Spotlight: Susan McKeown

Singer Susan McKeown has met the mad king forced to dwell with the birds in the treetops, and the witchy women and crazy ladies tearing through the night. Longing to counterbalance the persistent stigma of mental illness, McKeown turned to the poets, looking for the deep humanity, creative spark, and curious light that shines in even the blackest moments.

On Singing in the Dark (Hibernian Music; October 30, 2010), McKeown brings her fine-tuned sense for song to centuries of striking visions from across the Americas, Ireland and the British Isles, the perspectives of artists struggling with depression, mania, and substance abuse. Working with long-time friends (and fellow Grammy winners) Frank London and Lisa Gutkin of The Klezmatics, McKeown shaped the sometimes harrowing, sometimes circumspect words of everyone from 16^th-century lutenist John Dowland to Pulitzer Prize winners Gwendolyn Brooks and Anne Sexton into quietly compelling windows into a misunderstood night.

McKeown will celebrate the release with a New York concert at Symphony Space on Oct. 30, featuring guest appearances by bestselling author Kay Redfield Jamison and New York Public Library Director of Public Programs Paul Holdengräber. A North American tour will follow, hitting Portland, ME(Oct 16); Boston (Nov 13); Baltimore (Nov 18); Eugene, OR (Nov 26);Portland, OR (Nov 27); San Francisco; Denver (Dec 3); Taos (Dec 4) andAlbuquerque (December 5). 

The idea for the album began in a hospital meeting room, filled with dozens of the nervous siblings, spouses, partners, and parents of people suffering from mental illness—and from the social stigma attached to it. They spoke in hushed tones of helplessness and frustration, trying to find ways of comprehending and supporting troubled loved ones.

It was never a place McKeown expected to land, but it sparked a seven-year journey through the darkness that has haunted creative souls for millennia. This darkness made its mark on McKeown’s family and on her native land ofIreland, where young men have long faced one of the highest suicide rates inEurope, even during economic boom times. 

“I was able to trace back a line of manic depression going through my father’s family,” she says, “And all those men married musicians. I began reading about mental illness and creativity and discovered they are linked. It’s just a fact.”

This link fascinated McKeown and sent her digging through poetry books and library collections, as well as turning to roots music in her home of New York and on her native shores. She looked for lyrics with “singability,” as well as powerful perspectives. She followed Anne Sexton, who urged, even in darkness, to tell it true, and whose eerie poem Her Kind became the album’s single “A Woman Like That” (release: October 4). 

There’s “Mad Sweeney,” a traditional Irish legend first recorded in the 17^thcentury, of a king gone wild, forced by illness to live like the birds and beasts. And John Dowland’s sorrowful chestnut “In Darkness Let Me Dwell,” refreshed by McKeown’s clear, firm voice. 

“The Nameless One” uses words of 19^th-century Irish poet James Clarence Mangan, written a year before his life was cut short due to alcohol abuse and his final writings were thrown away by a hospital orderly. The song links Mangan’s tragedy to the great exodus of desperate Irish to America during the Potato Famine, bringing in a banjo and an unexpectedly upbeat chorus reminiscent of Woody Guthrie.

“The song was made of the lyrics of a man, written during the worst years of famine in Ireland, the year before he died at 46,” explains McKeown. “America and Ireland have always had a close relationship, and as the song evolved, it took on more and more of an American feel, though the melody is Irish.”

“We’ll Go No More A-Roving” finds another cross-cultural tie, this time binding Lord Byron’s lyric to Irish traditional song and a melody with deep family implications. “Byron had episodes of depression and mania, and was inspired by an Irish song, one that’s still sung in another form,” McKeown notes. “The melody is also traditional: ‘After Aughrim,’ an old song about a battle in 1691, in a town where my father’s family were living at the time.”

McKeown felt drawn to more contemporary resonances as well. Drawing on Irish poet Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, “The Crack in the Stairs” is set to a challenging piano-accompanied score by modern Irish composer Elaine Agnew. “I was hungry for a challenge like that,” McKeown exclaims with a smile. 

