RockOm

By Trevor Harden, trevor@RockOm.net

"For we are gathered here to celebrate and explore the music of Winter,
the season of frosts and long dark nights."

So writes Sting in the liner notes to his latest recording, If on a Winter's Night..., a concept album centered on the darkest and most contemplative of the four seasons. What began as a suggestion to create a Christmas album has evolved into a collection of pensive songs - both original and borrowed - that survey that most spiritually reflective time of year.

Sting continues,

"Like all early creatures we seem pre-wired to recognize and respond to the polar archetypes of light and dark, of heat and cold as they are encoded in the rhythm of the days and nights and the perpetual cycle of the seasons."

And while most of Sting's popular work - if not lyrically, at least in tone - has rested more in the realm of light, If on a Winter's Night... plunges into the darkness and stays there for 50 frigid minutes, never budging from its stoic, frosty soundscape.

To get a sense of this album, one has only to look at the cover art: Sting walks alone in a snowy woods, accompanied only by his icy-whiskered companion named Compass. There is a silence that whispers from within the photo, only presumably broken by the sound of crunching snow collapsing beneath rubber soles. And this picture, in its simplicity, sums up the album perfectly, as if the audio from these 15 tracks had coalesced into a single image.  Both Sting and his marketing team have done a fantastic job "setting the stage" for this album, carrying out the concept and vision to its fullest potential: Pictures in the album's liner book include a heavily bearded and deep-eyed Sting, blustery landscapes, sweaters and coats, candle-lit living rooms and musicians in wistful meditation. Wintry words spill out from the pages of Sting's personal commentary such as mentions of "hot mugs of tea," scarves, ghosts and coal fires... he's certainly attempting to paint a picture. And he has, quite successfully.

PARALLEL STORIES

You could go so far as to say that a Winter-themed album that ignores the reality of Christmas would be in error, as the two have become so intertwined in Western culture. As the large portion of Sting's borrowed material stems from British and Scottish sources, it's no surprise that the album begins with a song singing the praises of Mary, the mother of Jesus. In fact the story of the "God-child come to earth" makes repeat appearances on If on a Winter's Night..., appearing also in the recordings of the 15th century German carol "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming," the touching fable-song "Cherry Tree Carol," and beyond. Despite Sting's self-professed agnosticism, he shares that "the sacred symbolism of the church's art still exerts a powerful influence over [him]."

Don't for a minute believe this is a Christian-centric album, however. Alongside hymns singing the praises of "the root of Jesse" are hints of something more ancient, medieval, folksy, ritualistic, natural and even pagan. In his own words, Sting says that it was "important to draw parallels between the Christian story and the older traditions of the winter solstice."

Spiritually and metaphorically, Winter's Night draws you inward through sonic themes related to winter such as reflectiveness, introspection and stillness. In order to fully "get" this album and its overtly subtle tone, one almost needs to understand Sting's motivation:

"...there is something of the Winter that is primal, mysterious and utterly irreplaceable ... as if we somehow need the darkness of the winter months to replenish our inner spirits as much as we need the light, energy and warmth of summer."

He goes further, acknowledging that Resurrection and light are just around the bend as Winter soon makes way for Spring. In truth they are two sides of the same coin:

"We are reminded that there is light and life at the centre of the darkness that is Winter - or conversely that, no matter how comfortable we feel in the cradle, there is darkness and danger all around us."

THE SONGS

Those longing to hear a new offering supported by Sting's Fender P-bass, electric guitars, synthesizers and a trap set need look elsewhere for herein we experience the folk-inspired sounds of harp, classical guitar, Melodeon, cello, Northumbrian Pipes, and fiddle. Fans of the Sting who penned Brand New Day, Mercury Falling, Ten Summoner's Tales and the majority of the Police's material will have to be remarkably open to other styles of music in order to include this alongside their favorite of his albums. This is not because this latest release is less than his previous offerings, not at all, but rather that it is so extraordinarily different from them. If On a Winter's Night... was released on the Deutsche Grammophon label which is both appropriate and telling, for this collection of songs belongs more suitably alongside your classical CDs (or even his own 2006 album Songs from the Labyrinth) than it does next to your Peter Gabriel or Paul Simon discs.

Sting begins with "Gabriel's Message," singing "Most highly favored lady, Gloria!" over the gentle instrumentation of a nylon-stringed guitar, muted horns and tight vocal harmonies.  From there the album slowly and intentionally bubbles forward like a frozen-over brook, presenting classical and folk pieces including a Celtic begging song, a folk tune from Sting's home of Newcastle, a number from Henry Purcell's King Arthur, a reference to Schubert's Winterreise and more; as well as two original pieces, the beautiful "Lullaby for an Anxious Child" and a new arrangement of the previously recorded "Hounds of Winter."

CONCLUSION

If on a Winter's Night... is almost "application music," or music for the purpose of introspection, mood setting, or direct listening. It most likely shouldn't be considered for enlivening your holiday party with yuletide cheer and may not even be - if I may be so bold - for entertainment. Like most music with depth, it requires a certain conscious presence to fully appreciate and experience, coming to grips with it over time like slowly warming beneath a freshly applied sweater.

There's a mystery in the dark of winter that is both unsettling and strangely comforting, as if everything remains unanswered and yet is perfect as it is; If on a Winter's Night... resides in that mystery. It isn't music for everyone, nor will there be any signature Sting hit singles emerging from it, and yet for those brave enough to look within and meditate on what lies in the heart of darkness, it is a welcome companion to the bleak seasons, both in nature and in the soul.

