The King of Calypso

Some music comes in and out of your life.  And some tunes and performers remain a constant companion.

When the name Harry Belafonte comes up, I think everyone's head goes to Beetlejuice and the Banana Boat Song and Jump in the Line.  

I, instead, think back to hearing Schrodinger's Cat sing Jump in the Line a cappella on the steps of the Tower at UT.  I think of Mom coming back from a cruise to Jamaica trying to identify a tune she heard on steel drums, but not exactly sure what it was.  We all thought of Jump in the Line, repeatedly, but that didn't seem to be it.  Until years later she heard Jump in the Line and said "that's it."

I think of Jude becoming obsessed with the greatest hits of Harry Belafonte.  Hearing repeated lines of Mama Look-A Boo Boo, "my daddy can't be ugly so."  Or getting Jude to record Turn the World Around for a Mother's Day present.

I think of Belafonte's episode of The Muppet Show, which we've watched repeatedly.  I know the gags by heart now.  Including the all times when Fozzie is off beat.

Belafonte's music is a joy to hear.  It's music he feels passionate about and it shows.  It's his formative music, the songs he learned by heart from a young age and then reinterpreted through his masterful skill.  It's been wonderful to discover his broader discography over the past couple of years, as he has quickly become perhaps our family's favorite artist as a whole.

Belafonte's life is also something to admire.  Wonderful film performances in Bright Road, Carmen Jones, and The World, The Flesh, and the Devil.  A masterful film noir in Odds Against Tomorrow.   His roles were influenced by his activism, stretching the portrayal of African Americans on film, moving beyond the stereotypical roles that they had previously been sidelined to.  He was a pioneer in that regard, right alongside his close friend Sydney Poitier.  Belafonte took that same stance in politics, marrying pop culture and politics.  He was an ardent supporter and active participant in the Civil Rights Movement, even bailing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. out of Birmingham jail.   He modeled this activism after that of his mentor, Paul Robeson, and carried it with him through his life.

Harry Belafonte has left an indelible impression on my family and this world through song, through film, and through his life.  He will be greatly missed.  

Belafonte passed away on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, from congestive heart failure.  He was 96.

Cantique de Jean Racine, Opus 11

"The highest goal of music is to connect their soul to their Divine Nature, not entertainment." 

Pythagorus

I often find that pieces of music can impact us greatly.  They resurface at various places in your life, where you can remember the places where they were played, how they affect you, and move you in places you may not have recognized before.

Pieces like the Cantique de Jean Racine, Opus 11 by Gabriel Faure.

The piece is a mixed choir composition, usually intended for accompaniment on an organ, which captures the French paraphrase of a Latin hymn from the breviary of the matins, liturgical books for the darkness of early morning.   Composed in 1865, it became one of Faure's early signature pieces.  He was 19 at its composition.

I first encountered the piece at a show choir summer camp at Duke University in 1994, the summer before my freshman year of high school.  The Brightleaf Music Workshop always aimed to expose its students to a wide variety of choral music, from show choir, to vocal jazz, to gospel, and high holy classical music.  The Cantique was one such classical piece for that year, to be performed in the final shows and additionally to be performed at Sunday services in the Duke Chapel.  

This was one portion of the camp that I always looked forward to. 

Duke remains an interesting college campus.  One side is all straight edges and modern architecture, as if completely designed by engineers.  The other is closer to Oxford and Cambridge, assembled by stone masons and craftsmen.  As if completely designed by artisans.  The Duke Chapel exists on this side of the campus, completely mirroring classical cathedral architecture.  Accordingly, the cross shaped building has amazing acoustics that ring music and sound throughout the structure.  

Plus, it has the most beautiful sounding organs that I've heard.  While the Chapel now has three, at the time, it housed two large pipe organs, one with 6,900 pipes, and the other with 5,033 pipes.  You can feel the bass from those pipes in your soul.

For the 1994 Brightleaf song selection for the Duke Chapel services, the conductors of Brightleaf chose the Cantique de Jean Racine to be accompanied by the chapel's organs, and a men's acapella performance of the Amen section of an Ave Maria variation to close.  