It was impossible to imagine an album trying to encompass the world of depression without one of Leonard Cohen’s songs: “If you search for music about depression at an online retailer,” recounts McKeown, “his name inevitably comes up.” Yet “Anthem,” one of Cohen’s later bittersweet synth ballads, is shot through with hope, one of the surprising moments often found in many of the poems McKeown explored. 

“For me, hope has always been a guiding force,” she states. “When I read Theodore Rothke (“In a Dark Time”), I hear his faith in humanity and the love of nature he learned as a child growing up in his family’s greenhouses. He saw hope reflected in nature even though he suffered terribly. It helped him immensely to express it.” Hope also burns in Chilean artist and folk innovator Violetta Parra’s “Gracias a la vida,” which McKeown arranged to follow the joyful lead of Brazilian singer Elis Regina.

Hope springs not only from finding striking ways to talk and sing about depression and illness, but in finding community, solace, and treatment for individuals and their families. McKeown has partnered with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Fountain House, actress Glenn Close’s Bring Change 2 Mind campaign, and the Mood Disorders Support Group, organizations who offer different support and comfort to those struggling with depression and who will receive a portion of the proceeds from the sale ofSinging in the Dark.

Song of the Day

Nowdays T Bone Burnett is known as a producer but he's a talented singer and songwriter himself.  "After All These Years" is from his album Proof Through The Night.

Video Wednesday

Today we present two videos.  Both are of New Orleans' talent Tab Benoit.  In the first video you might think he's a stand up comedian, but watch the second video and you'll see his real talents.

Simply Six: Te Vaka

Te Vaka are from Australia.

1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer.  For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later.  Is there such a defining moment for you?

Ans/ The one that immediately comes to mind is the 'electric ladyland' album by jimi hendrix - as a 13 year old hearing it for the first time,

it changed my views on music forever.

2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to?  Who are some of your favorites?

Ans/ I am always hunting on the net,radio etc for sounds that excites me and maybe inspire a new creation. At the moment i'm watching Peter Gabriels 'new blood' show arrangements of his songs with just an orchestra, in my car i have Miles Davis 'kind of blue', other than that it's the standard stuff like Bjork,black eyed peas,david byrne,john mayer..any interesting songwriters will do me.

                

 3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?

            

Ans/ on a personal level, writing and producing our 6th album was a challenge. The feeling i experienced on it's completion was like i had just conquered Mt. Everest. I found out how much work a producer does.

4.  Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to?   How much can music influence current events?

Ans/ Definitely Yes to that! you can be taken on an emotional tour where you experience all human emotions just by listening to music and it's humans that rule and influence earth.

5. How has technology affected the music industry?  How has technology affected your career as a musician?

 Ans/ it has brought artists and fans closer together in so many ways, as a musician it's affected me in that i had to adjust to learning new things but it's all good.

            

6.  Now for my Barbara Walters question:  If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?

Ans/  Cool red ones like the ones worn by the court jesters of old.

Asylum in New Mexican Maqam: Rahim AlHaj and the Little Earth Orchestra Find a Global Voice for Peace Via Iraqi Sounds

http://www.worldmusicwire.com

In the dry mountains of New Mexico, an Iraqi oud (lute) master raises homing pigeons. Persecuted for a single potent song, he fled his native land, only to be deprived of his beloved instruments at the border. Yet like the birds he cares for, he has homed in a new nest, where quarter tones can be urged from accordions, rock stars and classical violinists can play Iraqi maqam, and Middle Eastern lullabies echo in Pueblo Indian words.

Meet Rahim AlHaj, oud mastermind and composer behind Little Earth. On the album, a loose but poignant affiliation of musicians from a plethora of places and backgrounds tackle the filigree beauty of Iraqi maqam. Bill Frisell and Peter Buck, Cape Verde’s Maria de Barros and Mali’s Yacouba Sissoko, sitar and Iranian ney virtuosi all explore new territory mapped out by AlHaj’s deep sense of both maqam tradition and the expressive possibilities of global music.