"If I have a spirituality at all, it's about music. I play and I listen to music as if it really matters to my soul, to my eternal being." [Sting]

An interview with Airto Moreira
By Tom Crenshaw, tom@RockOm.net

Airto Moreira is one of the most endearing and influential percussionists in the world today. Born in South Brazil he began playing percussion even before he could walk. By the time he was six years old Airto had won many music contests by singing and playing percussion. He moved to Sao Paulo at the age of sixteen and performed regularly in nightclubs and television as a percussionist, drummer and singer.

In 1965 he met the singer Flora Purim in Rio de Janeiro. Flora moved to the USA in 1967 with Airto following shortly after and began playing with musicians such as Reggie Workman, JJ Johnson, Cedar Walton and bassist Walter Booker. It was through Booker that Airto began playing with the greats - Cannonball Adderley, Lee Morgan, Paul Desmond and Joe Zawinul to name a few.

Mr. Moreira's impact in the drumming world has been so powerful that Downbeat Magazine added the category of Percussion to its readers' and critics' polls in 1973 because of his work. Airto has gone on to win this award over twenty times since then. In the past few years he was been voted the number one percussionist by Jazz Times, Modern Drummer, Drum Magazine, Jazzizz Magazine, Jazz Central Station's Global Jazz Poll on the Internet, as well as in many European, Latin American and Asian publications.

Airto Moreira has been advancing the cause of world and percussion music as a member of the Planet Drum percussion ensemble alongside The Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Heart, master conga player Giovanni Hidalgo, tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, Flora Purim, Babatunde Olatunji, Sikiru Adepoju and Vikku Vinayakram. Airto has contributed to two Grammy Award-winning projects, the album Planet Drum, which won in 1991 in the World Music category, as well as his work with the Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations Orchestra, which received the award for Best Live Jazz Album.

In September of 2002, Brazil's President Fernando Henrique Cardoso named Airto Moreira and Flora Purim to the Order of Rio Branco, one of Brazil's highest honors. The Order of Rio Branco was created in 1963 to formally recognize Brazilian and foreign individuals who have significantly contributed to the promotion of Brazil's international relations.

Also, Airto was a professor for three years at the Ethnomusicology department of UCLA and broke new ground in musical concepts and creative energy.

Currently he divides his time between recording studios, workshops and clinics, and creating new projects as well as researching new materials for future releases and live performances in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Airto's latest album is Life After That and was released on Narada Records.

Airto: No, not really. It probably has nothing to do with the music. There was no music. My parents didn't sing, dance, or play. [Laughs] My father was a spiritist. He, along with about 10 other mediums, would sit around a table and get in touch with the spirits and the spiritual world. They would talk to the spirits and solve problems for people. The medium, acting as a bridge between the spirit and material world, would talk with the spirit of the person and straighten a lot of things up because there's a lot of people who [after they die] feel good about their [past] lives, but most of us, we don’t. We feel like we wasted a lot of time in our life. We feel, "I shouldn’t have done that," or "maybe I should have done this instead of that." We keep those problems and other problems after life. When I say "after life," I mean after our material life. As spirits, we are immortals. We never die; we just spend some time around the spiritual world (which is actually right here) and is the universe. It's God's universe that he is creating. We might have to come back here to solve some problems we left and to learn to do other things and so on.

When I was about five years old I used to watch my father. We weren't supposed to watch but we watched anyway. [Laughs] I saw my father many times writing prescriptions for people. Some of the things he used to prescribe for others to take were from nature, from the forest. Other things he would write were to be taken from a pharmacy. He used to work with a spirit of a deceased doctor who had died 20 years earlier. My father was illiterate. He couldn't read or write but I saw him writing many times. Later on in his life he had diabetes and he lost his vision and was a blind man for about the last 10 years of his life. But he was completely happy! It was really beautiful to see that - the spiritual part of my family.

My sister does a lot of what my father used to do. She learned a lot from him. She is beautiful and happy as well. When others see her they say, "Wow, she is so nice!"

Now talking about death and music, I am in some ways a medium. I also make the bridge between the spiritual and material world. When I play, I do that. The musicians who play with me - including my wife, Flora [Purim] - they know when that comes on me and it's just a beautiful thing. We are helped by the spirits. The music becomes high as far as energy. It doesn't have to be a very fast kind of rhythm. Whatever we do is really rich in energy - universal energy that keeps all the planets and stars together and balanced. This energy is around us too; it's the primal energy that God uses to create the universe. The more you study the more you know. It's not a complicated thing; it's basic, really. I feel the energy when I change, when I am playing something and right at the beginning when it actually happens. I open up for whatever energy is there and then something happens; it clicks and the whole band knows. We look at each other, laugh and smile and we keep playing. It's a beautiful thing, man.

Tom: It seems you were bound for great things as a musician from early on. You had your own radio program in your home city as a preteen and then at 13 you began drumming and singing in local dance bands. Where did this drive, this passion for music come from?

Airto: I don’t know because we didn't have that many musicians in our family. My mother's side of the family was from Italy. I always loved music and I started playing some percussion instruments that my grandmother gave to me and that was it. I just kept playing. My mom gave me other percussion instruments and I just kept playing. This is what I do today; I keep doing the same thing that I use to do when I was a little kid. Now I have a lot of knowledge about different kinds of music - commercial, non-commercial, playing for money or not. Thank God I don't have to play for money. I did when I was younger but if the music wasn't good, if I didn't like it, I didn't play.

Tom: Your wife Flora moved to the USA in 1967 and you followed soon thereafter. Was that a move you intended to make no matter what or were you waiting to see what Flora discovered as far as the music scene was concerned before you decided to leave?

