco and Jason : "Don't let it come to your hearts. I am looking forward to seeing you again. You are one of the best !"

With Love,
Stefan.

Grammy nomination for Rhiannon and Francesco

'I'm on my way', from the album 'There is no Other' is nominated for the grammy Best Americana Roots Performance. 




Not only did Joe produce the album, but he also wrote this song.

The other nominees are :

SAINT HONESTY by Sara Bareilles
FATHER MOUNTAIN by Calexico And Iron & Wine
CALL MY NAME by I'm With Her
FARAWAY LOOKby Yola

On January 26th we will find out who the winner is. 
good luck !

Sound is the artform

Ever since performances were held indoor, people have been trying to control the light for their shows. But many people consider Adolphe Appia(1862-1928) as the founder of Lighting Design. His approach towards this element of stage play changed the game forever. He didn't use lamps only to make something visible. No, he used the light itself as a scenographic element. It was not (only) the items that were shined upon that were important. It was the light itself... 

Adolphe Appia - Orphée et Euridyce de Glück

“I don’t want to make the same record over and over again,” Rhiannon Giddens said to Rolling Stone Magazine about her latest album with Francesco Turrisi. 'There is no Other' is indeed something else. To say even more : It stands out !

Like all of the new albums I buy, I also listen to this one now mostly in the car. While driving I noticed something peculiar started to happen. When traffic was easy, I noticed there were parts of the drive I hadn't been aware of, because of the music. Well now, for traffic safety it is probably not OK, but it actually proofs how deep I'm sucked into this music.

I don't really listen to these songs separately, don't really focus on the lyrics, but I am deeply absorbed by the music itself. Music that is defined by each sound you hear, and it is so well stored on tape for us. That's amazing...! As if the energy of those days in Dublin has been recorded. With different energy, we probably would have had a different audible experience.Rhiannon and Francesco have created their universe with this album.

Just like Appia made light itself the expression,
...Like poetry can be defining by the words itself
...Like so many dancers with whom the movement itself is more exciting then the total choreography,
 I received an album where each sound is more defining my experience then the whole... I received an album where sound itself is the artform.


It is therefore that this album stands out. I enjoy it the most when there is nothing to distract me. I am going to listen to this one in the dark one day I think, with nothing else but sound, as if it is being played in my living room. It can only be better with Rhiannon and Francesco being really in the room, and nothing distracts me...

'There is No Other' deserves to be performed with the grace of a classical performance, on the program these wonderful songs.

There goes the bell to take your seats. Do you hear it ?
Parterre, seat D22,
and I slight in to my soft red seat, with all these lovely people around me.

Lights go out...
We forget the world around us for a little while.

Total dark, and then there is sound.
Gently a lightbeam becomes visible, and leads me to hands moving on an instrument. Oh to see these subtile human movements.

A beautiful voice from somewhere...
"Ten Thousand Stories..."
And slowly that voice gets an equally beautiful face.
Each expression, movement, note, sigh,... We are in that world.

Rhiannon and Francesco's world.

My first listen to 'There is no other'

What you will be reading is actually an experiment. I am typing my stream of thoughts during my first listen of this album. I also feel it honest to not edit too much of all this. You will be able to read this within the hour after I have done listening to it. 

This could possibly become one of my strangest posts, but I was thinking, that maybe there is no more honest way to write about a record. 

OK, here we go.  

With high expectations it is only right now that I'm hearing this album for the first time. 'Ten Thousand Voices' has just begun, and I'm immediatly struck by the clarity of the recording. It genuinly sounds like Rhiannon and Francesco are standing in front of me, but strangly and in contrast with that fact : Rhiannon's chanting takes me away in to an imaginary reality.

These songs are taking me, like a Gypsy, around the world. It is the untouchable proof that there is beauty all over the world, and if all this beauty comes together, magic happens. It truly is overwhelming ! If you sit down with this, and listen actively, then "Where are we ?"  Yes, I am sitting in my livingroom, and I know this was recorded in a studio. But these are physical facts. Where in this world is my mind ? A word of advise : Close your eyes when you listen to this record. It will put a spell on you.

I don't know how close these recordings are to the ideas Rhiannon and Francesco had, but it feels so genuine, so true! I believe every sound I hear.

Wow ! 'Pizzica di San Vito' is shaking me out of my mindstream. I didn't see that one coming. It feels like a I'm being pulled into a dance, where my bones are not yet accustomed to. Neither can I resist it. The same thing happens with the piano in 'Black Swan'. I just thought I absorbed that song, and then that Piano happens. It's amazing.

I really love these Arabic influences. You know something ? This album is really hypnotising me. How do you do that Ryan and Joe ? How do you put this atmosphere on tape ? And I know you'll say something like : "It takes musicians like Rhiannon and Francesco, and magic happens !" . But how do you channel that magic in my livingroom, in my mind ?

Oh wait, 'Little Margaret'. The fullness of that sound.... I'm letting it all come in, but that sound is going through my entire body. It has something to do with the frequency of the instrument that is interfering with the vains in my body. It's making them tremble. I already had that with the first single 'I'm on my way'. That song is the authority walking in the room, and you can do nothing else then accept it.

All that is left is Amen in 'He will see you soon'.

What have you recorded back in Ireland ! Were all the elements of th Universe exactly in place those days ? This is amazing !

It's quiet in the room now, but not in me. It doesn't let me go.

There is no Other

Oh Yes I'm excited !

Have you heard the first single I'm on my way from the upcoming Rhiannon Giddens &Francesco Turrisi album ?



It sounds impressive !
Really :  Rhiannon, Francesco, Ryan and Joe; What a powerful sound ! song !

I can't wait to hear the rest of the album entitled 'There is no Other'.

It will be released on May 3th, and is already available as a pre-sale.

Listen to a conversation with Rhiannon and Francesco on the label's website : www.nonesuch.com/

And now, you can find me knock-out somewhere in a corner. 

Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi

Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi recorded an album last summer, produced by Joe Henry.

They are currently touring in Ireland and have given some info for this record in a few interviews.

Photo : Karen Cox

The duo have a forthcoming album, recorded with Joe Henry at Windmill Lane, and it is a musical voyage of discovery from Africa and the Middle East across to Europe and the Americas. They discovered a shared creative ground after their paths crossed a few years back, spanning gospel, jazz, blues, country and folk, but this is their first nationwide tour of Ireland.(source)

What we can expect from this voyage we can read in another interview. In this interview they speak about the current tour.

"We’ll play an Appalachian ballad with an Iranian frame drum normally used by Sufis for trance,” Turrisi says, “but you know, there’s almost a trance element to the ballad singing and the resonance of the large frame drum gives a kind of a drone effect. And we have a minstrel tune on the banjo with a Sicilian tamburello [an Italian tambourine]. And an old time American tune connected to a Brazilian forró sound. They seem to go hand in hand: we’ve discovered improbable connections that somehow work.”

further on in the interview Rhiannon explains :

I’m discovering so much about how invisible, othered and dismissed the Islamic world is, in terms of the massive effects it had on European music and culture,” Rhiannon continues. “For example, the massive impact it had on the African continent, the number of Muslim enslaved people there were in the Americas: way more than people think. It’s a really huge topic and we’re barely scratching the surface. But even having some of the rhythms and modes that Francesco has been working on through his music for so long match up so well. The way that both of us approach music is very similar because we’re both very educated about where the music is coming from. But when it comes to playing, we’re both just playing what we feel.

The interview for the Irish Times announces 'an' album for the coming month of May.
I must admit.
I'm intrigued by all of this, and looking forward to it.

Greetings,
Stefan.