“It was a dream, to compose music for all the world,” AlHaj chuckles. “The challenge of the project was to do more than just get together and jam. It was not just for fun.”

A favorite student of esteemed Iraqi oud player Munir Bashir, AlHaj was trained in both Iraqi maqam and Western classical music. He soon gained a sterling reputation as a performer, eventually leading decades later to Grammy nominations and recordings with the Smithsonian.

He also honed his skills as a composer, skills he has coaxed into full flower on Little Earth, where he transforms musical forms like sama’i (“Sama’i Baghdad”) and Iraqi sea chanteys (“Sailors Three”) into elegant pieces for unexpected instruments.

“Though most sama’i are written for traditional Arabic instruments, I wrote it for a Western string quartet, but they have to play it in the Arabic way, including the special intonation and microtones—we have eight notes between B and B-flat” AlHaj explains. “It was unique, the first time this form was performed by Western musicians on classical strings.”

Though highly successful in his musical career from an early age, AlHaj’s heart cried out against the suffering he saw around him in Iraq, especially with the advent of the brutal Iran-Iraq War that killed millions. “When I started to understand the world, I started to understand justice,” AlHaj reflects. “I felt like I was responsible and obligated to make all my music give voice to the voiceless.”

This desire moved him to set a friend’s poem to music and the resulting song of resistance—titled “Why?”—spread like wildfire from Iraqi to Iraqi. Soon it was being sung everywhere, and AlHaj found himself in one of Saddam’s prisons.

Only two years later did AlHaj end up at the border with Syria, free to go yet deprived of his precious ouds. After several years in exile, he was granted asylum in the United States, where he landed in Albuquerque thanks to a strange cultural misunderstanding: Thinking that, as a Middle Easterner, AlHaj would feel more at home in New Mexico’s arid climate, his sponsoring organization sent the new refugee to the deserts of the Southwest. A world away from the fecund land he had fled.

Yet this mishap put AlHaj in a state rich in diversity with thriving global music connections. And as he settled into his new life, he began to seek out musicians eager to bring their voices to AlHaj’s stunning oud, careful compositions, and heartfelt message.

"The musicians use their own sound and environment—I don’t want them to imitate me—but they need to play the composition right, with the influence from the Middle East and the maqam,” AlHaj notes. “This music is composed music; we’re not just jamming. It’s all written."

Within these compositions, however, collaborators found new means of expression, using a language that they shared with AlHaj. Robert Mirabal, the Taos Pueblo Indian renaissance man and flute player, turned an Iraqi lullaby into a statement in his language of Tewa (“Lullaby”). Guy Klucevsek managed miraculously to get his accordion to hit the right quarter tones (“The Searching”), while Chinese p’ip’a (lute) player Liu Fung found a way to make her pentatonic work with AlHaj’s maqam modes (“River”), all to his great amazement.

The musical encounters often had a strong dose of kismet, as AlHaj’s work with Cape Verdean singer Maria de Barros proves. When recording took AlHaj to California, he met with de Barros and they struck up a conversation. AlHaj mentioned a piece dedicated to the memory of his mother and the warmth that emanated from her, de Barros exclaimed that she had Portuguese lyrics about her mother. The result (“Missing You/Mae Querida”) was more than a Cape Verdean morna being played by an oud; it was the bittersweet swing of de Barros’s home intertwined with the soulfulness of Iraqi maqam.

This soulfulness—the moan of a woman in mourning, the sigh of a palm tree collapsing under gun fire—remains AlHaj’s constant companion. It, and AlHaj’s political commitment to peace, continue to inform his work, and led him to close collaboration with a musical legend from his country’s erstwhile enemy, Housein Omoumi, master of the Iranian ney (traditional flute).

These elements are felt most powerfully in “Qassim,” a piece memorializing his vivacious and optimistic cousin killed during the U.S. occupation. “I needed to tell my cousin’s story in music. Iraqi women cry out in grief from their stomach, very low,” AlHaj reflects. “The piece starts with the sound of the horror at what happened. An Iraqi woman’s cry, thanks to Stephen Kent’s didjeridoo, and the rhythm of the piece are driving, insisting to be heard.”

