30/12/2023
Hello 2024.
Hearty wishes for a Happy New Year to my friends! Most of you know my religious proclivities and may be surprised that I am sharing a piece about Jesus' blood as a starter for the year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofnq8OjH02U
I discovered this deeply moving piece as I was designing a musical interlude for "It's Magic, but is it Art?" my artfully magical show performed in 2023 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in Cyprus - Nicosia, Limassol. I was listening to "Vexations" by Eric Satie, a piece of piano music that is repeated 840 times and Jamy Ian Swiss - Director and Creative Consultant - to the show brought this to my attention. This version includes the later contribution of Tom Waits to the work of Gavin Bryars which is in fact built on a theme by a homeless person. Bryars says "the piece remains as an eloquent, but understated testimony to his spirit and optimism."
And optimism is would make a great opening for 2024.
NB. Bryars on this piece:
"In 1971, when I lived in London, I was working with a friend, Alan Power, on a film about people living rough in the area around Elephant and Castle and Waterloo Station. In the course of being filmed, some people broke into drunken song – sometimes bits of opera, sometimes sentimental ballads – and one, who in fact did not drink, sang a religious song "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet". This was not ultimately used in the film and I was given all the unused sections of tape, including this one.
When I played it at home, I found that his singing was in tune with my piano, and I improvised a simple accompaniment. I noticed, too, that the first section of the song – 13 bars in length – formed an effective loop which repeated in a slightly unpredictable way (in the notes for the 1993 recording on Point, Bryars wrote that while the singer's pitch was quite accurate, his sense of tempo was irregular).
I took the tape loop to Leicester, where I was working in the Fine Art Department, and copied the loop onto a continuous reel of tape, thinking about perhaps adding an orchestrated accompaniment to this. The door of the recording room opened on to one of the large painting studios and I left the tape copying, with the door open, while I went to have a cup of coffee. When I came back I found the normally lively room unnaturally subdued. People were moving about much more slowly than usual and a few were sitting alone, quietly weeping.
I was puzzled until I realised that the tape was still playing and that they had been overcome by the old man's singing. This convinced me of the emotional power of the music and of the possibilities offered by adding a simple, though gradually evolving, orchestral accompaniment that respected the homeless man's nobility and simple faith. Although he died before he could hear what I had done with his singing, the piece remains as an eloquent, but understated testimony to his spirit and optimism."
Gavin Bryars With Tom Waits - Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet (full album)There is no copyright infringement intended. If you have an issue with this, pleas...
