So I'm doing it again. Follow me below the flip to find out about an upcoming event featuring three great traditions of song — with all proceeds going to benefit www.350.org. This new, improved diary version now includes music videos of each performer, so you can whet your appetite!
If you live in Massachusetts (oh, hell, I'll be optimistic and say "If you live in New England") you should try and make it down. And if you can't, let your friends who do live in Massachusetts know. Let's fill the hall!
Three Of New England's Most Creative Singers Join Voices Against Climate Change
Saturday, June 12 — 7:00 pm
Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street, Boston
Mili Bermejo, Warren Senders, Dominique Eade
On Saturday, June 12, three singers from widely varied musical traditions will join together to draw attention to the global climate crisis. Featured artists include: the Latin jazz stylings of the Mili Bermejo/Dan Greenspan duo, Hindustani classical vocalist Warren Senders (known to attentive Kossacks as WarrenS), and the brilliant jazz singer Dominique Eade. The music begins at 7:00 pm, at Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street, Boston, MA. Tickets are $20; $15 students/seniors. All proceeds will go to the environmental organization www.350.org. For information and ticket purchasing, please go to the event website.
"Singing For The Planet" was conceived as a way for creative musicians to contribute to the urgent struggle against global warming. Because the climate problem recognizes no national boundaries, the artists represent musical styles from three different parts of the globe. While Eade, Bermejo and Senders sing in different languages and genres, all are virtuoso performers sharing the core values of expression, emotion and honesty. And, of course, all three artists and their accompanists are committed to raising awareness of the potentially devastating effects of global warming. Their choice of beneficiary, 350.org, is focused on building global consensus on reduction of atmospheric CO2 levels — action which climatologists agree is necessary to avoid catastrophic outcomes. It’ll be an evening of great vocal music, full of exquisite melody, compelling rhythm, expressive lyricism and daring improvisation — from three singers who are genuine masters of their craft.
About the Performers:
Dominique Eade
Since her arrival in Boston in the late 1970s, vocalist and composer Dominique Eade has stood out as a musician of exceptional quality. Combining conceptual daring with superb technique, she has won admirers around the world for her fearlessness and artistry.
Dominique Eade — "Go Gently To The Water"
"[With her] dark and enveloping alto, penchant for melodic risks and the ability to resolve them with assurance and grace, she covers obscure gems, writes intriguing originals and swings ballads into deep, delicious grooves." (The New Yorker)
"Eade's vocal control and imagination are peerless." (The Boston Phoenix). "She's one of the few imaginative artists to have emerged in the field of jazz singing in this decade." (New York Newsday). David Hajdu wrote in the New York Times Magazine, "I already knew who the Next Thing in jazz singing would be: Dominique Eade. An impossibly versatile vocalist, composer, lyricist and instrumental arranger..."
Dominique Eade — "Have I Stayed Away Too Long?"
The daughter of an American Air Force officer and a Swiss mother, Eade spent much of her childhood moving within the US and in Europe. She studied piano as a child and decided she was going to be a singer in the second grade, picking up guitar as a teenager, learning folk, pop and jazz songs and writing some of her own. After graduating from New England Conservatory of Music, she has established an international reputation as one of America's most versatile, expressive, and artistically consistent jazz singers.
The winner of numerous jazz polls and competitions, Eade has released many critically acclaimed CDs. Her 1991 debut, The Ruby and the Pearl (Accurate 3924), was named one of the ten best jazz recordings of 1991 by Cadence Magazine. Her second release, My Resistance is Low (Accurate 3925), features her longtime collaborator pianist Bruce Barth, along with bassist George Mraz and drummer Lewis Nash, and was voted one of the Top Ten jazz releases of 1995 by Billboard Magazine. After signing with RCA records in 1996, she recorded two critically acclaimed CDs: When the Wind Was Cool featuring Benny Golson, Fred Hersch, James Genus, Matt Wilson, and many others, and The Long Way Home with Dave Holland and Victor Lewis, which highlighted Eade's arranging and songwriting.