Beyond the sorrow and insistence on telling the stories of those without voice, AlHaj has found a new contentment and sense of place in the U.S., and more mournful pieces are joined by sprightly expressions of pure joy. Works like “Morning in Hyattville,” inspired by a cheeky mockingbird and augmented by guitarist Bill Frisell, and “Athens to Baghdad” where AlHaj explores what he playfully calls “a place of sweetness” with his friend and  sometime collaborator Peter Buck of REM.

It is this union of the bitter and sweet, the harsh and the soothing, which gives AlHaj’s vision its punch. For AlHaj, his work is about far more than curious peregrinations and sonic juxtaposition. It’s about finding a path to peace and ending the suffering of the women and children, the bold minds and kind spirits, he witnessed.

“Of course, musicians from opposite sides in conflict can come together and make music,” AlHaj states. “But we must figure out how to make music together before we become enemies, or we will prove ourselves fools. If we can hold that ideal high, as a principle, we can make it into fact. We will make it real and the earth will indeed become little.”

Spotlight: Huun Huur Tu

The whistling of the high-mountain wind creates eerie overtones and postmodern statement. The repeated thrum of a string against wood and hide turns into a meditative, evocative figure straight from the avant garde. The descendents of isolated Siberian herdsmen make serious, strangely universal music out of some of the planet’s quirkiest acoustics.

The Tuvan acoustic quartet Huun Huur Tu prove that Tuvan music can take plenty of intelligent innovation on their latest album, Ancestors Call (World Village; October 12, 2010), a collection of the ensemble’s best-loved songs and pieces rethought thanks to their close interaction with Western music. Using traditional instruments and drawing subtly on 20th-century composers, funky rhythms, and the palette of electronica, Huun Huur Tu transform ancient songs into complex acoustic compositions. North American listeners will get a chance to experience this fresh approach in January and February 2011, as the group tours the U.S.

As they began touring in the West seventeen years ago, Huun Huur Tu almost single-handedly introduced the outside world to the boundless wealth of Tuvan traditions, thanks in great part to their superior musicianship. Hailing from the high pastures of the Altai Mountains in south central Siberia, the musicians have spent decades honing the overtone singing, instrumental approaches, and vibrant songs of their home.

Yet the group also had the musical savvy and the chops to take their traditions far from the slopes and valleys of Central Asia. They made groundbreaking traditional recordings that put their home on the map. They toured the world, gaining fans and inspiring overtone singers. They’ve wowed audiences in both Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa, eliciting surprised remarks after one festival show in Kenya that they played with the same ”soul” as local musicians. They sparked a boom in Tuvan and other throatsinging, lute-strumming ensembles from Central Asia that have been the mainstays of global music festivals.

Being the first (and arguably the most skillful) has its advantages. Well-established as “world music” masters, Huun Huur Tu has long been involved in pushing the envelope and digging deep into their roots to find new possibilities. The most recent member to join the group, Radik Tyulyush, a third-generation throatsinger, talented multi-instrumentalist, and conservatory trained composer, added a dose of youthful energy and rhythmic complexity recalling good old American funk.

Recently, Huun Huur Tu has worked together with prominent Russian composer Vladimir Martynov, who drew on the works by the visionary early 20th-century avant-garde poet Velimir Khlebnikov to create Children of the Otter (forthcoming as a DVD on GreenWave), a 70-minute piece for chamber orchestra, choir, and Tuvan ensemble.

Martynov’s background in Russian Orthodox music, other non-Russian music from Central Asia, as well as his embrace of everything from mid-century minimalism to rock operas to Renaissance polyphony, made collaboration easy and inspiring for Huun Huur Tu. While the quiet influence of minimalism can be felt in the group’s newest approach to “Chyraa-Khoor,” a traditional Tuvan song, but with a contemplative Philip Glass-esque undercurrent.

