music seems particularly significant at certain times in life doesn't it?
These last few weeks it has been a spectacularly delicious presence
in this life, and I wanted to share some of its gifts with you.
Sanctum has been a wonderful contribution to the city of Bristol:
Theaster Gates‘s inspired project comprised music/spoken word
/poetry by local performers, for 24 hours a day across 21 days;
in the magnificent leaning 14th century Temple Church
an A-frame inner sanctum was constructed from local
recycled materials: you can just see it
through the church windows
http://sanctumbristol.com/
make sounds, move your mouse across the homepage;
I made about six visits to this seminal event &
was touched by some heartfelt music:
Moussa Kouyate master kora player from Mali
an uplifting electric piano player
a young woman with the voice of an angel, singing Teenage Dirtbag*
and there at midnight on my birthday we
saw my friend Red Deer Sleeping (Mog Fry) play
lyrical, gentle songs with cuatro and ukulele accompaniment –
Mog gave away beautiful handmade books of her songs, a Sanctum memento
and we caught duo Really The Blues too
- Teenage Dirtbag wryly performed by The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
though, purtroppo, the ranch here is too bijou to accomodate
the marvellous performer, artist, storyteller & tribe of
John Bently – Bones & The Aft
Billy Bones
http://bonesandtheaft.blogspot.com
and Mikey Kirkpatrick – Bird Radio
http://www.birdradio.co.uk
many wonderful musicians are no longer with us: to honour them
and their work, and to keep them in our memories, I name some
I am priveleged to have known, who now are dead
Ruan O’Lochlainn sax & keyboard player with Bees Make Honey
& amongst others, Slim Chance
Ronnie Lane bass player, Small Faces & Slim Chance founder
Rebop Kwaku Baah Ghanaian drummer extraordinaire with Traffic et al
Bob Marley John Martyn
Phil Taylor drummer with Motorhead
here’s a picture of a Ronnie Lane (centre) band, with Ruan O’Lochlainn (far left)
and here is wondrous Toby Thompson, performance poet,
and friend, with a short video Sweet Angel
and the inimitable Stephen Jenkinson teacher, storyteller, activist & farmer
…all the cultures that are really cultures,
all of them are deep and skilled practitioners of grief.
They are. And that grief is a willingness to see things.
And that willingness is the beginning of your chance to have it otherwise,
and by your grief you can be recognized as a fellow human being by
people who are past masters at it, and you become trustworthy to them
Thank you Lilla for your musical musings and so lovely to come across Toby Thompson for the first time. ‘My Sweet Angel’ is so beautiful. Thank you x o x