Meaningfulness
Being perpetually single, I don't normally go out on Valentine's Day, but there were a couple of options this year that intrigued me. The Backyard had a Valentine's dinner with New Dance Horizons and their food is always amazing, but going to a fancy dinner alone was just a bit too brave for me to do alone, so I went to Regina Folk Festival's presentation of Freedom Singer at the Artesian instead.
Freedom Singer has Khari Wendell McClelland searching for the history of his great-great-great-grandmother Kizzy. She fled slavery via the underground railroad to Canada where she had two children and lost her legs to the cold before eventually moving to Detroit, but there are many unanswered questions. Through the journey, Khari finds some beautiful and powerful songs that feel defiant and still relevant despite their age. He also reveals our myths about the nature of Canada's role in the underground railroad and shines a light on the too often hidden racism that still exists. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am definitely glad I didn't stay home and watch TV all night.
It's also clear throughout the performance, that Khari has a deep connection to the music he's finding and that reminded me of a question I recently heard asked: "What is the most meaningful song?" This is such an interesting question because you basically can't answer without having a story to go with the song. So with that in mind, four(ish) songs and their associated stories:
Stille Nacht: Every Christmas in my childhood, my mother's side of the family would gather on Christmas Eve for a big family meal and exchange of presents. Whenever this side of the family gathers, there is singing so on Christmas, it is carols. Newspaper song sheets yellowed with age get pulled out and far too many songs that we've all heard for a month already are sung (reasonably well at least). The last song though is always Stille Nacht (Silent Night) sung in German and then, finally, we get to open the presents. Christmas traditions have changed and we no longer exchange presents, but the singing continues and Stille Nacht is still the last song.
Johnny Be Good: At every wedding celebration that both he and I attended, my cousin John would get up with the band and sing Johnny Be Good. This was a fairly harmless and fun tradition which I wouldn't have thought much about, but John passed away last year after a two year battle with pancreatic cancer. At one of the events following John's funeral, his two year old son was singing along to Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini and I started wondering who would teach him to sing Johnny Be Good and then I had to find a tissue.
Bravery (Poor Nameless Boy): Every time Joel introduces this song, he asks what brave thing you've done recently. Usually about the only thing I can think of is that I left the house to go to a concert, but if you do that 160 times in a year, that doesn't seem all that brave anymore. Right now I feel like writing blog entries is brave. Still, every time I hear this song now, I'm left wondering whether I've been pushing myself out of my comfort zone enough.
Julia McDougall's two songs about her grandmother: I don't actually know the title of either of these songs and to the best of my knowledge neither one of them was actually released, but there is a decent recording of one of them at the Streaming Cafe (jump to about 34:30). This one always reminds me of my Oma Grzesina and the last time I saw her. She had been in Santa Maria for a number of years before eventually having a stroke. When I went to see her, she said "Meine Augen ...." I didn't catch the last word, but she was telling me that she was crying. I think she knew that she wasn't going to see me again and the next day she passed away peacefully. Julia's other song about her grandmother, reminds me of the month my dad was in the hospital. My mom would push him to do more of the rehab, but when I came, I let him just sit and hold my hand and talk. He's fine now, but that was a very long month. Somehow that song let me remember and be sad and hopeful at the same time.
I suspect if I thought about it more, I'd find even more songs to talk about, but this is a blog post not a ninety minute performance, so that's probably enough for now.
Stille Nacht: Every Christmas in my childhood, my mother's side of the family would gather on Christmas Eve for a big family meal and exchange of presents. Whenever this side of the family gathers, there is singing so on Christmas, it is carols. Newspaper song sheets yellowed with age get pulled out and far too many songs that we've all heard for a month already are sung (reasonably well at least). The last song though is always Stille Nacht (Silent Night) sung in German and then, finally, we get to open the presents. Christmas traditions have changed and we no longer exchange presents, but the singing continues and Stille Nacht is still the last song.
Johnny Be Good: At every wedding celebration that both he and I attended, my cousin John would get up with the band and sing Johnny Be Good. This was a fairly harmless and fun tradition which I wouldn't have thought much about, but John passed away last year after a two year battle with pancreatic cancer. At one of the events following John's funeral, his two year old son was singing along to Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini and I started wondering who would teach him to sing Johnny Be Good and then I had to find a tissue.
Bravery (Poor Nameless Boy): Every time Joel introduces this song, he asks what brave thing you've done recently. Usually about the only thing I can think of is that I left the house to go to a concert, but if you do that 160 times in a year, that doesn't seem all that brave anymore. Right now I feel like writing blog entries is brave. Still, every time I hear this song now, I'm left wondering whether I've been pushing myself out of my comfort zone enough.
Julia McDougall's two songs about her grandmother: I don't actually know the title of either of these songs and to the best of my knowledge neither one of them was actually released, but there is a decent recording of one of them at the Streaming Cafe (jump to about 34:30). This one always reminds me of my Oma Grzesina and the last time I saw her. She had been in Santa Maria for a number of years before eventually having a stroke. When I went to see her, she said "Meine Augen ...." I didn't catch the last word, but she was telling me that she was crying. I think she knew that she wasn't going to see me again and the next day she passed away peacefully. Julia's other song about her grandmother, reminds me of the month my dad was in the hospital. My mom would push him to do more of the rehab, but when I came, I let him just sit and hold my hand and talk. He's fine now, but that was a very long month. Somehow that song let me remember and be sad and hopeful at the same time.
I suspect if I thought about it more, I'd find even more songs to talk about, but this is a blog post not a ninety minute performance, so that's probably enough for now.