Another, similarly harmonious collaboration with a very different kind of musician came when the group worked with producer Carmen Rizzo (Niyaz, Seal, Paul Oakenfold, Ryuichi Sakamoto). By working closely with Rizzo on Eternal (GreenWave, 2009), the members of Huun Huur Tu got a taste of how to create electronic soundscapes around traditional material. This experience, along with their role as the heart of a new kind of chamber orchestra, guided much of their music on Ancestors Call.

“Gradually, over the years, the sound has shifted,” reflects manager and co-producer of Ancestors Call Vladimir Oboronko. “It’s become more sophisticated, more-dimensional, and much more relevant to current music sensibilities. Huun Huur Tu is innovating indigenous Tuvan music under the subtle influence of the music of 20th and 21st centuries, and the result is both contemporary music that belongs to the whole world and a fresh take on the traditional music of their beloved Tuva”

Simply Six: Heather Edwards

Heather Edwards is a singer/songwriter from New York.

1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer.  For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later.  Is there such a defining moment for you?

When I was 6 1/2 years old my parents bought a piano.  I was trying to play a song but it wasn't going the way I thought it should or wanted it to.  I asked my Mother what the problem was and she explained that I had to take piano lessons.  My Father was a high school math teacher and asked his students if any of them had a piano teacher that they really liked.  One girl told him that she had a piano teacher and she really liked her and that is how my parents found my piano teacher.  After my first lesson I ran to the piano once we got home and tried to play the song.  I exclaimed to my parents that the piano lesson didn't work.  They told me I needed to take more than one lesson and so I kept going back.  Four months later I gave my first recital (playing at a fourth year level, which I didn't know was a big deal at the time).  After that performance I was on Cloud 9 and knew that a pianist/performer was what I would be 'when I grew up'.

2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to?  Who are some of your favorites?

Instead of generating a random (and very extensive) list of artists that I love to listen to, I've created alphabetical listing just for fun (but not a complete listing by any means)!

Aerosmith
Beatles
Chet Baker
Damned
Eurythmics
Fleetwood Mac
George Gershwin
Heart
India.Arie
Journey
Kronos Quartet
Led Zepplin
Meatloaf
Nat King Cole
Ozzy Osbourne
Prince
Queen
Rush
Stevie Wonder
Tom Waits
U2
Van Halen
Who
Xavier Rudd
Zappa

3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?

It is really hard to say I've only had one greatest moment.  However, one of the highlights was a show that I gave when I was 18 years old - my Senior Recital.  The first hour was Classical music in chronological order based on when it was composed and ended with a piece I composed.  The second hour I came out with a rock band and we played an hour of songs I had written.  I loved the complete change in mood and the crowd had a great time.

4.  Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to?   How much can music influence current events?

I believe that music has power that we may sometimes either be unaware of and/or take for granted.  Music therapy has been proven to heal.  Lyrics have inspired and taught people around the world about major events.  Music fundraisers are events that can help raise awareness and funds for medical research, disaster relief and other important causes.

5. How has technology affected the music industry?  How has technology affected your career as a musician?

I believe that technology has been a blessing and a curse.  Because of the internet, music is more available and accessible to people around the world.  Music searches and social networking have helped my music reach people globally whereas without the internet, I don't know that I'd have fans in places like India, Ireland and Bulgaria.  The downside of the technology is that music is easier to steal and has put traditional record stores out of business.  I read that it was estimated that because of online piracy and illegal sales of copyrighted works on the artists who create them, artists lost $12.5 BILLION and 71,060 jobs last year.  Those are pretty terrifying statistics.

6.  Now for my Barbara Walters question:  If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?

If I were a pair of shoes I would be the most flattering, comfortable, never-go-out-of-style pair.  These shoes would be the kind that a person would do anything to keep around because this paid of shoes is her absolute, can't-do-without favorite!

 

Song of the Day

Today we feature a song from Scott Miller, "Amtrack Crescent" from his solo album "Are You With Me?"