Of her original songs, Ed Hazell of The Boston Phoenix writes, "Composer Eade pens melodies and lyrics that display the classic values of great American songwriting without sounding old-fashioned." Jason Koransky of Downbeat Jazz says "...the album creates a focused, lyrical and conversational atmosphere full of subtle nuance and superb musicianship."
Her 1997 releaseWhen the Wind Was Cool, made Top Ten lists throughout the jazz world and earned raves from music critics: "Eade's rich voice, her effortless delivery and the tasteful assurance with which she embellishes melodies make her sound totally at home with this repertoire.... Benny Golson could have easily stolen the scene if not for Eade's commanding vocals." (Atlantic Monthly). "...poignant and more often than not, downright gorgeous." (The Boston Herald)
Dominique Eade - "Open Letter"
Since 1984, Dominique Eade has been on the faculty of New England Conservatory, where she teaches voice, composition and improvisation. Her website is www.dominiqueeade.com.
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Mili Bermejo and Dan Greenspan
For more than two decades, vocalist/composer Mili Bermejo has transcended the borders between cultures and musical genres. Her music blends the beautiful stories and infectious rhythms of authentic Latin American poetry/folk music with social awareness and jazz improvisation.
Mili Bermejo — "Fuimos"
"Mili Bermejo remains one of the most, if not the absolutely most, emotive singer of Latin Jazz music currently recording," wrote Cadence reviewer Alan Bargebuhr. Her latest project, Love Songs of the Americas, features cellist Eugene Friesen, pianist Tim Ray and bassist Dan Greenspan. These accomplished performers at the peak of their artistic abilities open the hearts of audiences with musical beauty and deep emotional power which listeners have described as "spiritual". Using musical language authentic to each song and informed by jazz and other world traditions, Love Songs of the Americas reveals the unique facets of the four seasoned musicians while placing ensemble playing at the core of their performance. Songs in Spanish, English and Portuguese feature Bermejo's vocal artistry, enhanced by the soulful cello of Eugene Friesen. Tim Ray and Dan Greenspan have played together for 25 years and share a musical empathy which transports the music with elegance and grace.
Critics have called her "the Latin equivalent of Abbey Lincoln...a singer/composer who challenges us with her musical honesty" (Cadence) and described her inclusive sound as "part poetry-folk, part Sarah Vaughn sophistication" (Boston Magazine) and the place "where jazz meets Latin with elegance and soul" (Boston Globe).
"Cross-cultural projects are now commonplace," writes the Boston Phoenix's Jon Garelick, "but Mili Bermejo's aesthetic has always been singular...long a fixture on the Boston scene, [she] combines all manner of Latin American folk in a way that gives her music a flavor that's as up-to-the-minute as it is Old World."
Mili Bermejo — "Noche"
Her duets with her husband, bassist Dan Greenspan, are marked by an extraordinary level intuitive interaction. Greenspan's bass playing moves easily from a near-orchestral richness to simple lyrical patterns, complementing the rich timbres of Bermejo's voice with preternatural sensitivity.
Daughter of the late Mexican composer Guillermo Bermejo and his wife Luz, an Argentinean tango singer, Ms. Bermejo has the wealth of two musical cultures in her blood. She was born in Buenos Aires and raised in the socially and artistically diverse environment of Mexico City, where she grew up amid the music and political statements made by Argentinians, Chileans, Brazilians and Uruguayans who fled bloody dictatorships at home.
Mili Bermejo - "Fosforo"
In addition to her degrees in composition from Berklee and the National School of Music in Mexico, she has studied with Mexican composers Julio Estrada and Federico Ibarra, vocal technique specialist Elisabeth Phinney, and jazz saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi.