To sing those pieces there, with expert accompaniment, and to feel the music in your body and soul because of the construction of the Chapel was a divine experience.  We can often talk about feeling the Spirit in Christian circles and this often comes with more charismatic music.  Something more modern, something where the darkness and the volume allows you to let go and feel the emotion of the song and the praise being lifted.  

This was different.  This was connecting with something older, something greater. A piece that had been performed for hundreds of years, raising praise to God.  A building designed to honor the Lord in every piece that was chosen for it by masters in their field.  The unity of voices singing in harmony.  And the echo of the music in the air.

I count it as one of the clearest experiences where I felt the Spirit of the Lord's presence. 

The piece would continue to pop up in my life, being a competition piece for All-Region Choir in my high school years.  And now, I'm having the pleasure of singing it with the Cummins Diversity Choir, with others who have likewise encountered it in ages past.

And each time we sing, I still feel the echo of that Sunday morning years ago.

"Verbe égal au Très-Haut, notre unique espérance,
Jour éternel de la terre et des cieux,
De la paisible nuit nous rompons le silence:
Divin Sauveur, jette sur nous les yeux.

Répands sur nous le feu de Ta grâce puissante;
Que tout l'enfer fuie au son de Ta voix;
Dissipe le sommeil d'une âme languissante
Qui la conduit à l'oubli de Tes lois!

Ô Christ! sois favorable à ce peuple fidèle,
Pour Te bénir maintenant rassemblé;
Reçois les chants qu'il offre à Ta gloire immortelle,
Et de Tes dons qu'il retourne comblé."

"Word of the Highest, our only hope,
Eternal day of earth and the heavens,
We break the silence of the peaceful night;
Saviour Divine, cast your eyes upon us!

Pour on us the fire of your powerful grace,
That all hell may flee at the sound of your voice;
Banish the slumber of a weary soul,
That brings forgetfulness of your laws!

O Christ, look with favour upon your faithful people
Now gathered here to praise you;
Receive their hymns offered to your immortal glory;
May they go forth filled with your gifts."

Praise Team

One thing that I've really enjoyed over the past couple of months is getting opportunities to sing.  As I've written before, the pandemic has been tough on live music.  For months, everything was shut down.  And even as things opened back up, live music has been one of the slower things to come back.  When we first were able to go into our church for worship last August, we were still wearing masks for services and singing through masks.  Most choirs weren't meeting.  

Over the past several months, I've found those new opportunities to sing.  First with the Cummins Diversity choir, as written about before.  And since this August, with the praise team at Connection Pointe.  

I've forgotten how much I missed this.

Especially because the choir and the praise team stretch different muscles.  There are musical differences.  The choir is about matching volume and pitch with others in your range, while balancing with the rest of the choir.  Following the director.  The praise team is about blending with the small group of singers, often with tighter harmony.  About finding the right harmony to bring to the group that is additive.  

There are technical differences.  The choir is accompanied by a piano and generally does not use a microphone.  The praise team has a full band behind it with a click track and handheld microphones.

There's even one more fundamental difference.

The praise team is about throwing yourself unabashedly into worship.  

It's being able to strip away everything else, the rest of the band, the congregation, the lights, everything and just worship.  All of the musicians at Connection Pointe are able to do this very well.  To take pride in rehearsal and in trying to present the best music possible, but at the same time, being able to let that go and just worship.

This cuts across denomination, across the size of the church, and the style of music.  I've sung in church since I was four and have been part of worship teams or choirs since high school.  Sure, some things change.  I know here I have definitely been caught off guard because of the live video feed that is shared on the screens on each side of the worship center.  Nothing like catching a glimpse of yourself when you are not expecting it to make you do a double take.  

But the heart of it consistently remains the same.  

Praise forever to the King of Kings.

The Power of Music

"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent."

Victor Hugo

I'm a little late in sharing this and I know it has circulated quite far, but it is still impressive.  The video shows Marta Cinta Gonzalez Saldana, a former ballet dancer now afflicted with Alzheimer's reacting to hearing Swan Lake again, bursting forth in choreography and emotion.  It's a perfect example of the power of music on memory.