Simply Six: In The Cinema

In The Cinema are from Minneapolis.

1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they
knew they wanted to be a singer.  For many it was the appearance of Elvis on
the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance
on Sullivan half a decade later.  Is there such a defining moment for you?

Ryan:  When I was 16, my super cool hippie friend Rachel introduced me to Cat Stevens...I remember hearing "Father and Son" for the first time and was almost paralyzed...I still get goosebumps when I listen to him sing...I didn't start writing songs until years later, but this was definitely when I fell in love with the voice, and how powerful it can be.

2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to?  Who are some
of your favorites?

Ryan:  Otis Redding, Tracy Chapman, The The, Ray LaMontagne, Neil Finn, Glen Phillips, Morrissey...these are just a few of my favorites...Lately I've been listening to new albums from The Swell Season, Peter Wolf Crier (shout out to Mpls!), Cold War Kids...the Crowded House album "Time On Earth", I think I've listened to that every day for the past couple of weeks...maybe because it's been raining a lot lately in Minneapolis. 

Joe: STS9, Louis Armstrong, GLK, Genesis, Aphex Twin, RJD2 Prefuse 73, a lot of Minneapolis hip hop (Rhymesayers and such), classic rock (Boston, Kansas), Mayor Hawthorne’s “Green Eyed Love,” Kid Cudi’s Man On The Moon, MF Doom, Madlib, Nat King Cole, Flying Lotus, Patsy Cline, A Tribe Called Quest, Bobby Womack, etc.

3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on
record or live?

Ryan:  Joe and I finished our first album ("The Illness Project") in the Spring of 2007...I was absolutely desperate to get out of the studio and play music for as many people as possible, so we decided to just jump off a ledge and go for it...We subletted our apartments, booked 26 shows on our own, and put 7500 miles on the Oldsmobile on our first tour!  It was absolutely amazing, seeing a new city every day, playing to new people every night...It was incredible, and it really made me feel like a "real" musician...Nothing beats playing live.

Joe: I would say touring was most definitely the most fun and exciting experience also. As far as overall musical live greatest moment I would have to say our cd release for “The Illness Project” at The Bryant Lake Bowl here in Minneapolis. The whole night was on point with us as a band as well as the people that came to see us. One of my favorite venues.

4.  Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen
to?   How much can music influence current events?

Ryan:  I definitely think music has the ability to move people, and certainly can be used as a catalyst for change, especially on a personal level...As a songwriter, I do believe that connecting with a listener, and bringing some sense of understanding is huge...For me, it's an absolute necessity...not to cure or change anyone, but to connect and relate...If someone can hear me sing or be moved by something I've written, there's nothing more satisfying.

Joe: Music for me is more than something I just listen to to pass time. I know I listen to different types of music depending on how or what I’m feeling at that time…So, yes, to a certain extent  I think music does play a part in shaping the world and the future of our country.
As far as current events go, I’ve been to live shows in the past where the bands have a strong political agenda either in lyrics or in between songs and I think the fans do listen to what they say so it definitely is influential in that sense.

5. How has technology affected the music industry?  How has technology
affected your career as a musician?

Ryan:  For us as a band, technology has been awesome...We do a lot of looping, and incorporate some electro beats and samples in our live set, so being able to add those elements has been very fun...Also,  recording programs are so user-friendly, which is great for broke indie bands like us...We recorded most of our new album by ourselves, and you can get a great-sounding album, which was not a possibility when I started recording about 10 years ago...On the downside, technology can really snuff out your creative candle if you let it...About a year ago, I began tackling the online world, as far as promotion and marketing...just typing those words really creeps me out...It can be dangerous, the business side as an indie artist can really consume your time if you let it...But staying in touch with all of the new stuff going on is just something you have to do...However, if 90 percent of my time is spent doing non-creative business junk, then I get burned out very quickly, and don't feel like an artist...I have to remind myself to just pick up the guitar and sing just as much as I work on booking, promo, and online stuff...Continually creating is key.