Airto: I had a plan, you see. I was in love with Flora. Really in love with Flora, mainly because she was a fine human being and she had a good education. She was from a family in Rio and I was from a family in South Brazil and we were very poor in our little village. When I met Flora I had never met a woman like her before. She was incredible! She was like a princess. She liked me and we started taking. It was like “Wow.” In the beginning the only thing I would talk to her about would be music. [Laughs] We used to talk a lot about music; she was a singer already. I was thinking this is something very, very special - this is incredible. I couldn’t believe it. We stayed together two years and she decided to go to the States and spend some time there, meet some people, say hello to her friends from Rio who were already there like Sivuca [Dias de Oliveira] who played accordion and was musical director for Miriam Makeba (a great African singer) and Sérgio Mendes. She told me, "I'm going to go and try and sing for a while. I'm really not sure what is going to happen." I said, "Well, I can't go right now. I’m playing with this great band, the New Quartet, and we're successful." I told her I was sorry but I couldn't go.

She went anyway, so we would write to each other. Sometimes we would talk on the phone, but we would write every day. I was so much in love with this woman that I decided to go to California, stay for a couple of weeks, and then bring her back to Brazil. So, I went - and here I am! I'm not in Brazil. [Laughs] Of course, we went back to Brazil often. I don't like the word "career" because I think music is much more than career - music is a lifetime commitment.

Tom: Who were the first musicians you met upon arriving in the states?

Airto: I met Moacir Santos, who was a master teacher from Brazil and a great arranger and tenor saxophonist. I did some gigs with him and studied with him, but not enough. I never really liked study. Unfortunately I can't read music. I started playing in LA with some Brazilian bands and then Flora was invited to go New York to sing with Miriam Makeba.  A few days after Flora went to New York, I followed her there and we lived in New York for almost nine years.

It was in New York that I met everybody. I met Cannonball Adderley and we liked each other so much, even though we didn't understand each other. I was speaking Portuguese and he was speaking English. He was our mentor and sponsor in the states and signed our working papers and told his manager, "I want Airto and Flora here legally." I started playing with Cannonball, Lee Morgan and Paul Desmond. Then everything started to happen.

Two and a half years later I met Miles Davis. I met Miles through Joe Zawinul, who was very close friends with Miles.  One day Miles said to Joe, "Joe, I’m recording this album - a new kind of music. It’s more electric. I need a percussionist that plays something different." Joe said to Miles, "Well I know somebody that I met at Walter Booker's house." Miles asked Joe what kind of person I was - if I was old, young, or what. Joe told Miles, "He's kind of young, but he has some incredible percussion instruments that no one's seen before. He plays them all, plays jazz, bossa nova, samba; he plays anything. He's able to hear something and just play it." So, I started playing with Miles and recorded Bitches Brew with him.

Tom: Did you believe Bitches Brew was going to be the phenomenon it became?

Airto: No. I knew practically nothing. It was all like a dream to me, a movie that I was in. Everything was happening and I didn't speak English. I came to understand English better soon after. The first three years was like I was on an acid trip and being in a crazy movie. It was a very strange feeling; I was not afraid at all. It was like I knew these musicians for a long time and we were just going to play some music - that was it. All the other musicians warned me about Miles and said, "Listen, Miles can be real nasty but go and play with him. He's going to like you. But never get into any kind of negative stuff with him because he likes to play with you and try and scare you." I was careful in that area. I had two and a half years with Miles. One of the greatest experiences in my life.

Tom: The sidemen on Bitches Brew were extraordinary: Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, and Chick Corea.

Airto: Yeah, I played for probably a year and a half with those guys. Then Miles started changing the sound. He wanted to get into the "funk/wah-wah" thing. He loved Jimi Hendrix actually. They were going to do an album together. Gil Evans was going to write the arrangements but it never happened because Jimi died. Yeah, we used to go down to the Village in New York with Miles, into Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady Studios and jam there. Miles would be talking with Jimi about the wah-wah pedal; He was crazy about it. He wanted to use it with the trumpet.

Tom: Following your stint with Miles Davis, you jumped right into Weather Report with Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Miroslav Vitous and Alphonse Mouzon.

Airto: Actually it was during my time with Miles. I was still playing with Miles when Joe Zawinul invited me to form the band. Joe said, "This is going to be the best group in the world. You’re going to play with us." But I told him, "I'm still playing with Miles. Some people are leaving the band and I think Miles needs me." Joe said, "No, Miles doesn't need anybody. Come and play with us." It wasn't that I was skeptical about Weather Report, I just didn't want to leave Miles' band. I wanted to go into that change with him and give him my sounds and soul. I never went on the road with Weather Report. I recorded with them and I played one concert at CBS for the release of our first album on CBS Records. I told Joe after that concert that I was not going to leave Miles.

Tom: In our interview with your wife, Flora gave us her thoughts of Chick Corea and Return to Forever. I want to hear from you about your experience with Chick and Return To Forever. You all pretty much made history in this band.

Airto: Chick had a drummer before me. But he asked Flora to ask me to come in on the next rehearsal they had so I could show some patterns to his drummer and I said, "Sure." I met them all, met the drummer and showed him some stuff. The drummer asked me to take a break with him, go next door to a bar and have a drink. When we got next door he said to me, "Do you want to play this gig with Chick?" I said, "Yeah, I want to play drums for Chick but you're already playing with him." "I’m a jazz drummer; I don’t want to play this gig," he said. I told him, "Well, we have to talk with Chick because he never really invited me to play with him." So we went back to the practice and the drummer said to Chick, "Chick, Airto and I were just talking and you've got a new drummer." [Laughs]

Tom: When we interviewed Mickey Hart and spoke with him about the Planet Drum album and his intention in recording it he said he realized on day he was "sitting on top of the mountain" with regards to his percussion friends. You and Flora joined him on the Planet Drum album and were in fact co-producers, along with the other musicians performing on the album. What are your thoughts on how this all came to be?