Ms. Bermejo's groups feature musicians, lyrics, and archetypal themes from a variety of cultural backgrounds. A veteran educator, group leader and supporter of social causes, she was the first woman to receive the prestigious Achievement in Jazz Award from New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA). She is a former Jazz Ambassador for the United States Information Service/Arts America, the recipient of multiple grants from New England Foundation for the Arts and Meet the Composer. Her website is www.milibermejo.com.
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Warren Senders and The Raga Ensemble
One of the world's great improvisational song forms is khyal, the richly ornamented classical singing of North Indian tradition. Accompanied by the harmonium of Preeti Chakravarti, the tabla of Akshay Navaladi, and the tamboura and supporting vocals of Vijaya Sundaram, Warren Senders weaves a hypnotic tapestry of sound in his rendition of traditional ragas. Acclaimed as the foremost non-Indian performer of this beautiful idiom, Senders lived in India for many years, learning the khyal style from master teacher Pt. S.G. Devasthali. He has performed throughout the world, enrapturing audiences and critics with a unique combination of authenticity and originality.
"...an amazing man, an amazing artist." Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, interviewed in Little India, September 2002
The morning raga Gopika Basant
"Only an artist of great maturity could successfully balance this unique combination of elements...a level of inventiveness and emotional expression that is extraordinary."
Teed Rockwell, India Currents, September 1999
He has received grants and fellowships including the Indo-American Fellowship, the Jon B. Higgins Memorial Scholarship for Indian Music, a Senior Research Fellowship and a Performing Arts Fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies, support for music composition from Meet the Composer, and travel awards from the Fund for U.S. Artists. His writings on music have been published by Rhythm Magazine, Bansuri, the New England Conservatory Journal for Learning Through Music, and World Rhythm. Also a jazz musician, his original instrumental music can be heard on cds by "Antigravity" and the Jazz Composers' Alliance Orchestra.
"Warren’s talent of keeping listeners engrossed by his delightful singing...comes from this same attitude of heartily enjoying the process of musical discovery."
— Chaitanya Kunte, Tarun Bharat —
The evening raga Gorakh Kalyan
"Listening to Warren singing a khayal composition in raga Shivaranjani, one is amazed at his clear diction and his flawless pronunciation of Urdu words....a musical journey that is beyond classification or defined boundaries."
— Satyakam Chowdhury, Times of India —
An internationally recognized educator, Mr. Senders has given hundreds of lecture-demonstrations, master-classes and clinics, for interested learners from kindergartners to elders. He has developed extensive course material on the structure and aesthetics of Hindustani music, and has introduced students at colleges and universities all over the United States, Canada and India to aspects of Indian music. He is a faculty member of Tufts University and the New England Conservatory of Music; his website is www.warrensenders.com.
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About www.350.org and the number 350:
Co-founded by environmentalist and author Bill McKibben, 350.org is the hub of a worldwide network of over two hundred environmental organizations, all with a common target: persuading the world's countries to unite in an effort to reduce global levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide to 350 parts per million or less. Climatologist Dr. James Hansen says, "If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm." (Dr. Hansen heads the NASA Institute for Space Studies in New York City, and is best known for his testimony on climate change to congressional committees in the 1980s that helped raise broad awareness of the global warming issue.) Activists involved in the 350 movement include Rajendra Pachauri (Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), Vandana Shiva (world-renowned environmental leader and thinker), Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1984 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and a global activist on issues pertaining to democracy, freedom and human rights), Van Jones, Bianca Jagger, Dr. James Hansen, Barbara Kingsolver and many more.
(complete list of "350 Messengers here)
Here is a discussion of the science behind the number 350.
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Warren Senders is the contact person for "Voices Against Climate Change." He is one of thousands of concerned global citizens hoping to trigger positive change through social action and the arts. He can be reached at www.warrensenders.com.
This is the last time I will post this piece before June 12. I am hoping to do more climate concerts in the fall...I'll keep everyone posted!