6.  Now for my Barbara Walters question:  If you were a pair of shoes what
type of shoes would you be?

Ryan:  An old pair of brown patent leather thrift store oxfords...much like a 70s creepy insurance salesman would wear...I know, nothing but class.

Joe: A fresh pair of Nike’s. I suppose that’s the difference between me and Ryan…

Song of the Day

Today we feature another song from the East Village Community School.  The song is "Soldier, Soldier" as sung by the children of the school.

Spotlight: Songs From The East Village

Most public schools facing the current funding crunch mount desperate donation drives or bake sales. But at the arts-basedEast Village Community School in the heart of one of New York’s historically bohemian and global neighborhoods, parents, students, and school staff opted instead to raise money by singing compelling ballads, making funky beats, and recalling unexpected family stories.

Fresh, savvy, and chock full of infectious songs and history, Songs from the East Village (East Village Community School; September 20, 2010) maps the world of childhood, as it spans the globe. Like the school and its neighborhood home, the album unites Iraqis and Tibetans, immigrants by choice and refugees, deep historical roots and edgy innovations.

Grammy Award-winning Irish vocalist Susan McKeown is among the accomplished musician parents at the school, and has led the project from brainstorm to production. The idea first came to McKeown under the tragic circumstances of the death of East Village Community School (EVCS) student Juliet Harper. During the memorial service, one of the school’s parents, flamenco singer and flautist Alfonso Mogaburo Cid, sang a heartbreaking lullaby learned from his mother.

“The song had the power to carry people through an event like that,” McKeown reflects. “It was overwhelming. It brought us all together.” It also sparked the realization that within the school community, there was a wealth of incredible musical talent and an opportunity to engage children in creating music.

The compilation that started as an extracurricular activity has developed into an exciting album, filled with world-renowned neighborhood talent as well as yet-unheard beautiful young voices. Behind each song is a story that is as much East Village as it is American, the tales of immigrants. And it is as much American as it is universal. These melodies of childhood playgrounds and imaginations express shared experiences of play, loss, and longing.

McKeown helped organize a “CD Club,” an optional group for students of different ages, with the end result being a professionally produced album. Wanting to draw on the rich cultural heritage of the families in the school, the club solicited songs from parents and staff, asking for children’s songs from their own childhood that could be included in the project. With each song came incredible stories that illustrate the web of experiences that brought people to the Lower East Side of New York.

The East Village has long been a multicultural bohemian space, rich in sounds, sights, and smells from around the globe. It’s also home to an extraordinary group of talented musicians, actors, writers, and artists—many of whom send their kids to the arts-based East Village Community School, and lend their striking voices and ideas to the album.

Ray Santiago, a Puerto Rican pianist who has been a staple in the East Village Salsa scene for decades, is featured on “Arroz Con Leche,” a Puerto Rican playground song. Bassist and Black rock icon Melvin Gibbs lays down the Afro-funk grooves he’s perfected in “The Tiger.” This track also features the words of actress Sarita Choudhury, who starred in films like A Perfect Murder, Mississippi Masala, and Spike Lee’s She Hate Me. “The Tiger” weaves a sonic forest around Choudhury’s tale of a trip to Rajastan where she comes face-to-face with the fearsome, stunning predator during the making of a documentary.

Two Iraqi girls, forced by war to stay inside their Baghdad home for two years  brought in a playground song that dates from the 1920s, “Belly a Belbool.” Belbool was a Jewish Iraqi swimming instructor, who would teach his students rhythmic strokes in the Tigris River, to the beat of the song. It is still sung by girls in Baghdad playgrounds.

“Snow” is a Tibetan song performed a cappella, by a Tibetan fifth grader in his first year at EVCS. The boy and his younger brother, who arrived just a year ago, walked through the snow-covered Himalayas to India, before settling in their East Village home, among other refugee families. The emotion of that experience seers their voices.