Airto: Flora and I met Mickey Hart with the Grateful Dead. We went to see the Dead one time at the Oakland Coliseum just to see what everyone was talking about with this band. That was some "down to earth" music: singing, playing and tripping. It was a big party with thousands of people! Flora and I went backstage after the concert and they were like, "Oh, Airto and Flora!" They invited us to perform with them the next two nights, to jam with them. Ornette Coleman was sitting in with them, playing this crazy stuff on saxophone. Flora picked up a microphone and started singing with Ornette Coleman, doing free-form stuff, really beautiful stuff. That's how we met Mickey. Mickey then called me and Flora to play on the Apocalypse Now soundtrack and we worked in the Dead’s studio in Marin County for six days and nights straight.

Tom: Was this the first time you had worked with Zakir Hussain?

Airto: Yes. [Pause] Maybe I played with him in the Rhythm Devils. I wasn't a part of that group; I just sat in with them. Apocalypse Now was the first time we collaborated and it was just beautiful. Zakir is one of the most incredible players on earth.

Tom: We agree, but I must add that when we spoke with Zakir Hussain last year in San Anselmo one of the first things he spoke about was Bitches Brew and how that was so inspirational to him and everyone, and how it changed everything. He was taken with your work as well.

Airto: Zakir told me he was a classical percussionist playing classical Hindu music, and that's what he did. Then he saw me play with Miles Davis and said, "Wow, I can do that too. I can play some other stuff." Zakir can do anything, really. He's an incredible musician. Then Zakir started opening up, playing with different people. He's one of the most respected musicians in the world.

Tom: Tell me about your album The Other Side of This, from 1988. It was an exploration into the healing powers of music and the spiritual world.

Airto: I always have ideas for sound. I have a lot of ideas for things I haven't played yet. I am young; I'm only 67. [Laughs] Some of the sounds I had been thinking about for many years were sounds for healing, for relaxing and for energy. I never really thought of myself as a shaman to be working with spirits. Spirits are free to come and visit when I am playing and each day when I jump in, they are welcome.

One day when were working on Planet Drum with Mickey and all the great percussionists who performed on that album I said to Mickey, "Remember that project that we talked about of co-producing, that healing music album?" He was about to head out of town and said, "Why don't you start it while I'm gone." So, I stayed in the studio and did about half of the album in five days. When Mickey returned we began rehearsing Planet Drum again and he asked, "Well what have you been doing while I've been gone?" So I had the engineer play the recordings in the studio and Mickey said, "What? What is this?" I said, "That's our project that you are producing." [Laughs] He said, "Oh, you bet I am! Let's keep working on this!" So we would rehearse Planet Drum in the day and then work on The Other Side of This until the early mornings.

Tom: How do you see music and especially percussion evolving in the near future?

Airto: Percussion was probably the first ever instrument. People would play and not even know they were making music. I think it is always going to be a part of humanity. Right now there's a lot of synthesized music and percussion, but at the same time there are percussionists and drummers such as Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, myself and others who are playing all over the world. There is space for acoustic percussion, for the real thing. It will never die. I think that percussion will always grow together with the music. It doesn't matter what kind of music it is because the percussion will always be there. Percussion evolves with the music and with the human race. One doesn't need to be a professional - you can go and play some with the guys and it's OK. Percussion started the music, in the beginning. Percussion is a beautiful exchange, a melting pot. It will always exist and if they keep sampling, they're going to be sampling forever.

LINKS: www.airto.com

Scott Valentine song of the week:

Week 20 - "The Greatest Message of Hope"


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“The story the Leavers have been enacting for the past three million years isn’t a story of conquest and rule. Enacting it doesn’t give them power. Enacting it gives them lives that are satisfying and meaningful to them. This is what you’ll find if you go among them. They’re not seething with discontent and rebellion, not incessantly wrangling over what should be allowed and what forbidden, not forever accusing each other of not living the right way, not living in terror of each other not going crazy because their lives seem empty and pointless, not having to stupefy themselves with drugs to get through the days, not having a new religion every week to give them something to hold on to, not forever searching for something to do or something to believe in that will make lives worth living. And – I repeat – this is not because they live close to nature or have no formal government or because they’re innately noble. This is simply because they’re enacting a story that works well for people – a story that worked well for three million years and that still works well where the Takers haven’t yet managed to stamp it out.” -Daniel Quinn

I first read Ishmael when I was nineteen years old and it changed my life forever. I could not go back to the way I was before I read it – quite simply it gave me a different perspective with which to view life and the world that surrounds it.

I wrote a letter to the author when I was 21 and mailed it to him when I was 22. Two months later he called me at home and invited me to join him in Houston, Texas where he lived with his wife Rennie. Stupefied with surreal delight I accepted his offer and one week later I had said my goodbyes in Victoria, uncertain when, if ever, I might return.

Of course I did return six months later, but the time spent talking with and learning from Daniel were the most formative experience of my life. I consider him one of the greatest minds there is – an extraordinary teacher whose way of seeing the story of the human species is unlike anyone else. When you read his books you feel comforted knowing that, somehow, someone has managed to take that disconcerted feeling in the bottom of your soul that tells you something is inherently wrong with the world in which we live and give it a name, a voice and an explanation for how things came to be this way. No amount of space in this blog post would be sufficient enough to express the experiences that have developed in my lifetime because of this book.