The video, taken in 2019, comes with a couple of large caveats.  The video is intercut with segments of another ballerina at their prime in full regalia.  It is important to note that this is not Gonzalez Saldana, nor is that ballet Swan Lake.  There has also been difficulty confirming that Gonzalez Saldana was a prima ballerina in New York, as has been claimed.  But those are minor details.  The power of the video lies in Gonzelez Saldana's recognition of the music and her muscle memory of the choreography.

We are just now beginning to fully appreciate the effects of music on memory.  Understanding how music ties into our earliest sound recognition and memory.  Connecting the link of emotion and memory through the powerful impact music has on us.  There are organizations dedicated to utilizing the power of music in those suffering from a host of cognitive and physical challenges.  We're seeing how music can unlock decades lost memories in those with dementia and other forms of Alzheimers.  

Music has power.

Far beyond what we have ever attributed to it.

We have always known the impact music can have on our emotional states.  Music can soothe the savage breast.  It calms us.  It hypes us.  It centers us. It relaxes us.  It moves us to action.

Look at something like Quarantine Cabaret on Facebook.  A venue for artists of all stripes to post music and dance on Facebook if for no other reason than to brighten others' days throughout this pandemic.  A small way to improve the world just a little bit.

We now see the impact it has on our mental health.

In the video, we also see how that impact on memory can be combined with other senses.  With muscle memory, in particular here with this dancer.  How the combined effect can be greater than the whole.

To me, this just shows why continued music and arts education is so important.  Why we cannot dismiss these as non-essential learning.  Yes, STEM education is valuable, but what good is math if we do not learn how to communicate it well.  What good is science, if we cannot relate it to our lives, cannot create meaningful connections with it.  If they cannot be folded into the greater story of our lives.  It's why STEM should always be STEAM, especially with music.

After all, music crosses all other areas of education. 

Music is language, both as in it is its own language and communicates the language of its writing.

Music is math.  Its language is written in fraction.

Music is science.  The manipulation of different wavelengths to create different pitches.

Music is literature.  The communication of story and emotion.

Music is history.  A picture of the society in which it is written.  Sometimes a product of, sometimes railing against.

Music matters.

It's why we need artists.  Why we need teachers.  

For our mental state and for our memory.

  

 

Ebeneezers

Ebeneezer - a commemoration of divine assistance.

"Here I raise mine Ebeneezer; hither by thy help I'm come."

We need Ebeneezers.  We need to hold on to them and we need to recognize them when they happen.

They are milestones.  Markers of divine providence.  Tangible memory aids to let us never forget what the Lord has done for us.  What He has brought us through.  

Biblically, Ebeneezers are literally “stones of help.”  They come from 1 Samuel 7, where Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, following the Israelite victory over the Philistines, naming the place Ebeneezer and saying “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”  From then on, every time an Israelite saw the stone erected by Samuel, they had a tangible reminder of the Lord’s power and protection.

It’s important to make and keep these and to recognize them as they appear.  To also recognize when the Lord reminds us of His faithfulness.

Today in church, I felt one such reminder.  All of the songs today really spoke to the Lord’s help through every situation, but we came in particular to Here Again by Elevation Worship.  The song speaks to being in the middle of the storm, but knowing the Lord is with you.  Recognizing that we are not enough on our own, unless the Lord meets us here.

Then we came to the bridge.

“Not for a minute

Was I forsaken”

And that hit me in a very unexpected way.  I’m glad I was not singing backup this morning, as it was a bit tough to keep my composure.

Because it’s true.  Not for a minute in all of this have I been forsaken.  Not in the minute where I was fired.  Not in the minutes in having to explain why in an interview.  Not in the minute the emails come back with a form rejection for various positions.  Not in the minute where a recruiter turns out to be more interested in selling a service.  Not in all the minutes in between.

But, paradoxically, we serve a savior who was forsaken, so that we would never be.  We serve a savior who took on our sins, so that we would bear them no more.   We serve a savior who felt his Father turning his back on him, so that we could be welcomed into His presence.