More commonly known songs like Irish tune “Molly Malone” and the classic Americana song, “I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground” are given a fresh take with this interplay of different voices—big and small—and the children’s character that shines in each. The British song, “Soldier, Soldier” was brought by a mother who sang with her sister in their Northern Englandchildhood. Her EVCS daughter added a verse where the maid takes her revenge on the soldier’s ungentlemanly behavior—a 21^st-century twist to an old tune.

The album also captures a new generation, embracing traditions from the old. “Echi Bu Uka Amaka” is a Nigerian song that an EVCS parent learned from her father in their New York City apartment. Similarly, an African American family brought “Hambone,” which the father had sung in his grandparents’ house. These recordings are among the up-tempo highlights of the album.

“Every voice gets heard, like a camera focused on each child,” McKeown explains. “In this you get a great sense of how much is communicated in someone’s voice.”

Songs from the East Village will do more than document and celebrate these voices; it will keep them singing, both by encouraging musical performance at school and by raising money for the special arts-focused programs that make the EVCS such a jewel in the community.

Song of the Day

Today we feature Gilli Moon with "Conversation with Me" from her album The Stillness.

Simply Six: Rhythm Child

Rhythm Child are from California.  

1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer.  For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later.  Is there such a defining moment for you?

  I would have to say the emergence of The Jackson 5 in the early 70’s would be the one thing that totally changed my life and connected me to music.  Like every other kid with an afro growing up in America, I thought that I could dance, sing and look exactly like young Michael.  I slowly realized that I wasn’t even close to his talent level, but what was important was that I was inspired to perform.  My Mom recognized my passion and continued to buy me everyJackson 5 album that came out from the first to the last.

2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to?  Who are some of your favorites?

  I still enjoy my CD collection a lot and I really miss all of my vinyl that I lost in a recent fire so that should give you an idea of my musical tastes.  For the most part I listen to classic Reggae and old Rhythm & Blues.  I feel a very deep connection to the country roots of both types of music and it keeps me grounded and creative.  Artists like Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Etta James, Bob Marley and Burning Spear are truly inspirational to me and have been constant companions for most of my life.  As far as current music, there are so many independent artists out there and I love being exposed to all of the new sounds through internet radio and features like yours.

3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?

 I can honestly say that the most satisfying and emotionally rewarding moments of my life as a musician have been sharing this journey with my family. My son Bailey is 9 and Andre is 4 and it’s amazing to watch them come out on stage and take complete control of an audience in their own special ways.  One of my all-time favorite experiences with them was a benefit concert for The Children’s Miracle Network in Washington DC when we played on theNational Mall.  At one point during the show I just had to stop and take it all in.  There I was performing with my boys at the base of the Washington Monumenton Memorial Day and seeing my WWII veteran father out in the audience proudly watching us do our thing.  It was a very inspirational moment for me as a musician, as a dad and as a son.

4.  Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to?   How much can music influence current events?

 You look at something like “We Are the World” or the recent concerts for Haiti; it is very clear how much social power there is in the melody of songs.  Music can carry messages for the people that don’t have a voice and can connect others that share a common cause.  It helps keep things in perspective and offers relief when people need it most.  No matter if it’s inspiring hope or demanding change, music has been and always will be an influential aspect of our society.

5. How has technology affected the music industry?  How has technology affected your career as a musician?

  Technology has opened up the music industry to independent artists like me in a way that didn’t exist ten years ago. The playing field has been drastically leveled and now it’s possible for musicians to create their art for less money and have worldwide access to potential fans.  I’m not a gear-head, but I have obtained enough equipment over the last few years to work on my projects from home.  Mostly I do the pre-production and editing in my studio and go into the bigger places for the actual recording.  I still love the feeling of being in a studio and working with real musicians.  There is something special about the exchange of energy that happens with live recording and I never want to totally lose that.  On the flip-side, technology has given us so many tools to use that has made it easier to create and distribute music so I try to utilize as much of that as possible.

6.  Now for my Barbara Walters question:  If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?

 If I was a shoe I would be a hiking boot because boots are reliable, versatile, protective and rugged.  Because I love nature so much being a hiking bootwould be perfect and make me feel right at home.