Last week I wrote about hearing the great minds of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Malcolm X for the first time in rap music when I was a teenager. It was a pivotal time because my own ideas were just then sprouting and to be nurtured along the way with such different perspectives was vital in shaping for myself an empathetic view of the experiences of others in this life.

With this week's Free Song, “The Greatest Message of Hope”, I laid down some hip-hop inspired beats and samples wanting to include some aspect of all of my musical influences on the Seasons album but I wondered what to do next. I certainly wasn’t in a creative space to throw down some mad rhymes… I thought back on the impact of hearing the inspiring teachers of those difficult times in that medium growing up and wanted desperately to perhaps bring some other great thinkers to light for new generations to consider and enjoy. I wanted to inspire and encourage a shifting paradigm for which mankind is not the enemy of life on earth but rather an educated and growing being, capable of realizing its dreams and aspirations with respect and integrity for this sacred earthly balance.

It is my greatest belief that the future of our kind depends on embracing new ways of viewing our place in this world and that we, particularly in this age of information, are capable of adapting and blossoming towards a greater, more evolved state of consciousness for ourselves. Certainly, in my opinion, a man like Daniel Quinn is helping to shape the ideas of the future and I hope you will seriously consider reading Ishmael and The Story of B for yourselves if you haven’t already so that we can embark on a deeper, more meaningful journey together on this shared path full of rich and inspiring dialogue.

After all, the greatest message of hope is the idea we share that a better day lies ahead.

From Here To There,

Scott Valentine

This song and post are part of Scott Valentine's song a week presentation entitled Seasons. Click here for more information.

Scott Valentine song of the week:

Week 18 - "Satyagraha"


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“In the application of Satyagraha, I discovered, in the earliest stages, that pursuit of Truth did not admit of violence being inflicted on one's opponent, but that he must be weaned from error by patience and sympathy. For, what appears to be truth to the one may appear to be error to the other. And patience means self-suffering. So the doctrine came to mean vindication of Truth, not by infliction of suffering on the opponent but one's own self.”
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

When I was in high-school, my obsession with The Beatles shifted towards a new form of musical expression that was making its first real impressions in white suburbia: rap/hip hop. This genre was much more than a thumping drumbeat with record scratches and lyrical bravado – it was a look into the heart of an experience shared amongst the new youth of America. The struggles of the generation before through segregation and civil rights left a resounding impression on the children who grew up in the world beneath the inspiring words of promise and hope delivered with impassioned power by the heroes of the times. While much had changed since the Jim Crow days of the earlier part of the century, much still remained the same.

Many minority communities continued to struggle; money was scarce while the influx of drugs created a surge of violence that debilitated families and community ties at increasingly alarming rates. The opportunities for the children of this generation to express frustration at the disillusionment of being left out of “The American Dream” were slim to none. The voices of the streets were being drowned out by a rising cacophony of partying baby boomers too busily reaping the benefits of the economic boom times of the 1980’s to heed their inner city concerns. These frustrations gave rise to a poetic swagger, rich with the experience of life on these challenging city streets and full of pointed observations as to the current and future state of the people who lived there. For some it was an expression of that frustration and resentment while for others, it became the lifeline with which they could pull themselves out from the wreckage to be heard above the din – a new voice for a new generation.

It was precisely this aspect of rap music that drew me in so closely. I grew up with very little in the way of real life drama in my secluded little neighbourhood of Langford. As a teenager, I never faced the challenges of discrimination nor witnessed firsthand the effects of drug-obsessed violence. Yet the raw-emotional delivery and poignant lyrical rhythms with their unpredictable twists introduced me to a whole other world of the human experience. I could feel the heartbreak and inspiration behind those voices and I began to trust what it was they were trying to teach me. And they were trying to teach me.

I realize a lot has changed within the rap/hip hop genre since I was younger but so many great teachers still remain along with a new generation of great artists who help carry forth the torch of change, hope and growth. Their voices must continue to be heard for their frustrations and concerns are genuine and the hope that their insights can offer now connects right to the heart of thousands of communities across the world. Without the words of these cultural leaders whose art and politics transcend borders and racial divides, the hope that we can see on the distant horizon would not be possible. Their real-life stories and cultural criticisms helped to encourage young men and women to question the authority of the old regime whilst, at the same time, sought to help them to understand, accept and respect the beauty of their own unique cultural selves. This cultural transformation, much like the one that preceded the times of King and Kennedy, paved the way for a man named Barack Obama to be given the opportunity to accept the nomination of president of The United States of America.

Without such incredibly articulate artists as Chuck D of Public Enemy or KRS-One of Boogie Down Productions, I couldn’t have been given the opportunity to hear the speeches and soak in the words of great men like Martin Luther King, Jr. Without the piercing lyrical maelstrom of albums like Public Enemy's “It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back” or Ice Cube's "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted" I might not have been introduced to the challenges and struggles being faced by people of different races and without these influences, I might not have developed such an empathetic spirit. I might not have understood the passion that it takes to fight for love and peace and hope. I might not have been given the voice with which to stand up amongst a crowd and express my own frustration and disillusionment.