It's a reminder that I needed this morning.  A reminder that whatever doubt may say, there has never been a moment God has not been in control.  Never been a moment He has not cared for me.  

A bridge to serve as a figurative Ebeneezer for me.  And one I can never sing the same way again.  

"Here's my heart Lord, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above."

Top 10 Underrated Songs from My Childhood

This one almost got away from me.  We went to watch Mary Poppins Returns on Christmas Day.  And since then I've been listening to the soundtrack.  It's not the Sherman Brothers original, but I think it's getting a little overplayed in the reviews of the film that the songs are not as good.  They are different, to be sure, and there is a magic to what the Sherman Brothers write, but the new songs for the film are very well written and very smart, especially for the styles they are trying to pay homage.

This whole process got me thinking of underrated songs from my childhood.  The ones that no one else may remember, but really stuck out to me.  Not the chart toppers, but the B sides.  From there, I've put together of my Top 10 Favorite Underrated Songs of My Childhood, particularly from the movies I grew up with.

Please note, I'm using a loose definition here of my childhood, containing material written long before I was born, but that got major play in the Keeler household.  I've also included at least one song that stretches the length of my childhood a little far, but to me represents one of the most underrated Disney songs of all time.

So, with that introduction, in no particular order:

• The Girls of Rock and Roll - The Chipmunk Adventure - The Chipmunk Adventure was a favorite movie of mine (and as I would discover, a favorite of Jamie's as well).  Released at the time the Chipmunks were big on Saturday Morning Cartoons, the film had the Chipmunks and Chipettes on a world trip adventure.  The song The Girls/Boys of Rock and Roll is a great call and response where the two groups are arguing over who is greater.  I may still know too many of the lyrics to this song.
• God Help The Outcasts - The Hunchback of Notre Dame - The most underrated Disney song ever written and perhaps one of the most beautiful songs ever written in a Disney film.  It's the Feed the Birds of the Disney Renaissance.  The juxtaposition of an outcast asking for protection of others like her with those in the church asking for wealth, power, and fame will always resonate.  God help the outcasts or nobody will.
• Let's Make Music Together - All Dog's Go to Heaven - Ken Page and Burt Reynolds duet as a blues alligator and guardian angel dog in a song about making beautiful music.  Ken Page's voice is amazing and it shines through here even more than it does as Oogie Boogie.
• I Hope that Somethin' Better Comes Along - The Muppet Movie - Kermit and Rowlf commiserating their luck with women.  Surprising lyrics for a "kids movie" but very enjoyable.  "Made a monkey out of old King Kong, I hope that something better comes along."  All the more impressive that these were both characters Jim Henson voiced, so it's Jim Henson in a duet with himself.  
• Good Company - Oliver and Company - Oliver and Company is an overlooked Disney film and Good Company is an overlooked song within it.  If any song is remembered, it's usually Why Should I Worry by Billy Joel.  Good Company is a great friendship song that is accompanied by piano practice.  A lot like Scales and Arpeggios in The Aristocats.  Always in good company.
• Mother Earth and Father Time - Charlotte's Web - A Sherman Brothers classic lullaby overshadowed by Hushabye Mountain.  Debbie Reynolds sings this wonderfully, a beautiful song about time. How very special are we, indeed.
• Together Again - The Muppets Take Manhattan - Another Muppets classic, this time from an overlooked film, The Muppets Take Manhattan.  A song about reunions that was reused cleverly in Muppets Most Wanted as Together Again Again.  It's not starting over, it's just going on.
• Gratifaction - Tom Sawyer - A Sherman Brothers madeup word song.  From the version of Tom Sawyer with Johnny Whitaker and Jodi Foster.  How Tom gets the boys to paint the fence.  A deep down inside gratifying satisfaction - gratifcation. 
• The Neverending Story Theme - The Neverending Story - Released by Limahl in both English and French, this was the song for epic fantasy as we grew up.  The answer to a neverending story.
• On the Front Porch - Summer Magic - though released well before I was born, I saw this film a lot as a child.  This is the most beautiful song in the film.  An anthem to a slow life, written by the Sherman Brothers, sung by Burl Ives.  One of my favorite songs of all time.  Just a beautiful simple melody.  Oh how I long to linger here like this on the front porch with you.

