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.
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 !"
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.
Did I already post this clip with 2 amazing performances by Rhiannon Giddens ?
It comes from a songwriting workshop she and Joe did together with Dirk Powell at Americanafest 2017.
The clip starts with Joe explaining Rodney Crowell's absence, who was announced to be there also.
Dirk Powell co-produced together with Rhiannon her album 'Freedom Highway'
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.
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.
What better day is there than today, international Women's day, to thank, honor and put on a pedestal these 4 women, and what they have created.
How do I start writing about this album? I can’t get my thoughts in line, they are all together pushing their way out, as if there was a fire in my head. I am supposed to write a logical, structured text, and not this uncontrolled stream of thoughts. Who knows where this entry is ending up?
Songs of our Native daughters is an album that shines light on African-American women’s stories of struggle, resistance and hope. It is a confrontation with America’s history of slavery and racism seen from a woman’s point of view. It was Rhiannon Giddens who felt the need to address these stories, and she invited Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla and Allison Russell to a, how to say it…, a custom-made recording studio in Louisiana. A studio created by their producer Dirk Powell. In the meantime it is also an ode to a centuries old musical heritage of minstrelsy, bluegrass and folk. This interweaved with a celebration of the banjo, which can not be left aside in these histories.
On top of that : the title is a tribute to James Baldwin's essay : 'Notes of a Native Son' .
Several reviews for this album have already been written, and they all, righteously, praise this album, this music, these wonderful musicians. If they don’t know it yet, they will know it now: I truly admire these musicians, these human beings. It is indeed great music, powerful music, and only for that a must to hear.
But that’s not what I wanted to write about.
Although this album consists of stories from the past, it still is relevant today. Although these are stories about the African-American history; the issues addressed here can easily be translated to a global scale, and any kind of disrespect from 1 side to another more unfortunate one. The re-interpretation by Dirk Powell, from William Cowper’s poem “Pity for Poor Africans” from 1788 is the clearest proof of that. You can listen to it in the song ‘Barbados’.
This album is, what I would call, Musical journalism. It is like the war journalist who doesn’t search the big overall story of a conflict, but the one who tells the stories of innocent inhabitants who have to endure it all against their will. It is, for me, the most important form of journalism, for it tells you exactly how brutal it all is, and not how political just or unjust.
William Cowper displays us the problem of using only such journalism. Or is it propaganda? It depends on which side you are on, I guess. In the poem a person starts talking about his disapproval of slavery, but soon comforts, maybe mostly himself, by explaining that it is for a good cause: coffee, tea…. And if they didn’t someone else would… and so on. The de-humanization of these Africans is taken for granted. They were addressed as slaves…. Not as Africans or humans, but with a word that has no human connotation: Slave. That makes it easier for people to accept the inhuman behavior towards these people. Step 1: you de-humanize them.
Today, in Europe, a same thing is happening for people who are fleeing from parts in the world where it is (or is becoming) impossible to live. Mostly because of war or climate change. These people are not called humans. No, we use words like refugee or luck-seeker. In my country, last year, a 2-year-old child was killed by a police bullet. “It was only a refugee” was something you heard a lot,... too much.
No! A 2 year old child died !
But back to the poem: Dirk Powell’s re-interpretation talks about modern slavery where it is not anymore about wool or sugar, but about the raw materials for our electronic devices. (Yes, I am aware I am typing this on an electronic device.) You can also easily interpret it towards cheap clothing, coffee from farmers in Africa, Shrimps for our summer barbecue, hazelnuts for our chocolate spread…
All (actually) luxury items we (also me) take for granted in our Western society.
Cynically Dirk Powell’s version ends with “So relax, my friend-we’re not all complicit.”
Should I, or we, feel complicit? Is it OK if I ask myself, or you that question? – There are politicians in my country who literally say we live in a superior society, so I think they don’t ask them self that question. But I do, … I ask myself more questions then I can give answers. I sometimes wish I didn’t, because that would be easier for my mind. Hellas, or luckily, I am who I am…
Am I complicit because (f.e.) I use smartphones and tablets? The easiest simple answer is: ‘no, because I can’t help it.’ But there is a more difficult complex answer. I don’t think you can point at it to individuals. We must question the society we live in. We all agree that any kind of slavery must end. Why do we, even today, close our eyes for such? I think, deep down, we all know there are people suffering so that we can have our ‘self-called-basic-needs’. Why do we find it for ourselves normal to be payed well, and work in healthy conditions, but don’t speak up for other parts of the world?
If we can do it for our own society, we can do it for everyone in the world, and that starts with thinking of this earth, this universe as 1 big society. a society of different people but all equal.
Bringing back a human face to the oppressed helps with that.
Stories of the innocent people who have to endure it, do exactly that.
This musical album does that.
That’s why, besides being a fantastic album, this is a very important album.
"We can do better, We can be better. We are 1 family, blood and bones, one race-human- and so many beautiful colors. We have love. We can take better care of eachother. Music helps, Music heals."
Allison Russell
And I thank you Rhiannon,
And Amythyst, Leyla, Allison and Dirk.
1000 words in - : my electronic device tells me, and if you made it up to here with me, you can maybe understand a little why these thoughts needed to come out.
Photographer Laura Aurora spoke out loud, what all of us were (well I was) hoping...
"Had an amazing few days filming behind the scenes with @rhiannongiddens and @fraturrisi who have just recorded an INCREDIBLE album with @joehenrymusic producing, making magic happen."
This is some of the most exciting news concerning Joe's production work for me. Ever since 'Tomorrow is my Turn', it was verry natural for me that one day, Rhiannon would also work with Joe behind the desk. T bone Burnett is Joe's Mentor, and Rhiannon and Joe have worked together on previous occasions (Carolina Chocolat Drops, Wexford Carols, Birds of Chicago,...)