Satyagraha is the principle and practice of non-violence created by “Mahatma” Gandhi that has inspired tremendous change in the face of adversity over the past 100 years. The first time I heard the voice of Dr. King (whose campaigns were also heavily influenced by this philosophy) was in a rap song. Although I can’t for the life of me remember now which song it was, the indelible impression that it left upon me cannot be overstated. It was for this reason and because of the great inspiration that it sparked within my own spirit that I decided to include samples of speeches by two of my other favorite teachers of the times. One is the song “Satyagraha” which features quite a lengthy but beautifully expressed impression of the nature of being in a speech entitled “Spiritual Message To The World”, given to the BBC on October 17th, 1931. The second, features author Daniel Quinn and will be featured in next weeks Free Song newsletter.

I wanted my album Seasons to be an expression of all the inspiration that helped me to find my own voice in this world through all of the changes and growth that I had experienced up to that point. By including these great minds and exploring the musical styles and influences of my past, I hoped I might be given the opportunity to return the favour given to me so many years ago. I hoped, and hope still, that some boy or girl out there might find these teachers through one of my songs and be inspired to discover the strength and passion of their own unique voice.

From Here To There,

Scott Valentine

This song and post are part of Scott Valentine's song a week presentation entitled Seasons. Click here for more information.

We've got a brand new episode of the RockOm Podcast out today. Sarah Hart is a gifted and talented singer-songwriter whose new album SaintSong merges the ancient wisdom of saints past with a modern, folksy pop sound. Don't miss this special podcast to hear Sarah reflect on how she was inspired to breathe new life into the words of the saints and how this passion came to life through her to create new and relevant music.

Scott Valentine song of the week:

Week 18 - "Insomniac"


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"Nothing cures insomnia like the realization that it's time to get up."
-Unknown-

Originally I wrote this as a love song for a girl I had a serious crush on at the time. I didn't sit down and think, "Okay, I’m going to write you a love song because I’m crazy about you. "It was more like, "I haven't slept in three weeks (literally) and I can't stop thinking about you. Now how on earth am I going to get my life back and get some f*$!@#!? sleep!" Such is the genesis of many a love song I suspect.

Obviously nothing came of that pseudo-obsession other this song – something that I was quite removed from when it came time to record songs for the "Summer" record. Being that I wanted this album to be a complete departure from the vibe and feel of the others I decided to let my imagination soar by approaching the melodic delivery from a much different angle. I loved the structure and the lyrics of the original but wanted to infuse it with a more "summery" energy; the original was far too "broody" to be included otherwise.

So it was that I ended up singing in a Caribbean-inspired voice – accompanied with up to seven other tracks of myself singing incoherent off-the-cuff gibberish in the background. When all was said and done, I enjoyed the bounce of the new approach and felt I had expanded the theme of the song to include the notion that waiting on someone to notice you is about as effective as waiting around for someone else to come along and solve all the world’s problems for us; if we don't take charge and become active in the pursuit of our own destiny, positive results might never occur. In the end, I got tired of waiting for her and spending all of my time thinking about and caring for someone who, for whatever reason, wasn't keen on giving me the reciprocation I desired.

The song, like the "Seasons" journey, was pushing me from the head-over-heels-in-love-sick puppy of spring towards the more cautious and careful lover; someone who was eager to find love, but determined not to get hurt along the way. Throughout my life up until I met Ames, I had always put my unquenchable desire to change the world ahead of my personal relationships. I obsessed over what I believed needed to be done and how it seemed to me that nobody else seemed to care too much about the state the world was in. I was losing sleep and stressing myself to no end over something that was utterly beyond the reach of my own control.

During this summer session, I was slowly coming to realize that the most important sphere of influence I could affect was the world of my own choices. I began to see that I could continue to sit around, stewing in my own juices and waiting to get heard as a musician with all of these crazy ideas and opinions about how to save the world or I could get busy living my life in the moment – healing my relationships and enjoying the company of friends and family with whom I had distanced myself from for the past decade. I found that the energy I had spent "waiting" was far better served living the change I wanted to see and that this was inspiring greater change in the people around me. Finally, those closest to me could see that thinking and acting differently about how we see our role in this world could actual create a more relaxed and joyous Scott.

And that was something that they had all been waiting for…

From Here To There,

Scott Valentine

This song and post are part of Scott Valentine's song a week presentation entitled Seasons. Click here for more information.

In tandem with RockOm's featured artist Sarah Hart and her CD SaintSong, here are a few thoughts and quotes from some of the church saints whose words she features on her album. The bold text is the original text or prayer title and the italicized text are the titles of Sarah's songs. You can hear samples of her songs and hear her own reflections on these texts here.

Come, true light (Saint Symeon)
"Come True Light"

Come, true light.
Come, life eternal.
Come, hidden mystery.
Come, treasure without name.
Come, reality beyond all words.
Come, person beyond all understanding.
Come, rejoicing without end.
Come, light that knows no evening.
Come, unfailing expectation of the saved.
Come, raising of the fallen.
Come, resurrection of the dead.
Come, all-powerful, for unceasingly your create, refashion and change all things by your will alone.
Come, invisible whom none may touch and handle.
Come, for you continue always unmoved, yet at every instant you are wholly in movement; you draw near to us who lie in hell, yet you remain higher than the heavens.
Come, for your name fills our hearts with longing and is ever on our lips; yet who you are and what your nature is, we cannot say or know.
Come, Alone to the alone.
Come, for you are yourself the desire that is within me.
Come, my breath and my life.
Come, the consolation of my humble soul.
Come, my joy, my glory, my endless delight.