What are the favorite songs of your childhood?  What other underrated masterpieces can you recommend?

Top Ten Things I'm Thankful For #8 - A universal language to express the most powerful truths

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.

Aristotle

Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.

Thomas Merton

Today, I am thankful for a more abstract concept.  I'm thankful for good art.

I'm thankful for artists would can find an portray beauty in even the most simple of creations.  I'm thankful for vibrant colors and lines. I'm thankful for good art everywhere from Kirby to Rockwell to Monet.

Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.

Plato

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.

Victor Hugo

I'm thankful for music.  I'm thankful for good music.  I'm thankful for songs that perfectly convey emotion without a single word.  For chords that blend or crash together perfectly for the sentiment of the song.  I'm thankful for the music that you just can't help but dance to.  I'm thankful for the music that moves you to tears.  For the songs that remind you how small you are, and what a might God we serve.

I'm thankful for instruments that speak better than any human voice and for voices that sing with conviction beyond this lifetime.

I'm thankful for Journey.  For Queen.  For Louis Armstrong.  For the Sherman Brothers.  For the genius that is Lin Manuel Miranda.  For Gershwin.  For Selah, for Tomlin, for Crowder, and Hillsong.

The theater is so endlessly fascinating because it's so accidental.  It's so much like life.

Arthur Miller

I regard theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.

Oscar Wilde

I'm thankful for theater.  For side-splitting comedies.  For dramas that plumb the depths of the human soul.  I'm thankful for the opportunities to see good shows.  I'm thankful for the opportunity to be in good shows.

I'm thankful for that communal experience that brings an audience together, draws them in, and never lets them go until the curtain call.

I'm thankful for Shakespeare, for Miller, for Stoppard, and Sorkin.  For Lewis, Sayer, and Shields.  For Kander and Ebb, for Andrew Lloyd Weber, and Lin Manuel Miranda.  For the Fiasco Theater Company.

I'm beyond grateful to live in a world surrounded by some much good art.

Here's to old favorites and new discoveries.

Top 10 Halloween Swings

Something a little different today in the Halloween Top 10 lists - a playlist of Top 10 swinging Halloween songs.  All cultivated to fit in the singer/standard/swing feel.  On my iPod, this is my Halloween Cocktail Music playlist.  So, go ahead and take a listen.  The hyperlinks will take you to youtube versions of the specific song version.

• Grim, Grinning Ghosts by Lee Presson and the Nails - A fun instrumental arrangement of a great attraction song.
• Monster Mash by Janice Hagan - A nice singer/standard arrangement of the Monster Mash.  Something that fits in with the rest of the playlist
• I Put A Spell On You by Nina Simone -  While I like Screamin' Jay Hawkins and CCR, Nina Simone takes this song and makes it haunting.  Someone whose heart has been broken.
• Spooky by The Puppini Sisters - I love arrangements by the Puppini Sisters.  As if the Andrews Sisters covered Spooky.  Just fun.
• Witchcraft by Frank Sinatra - A great light classic by Sinatra.  
• Old Devil Moon by Mel Torme - The Velvet Fog taking a song from Finian's Rainbow and showcasing the best of his voice.
• Jeepers Creepers by Louis Armstrong - It's hard not to hear Louis Armstrong's voice and not be happy. Not the most Halloween song on the list, but the turn of phrase Jeepers Creepers fits right in.
• That Old Black Magic by Sammy Davis, Jr. - Sammy Davis, Jr.  The best vocalist of the Rat Pack.  And here with an fast moving version of That Old Black Magic.  He makes it look easy.
• Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin - I think everyone forgets that Mack the Knife is written about a very dark and sinister person.  Its a very upbeat song about a lot of death.  A good fit for Halloween.  
• The Munsters Theme - A great swinging theme song.  Perfect instrumental.

What's on your Halloween playlist?