Saint Augustine quote
"Restless"

“You have made us for Yourself O Lord, for you alone are God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

The Dialogue of St Catherine of Siena
"Love Moves You"

"What moves You to do us such mercy through pure love, and on account of no debt that You owed us, or need that You had of us? We are rather Your guilty and malignant debtors. Wherefore, if I understand aright, Oh, Supreme and Eternal Truth, I am the thief and You have been punished for me. For I see Your Word, Your Son, fastened and nailed to the Cross, of which You have made me a Bridge, as You have shown me, Your miserable servant, for which reason, my heart is bursting, and yet cannot burst, through the hunger and the desire which it has conceived towards You. I remember, my Lord, that You were willing to show me who are those who go by the Bridge and those who do not; should it please Your goodness to manifest this to me, willingly would I see and hear it."

St. Francis of Assisi's prayer in praise of God given to Brother Leo
"Great and Wonderful Lord"

You are holy, Lord, the only God,
and Your deeds are wonderful.
You are strong.
You are great.
You are the Most High.
You are Almighty.
You, Holy Father are King of heaven and earth.
You are Three and One, Lord God, all Good.
You are Good, all Good, supreme Good,
Lord God, living and true.
You are love. You are wisdom.
You are humility. You are endurance.
You are rest. You are peace.
You are joy and gladness.
You are justice and moderation.
You are all our riches, and You suffice for us.
You are beauty.
You are gentleness.
You are our protector.
You are our guardian and defender.
You are our courage. You are our haven and our hope.
You are our faith, our great consolation.
You are our eternal life, Great and Wonderful Lord,
God Almighty, Merciful Saviour.

Te Deum Laudamus (Church chatnt, English Translation)
"You Are the Lord"

We praise Thee, O God: we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship Thee and the Father everlasting.
To Thee all Angels:
to Thee the heavens and all the Powers therein.
To Thee the Cherubim and Seraphim cry with unceasing voice:
Holy, Holy, Holy: Lord God of Hosts.
The heavens and the earth are full of the majesty of Thy glory.
Thee the glorious choir of the Apostles.
Thee the admirable company of the Prophets.
Thee the white-robed army of Martyrs praise.
Thee the Holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge.
...more...

On this week's podcast episode, out today:

• Musician Mark Karan shares about the two most important lessons he learned during his battle with cancer as well as speaks about his new album, Walk Through the Fire. [Interviewed by RockOm's Tom Crenshaw]

  Karan has performed with some of the world's finest musicians as side-man. He now takes center stage with the debut of Walk Through the Fire.

• We remember the life and legacy of Indian Master Musician, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan whose many firsts introduced Indian classical music to the western world and went on to influence the sound of The Beatles.

Swing over to the podcast page to download this episode individually or to subscribe to all future podcasts with iTunes or any other podcatching software.

Scott Valentine song of the week:

Week 14 - "Cool Kids"


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“Maybe you are the "cool" generation if coolness means a capacity to stay calm and use your head in the service of ends passionately believed in, then it has my admiration.”
Kingman Brewster

So I went from thinking about reality TV and writing “Little Black Book” to penning this song for Paris Hilton and Brody Jenner and these so-called “celebrities” who have come to make their notoriety without offering too much to the world in terms of talent. Nothing is forthcoming from them in terms of creative solutions that address the issues and challenges facing their generation. Instead, they travel back and forth throughout the globe on private jets, whisked into swanky nightclub hot spots to party behind the velvet ropes of the VIP section, as oblivious to the outside world as most spoiled rich kids.

At the time I wrote “Cool Kids” I was working in Yaletown (the Vancouver “be-seen” equivalent of L.A) where men and women prance the storefront catwalks in their over-priced outfits, requisite tiny-dog accessories tucked deep in a designer purse or frantically scurrying at their heels, styled in an equally disturbing array of human-inspired fashions that, unbeknownst to their self-absorbed masters, serves no other apparent purpose than to suck the living spirit right out from beneath their carefully manicured paws.

It’s hard not to take it personally when you work to create and support different ways of thinking about the role of our species on this planet, only to be forced to “make a living” amidst the goals and ideals of an obliviously out-of-touch society. For all of the teachers, mentors, activists and entrepreneurs whose passionately creative endeavors I was so voraciously absorbing, arriving at this particular part of the city for a four to eight hour shift all but sucked the living spirit right out of me as well.

Oh! How I long for the day when it’s hip and cool to live without such ridiculously audacious accoutrement and when treating the Community of Life with respect and compassion is the true fashion of the day!

In the meantime, I suppose we must continue to ridicule the apathetic behaviours of our more wealthy cultural counterparts for they are not the trendsetters of the day but simply slaves to the fashion rhythms of a bygone era. The Green Revolution is underway but, wouldn’t you know it, they have missed the boat on this one too; only the impact of their sense of entitlement is so great that none of us can afford to leave them behind for very long.

Like the styles of the decades that have now thankfully passed before us, they are relics of an ancient time when mankind walked this earth, oblivious to the impact of his actions and living with blind ignorance beyond his means.

So I am calling for their removal. No longer do I wish to hear what they have to say. Do you know why, because they are saying absolutely nothing of consequence at all? I say down with the Cool Kids and their custom designed apathy! A new era is upon us!

Long Live the Bleeding Hearts!

From Here To There,
Scott Valentine

This song and post are part of Scott Valentine's song a week presentation entitled Seasons. Click here for more information.

Scott Valentine song of the week:

Week 13 - "Little Black Book"


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"Celebrity-worship and hero-worship should not be confused. Yet we confuse them every day, and by doing so we come dangerously close to depriving ourselves of all real models. We lose sight of the men and women who do not simply seem great because they are famous but are famous because they are great. We come closer and closer to degrading all fame into notoriety." - Daniel J. Boorstin

It might come as a disappointing shock to my friends and fans to discover this little tidbit but I refuse to live my life in denial any longer. My name is Scott and I’m a reality television addict.

There, I said it. I feel a sense of relief at having now shared this revelation with you. I never got into The Real World, Survivor or any of the “original reality” series until my addiction became full blown. It started with Extreme Home Makeover and The Bachelor. I then fell into Laguna Beach, Princes of Malibu and The Hills. Clearly it’s gotten out of hand – for any of you who recognize the quality programming offered by the majority of these shows you’ll understand how far down I have sunk. It’s really kind of sad. Strangely enough, at the same time it has also given me some of the greatest inspiration for Seasons.

Let me offer forth an explanation for how things got to this point. Let me attempt to persuade you that there was integrity in my “TV time” before Paris, Lauren, Speidi and The Donald began to weave their pre-fabricated life stories into the fabric of my own life.

I have always enjoyed spending time in my own company; I guess I got used to it during those years when many of the other kids would tease and torment me. Nowadays, I have some truly amazing friends and enjoy going out for a good time with them on occasion but more often than not, I enjoy nothing more than staying at home, cooking myself a nice meal and relaxing in front of the TV to watch sports or a movie.

After the death of my brother in 1998, I moved to Vancouver in hopes of finding and healing my spirit but I must tell you it was a tough and trying decade. I struggled nearly every day with debilitating anxiety brought on by stress and grief. I’m not ashamed to admit to you that I would cry a lot; anything even remotely sentimental still wells me up. I don’t remember always being like that but, as a sensitive kid growing up, I suppose it was always laying there right there beneath the surface.

When we lost Paul, much of the pain and depression that I had experienced during my teenage years became even more raw and exposed and I guess my spirit took that opportunity to finally express the dire need for me to face, reconcile and heal myself of those old wounds. Still, despite the trauma and turmoil, I somehow managed to hold on to the promise that greater things were always possible in both life and in love if I could just strengthen the will of my heart to find and embrace them. I have always had hope and this how my reality TV addiction started.

One Sunday night as I sat on the couch numbly clicking through channels and absentmindedly strumming my guitar, I fell upon Extreme Home Makeover and quickly became hooked. People bringing hope and comfort to other people who were desperately in need of a leg up in this life – that’s the kind of magic my spirit needed to find. Everywhere you look, particularly on TV and online, there are cynics and naysayers and so-called “realists” who seek to squash any semblance of hopeful optimism and good news from view. I understand that the money they spent on designing and furnishing these magnificent homes for people in need could be spread out further amongst other people and families in need but nevertheless, to be able to look and see the inspiration and power that is given and shared on this show really helped fill my own spirit with hope again. Every Sunday I would look forward to my “weekly cry”; a time where I could share my grief with someone else who had lost and with whom I could relate to that desperate desire to rise up, out and above the painful reminders of one’s current situation in life.

The other show that brought me hope was The Bachelor/Bachelorette. My friends tease me endlessly, finding this to be utterly ridiculous but what can I say? Creating Seasons was a necessary process for me through which I hoped to identify and embrace my own truths and live transparently; accepting both my triumphs and transgressions so that I might free my spirit from the weight of the stresses I had burdened upon it. The Bachelor/Bachelorette gave me an insight into the heart of both men and women. As a lonely bachelor myself, someone who had had some remarkable loves in his life but who could never truly “get there” emotionally because of all the baggage I was dragging around behind me, I needed to continue to believe that there was someone out there who was perfect for me; a woman with whom I could finally discard all those burdens and for whom I could allow my heart to open. To watch these men and women strut and position and expose themselves to the world in the hopes of finding true love - I found extremely brave. It takes a lot of balls, balls I have surely never had when it came to love, to put oneself in that situation, however desperate or contrived a situation it might seem. It’s schmaltzy, cheesy and there are definitely many moments that make me squirm but aside from that and a few schmucks looking to get seen on TV, there lives a spirit there yearning for love. You can have your cynicism; I prefer to think that hope is the main reason that so many people are willing to put it all out there. We need love and acceptance so much that we will potentially embarrass ourselves and leave our hearts in shattered ruins for the opportunity to find it – and that too is what I’m all about.

I have spent countless Sunday and Monday nights in front of the tube, watching but not really watching, listening without really listening while my fingers moved around the fretboard, randomly searching to find the next great chorus or verse for a song. Every week, two or three new songs would emerge from this process and without them I would never have experienced the prolificacy needed to even begin to attempt a concept album like Seasons.

Of course there is the other side of this reality television revolution but I don’t want to spew off about it too much here as I feel that this week’s Free Song, “Little Black Book”, will do a better job of summing up my feelings about the banal mediocrity we find within this current cultural climate of instant celebrity. The quote I’ve selected this week really hits the nail on the head with this issue.

There are a lot of misguided efforts out there; people who believe themselves to possess a talent that they do not possess. But for those instances where you do find people in possession of a truth or for whom the search for such truths as peace, love and hope are the guiding principles of their life and not simply some harebrained scheme to been seen by millions, then you have truly discovered something special.

We continue to grow and learn in this life by sharing our stories. When it comes to the stories we find on TV, most of them aren’t worth hearing about and I’ve become guilty recently of subjecting my spirit to boatloads of over-produced, brain-sucking bullshit - a situation I am currently trying to rectify. But occasionally you can find a diamond or two within the rough and if you do and you find some semblance of hope and inspiration because of it?

Well, that’s a reality I’m prepared to live with.

From Here To There,

Scott Valentine

This song and post are part of Scott Valentine's song a week presentation entitled Seasons. Click here for more information.