New World Coming (a mighty fine show)
Jeff Buckley was utterly enamoured with Nina Simone and Leonard Cohen, but before I knew this about Jeff Buckley, I was already a fan of both Nina Simone and Leonard Cohen due to the resonance of their music. It elevates my spirit. Jeff Buckley's music sent my spirit into outer space, in comparison, but I did not experience his music until many years down the road. And I only knew a couple Nina Simone songs back in those days, but they were good ones (they are all good ones). Leonard Cohen's music was a totally different story and it became a moral rebar to my otherwise wandering soul. Leonard Cohen's music not only gave me direction, and joy, it gave me hope. It still gives me hope.
At the introduction of a performance Jeff Buckley gave in France, he delivers a reverent homage to Nina Simone and Leonard Cohen which I found to be prophetic and mysterious. It is this mysterious correlation that intrigues me. Why do some artist's draw us to other equally powerful artists? What are the correlations? I ask myself these questions.
So, I would like to bring your attention to this Video where a bereft Buckley sings Hallelujah in dedication to Nina Simone and Leonard Cohen (Hallelujah was originally written by Leonard Cohen, in case you did not know that, but you probably did).
I am loathe to deem an artist to be "the most important" in any particular field, but in this case, the title is justified completely, in more ways than you might think. Recently, Jeremy Dutcher of the Wolastoq First Nations in New Brunswick, Canada was given that title and was also said to channel the voice of Jeff Buckley through his own powerful voice. If you have ever listened to Jeremy Dutcher, you will likely agree, as I do, that he is very much on the same wavelength, sonically speaking if not otherwise, as Buckley, Simone, and Cohen. One artist's voice dovetails with the next as flawlessly as that of any bird.
Given the state of affairs, having a voice like Jeremey Dutcher probably doesn't make you marvel as though some sort of superhero has landed on the scene, but in my particular view, I feel we are living in marvellously strange times (good and bad) and one should leave all cards on the table because, from my perspective, when it comes to the realms of sound, Dutcher and the Indigenous Peoples of our part of the world were already aware of, and in active relationship with, the realms of sound, which is also a sort of spirit realm, as far as I can tell. Things seem to be going from bad to worse in some parts of the world and if you stare at the news cycle too long, you become either totally numb or overly involved so as I see it, we are in a battle for our attention spans, primarily. Something, somewhere, has to give because the world cannot keep going on in this cycle of love versus hate, death versus life, beginning versus end. If you believe in the spirit realm, you must eventually admit there is no end and death is a lie. Death is a transition and none of us will escape out fate in this world and the world to come, so where is it your spirit wants to go? Where can it go? I don't have all the answers, but for me, Jeremy Dutcher's work brings this inquiry home, quite literally, as it was through his music I traced my heritage back to these very lands where I live, where the language of Dutcher's people turns out to also be the language of my people too, way way back when. Something in my blood rose up in me in the year 2020, as stated before, when I was experiencing extreme duress for a variety of reasons and like a heartbeat coming to life, I suddenly heard the sound of a heartbeat, a rhythm, a pattern. Drumming, drumming, drumming. It was like the earth was dying and I was coming to life all at once. Other forms of generational trauma were also surfacing within my consciousness and I started to see the world much differntly as a result. It was like a chemical shift, or something. I am not sure, but whatever it was, it was through the channels of music and research, I was able to channel my elevation of spirit long enough to investigate its origins and I found a clue, which I followed. Then I found another clue and another clue. Eventually, they lead me back home, to my roots. It took many hours of my time and a lot of personal isolation, but like Hanzel and Gretal tracing breadcrumbs, I traced my roots back home, through following that one simple rhythm. It shows up in some very interesting places.
The song that provided the final component which allowed me to connect all the dots was Honor Song, as performed by Dutcher and in a different post, I explain the variety of correlations (dots) I noticed in his music in conjunction with the band Zeal and Ardor (yes, yes, I know) and possibly others as well. All roads lead to Rome? Well, it's more like all roads lead Greece... Dutcher also performs this song with Yo Yo Ma in his compilation album Notes for The Future (and it is absolutely stunning).
And speaking of the future, have you heard Nina's song New World Coming?
Anyway!
I do not know the technical term for this component of the song but there is a point where there is a sound like that of an axe falling, or a chain gang marching, or something like that. Whatever it is, it represents the rhythm I found I was attracted to and I could trace it from song to song, sort of like strings of yarn twining around the proverbial thumbtacks of my mental world map. Following this rhythm through eras, genres, locations, and themes, I managed to discover that the correlations from this song to one that represents its polar opposite in a variety of truly mysterious ways, was composed by someone living in a region that forms a geographical line across the globe, from point A to point B (well, it is more like from point A to point Z, but that is the topic of my next post, not this one) like a specific sort of diaspora.
What I am trying to say is this; these correlations exist in many surprising ways but what surprises me the most is how, for me, the line continues as Dutcher is compared to Buckley, Buckley is connected to Simone, Simone and Leonard are connected to Buckley, and Dutcher's latest album Motewolonuwok is an homage to Simone's song Mississippi Goddamn, according to the artist (if I can find that clip I will link it to this post). As you can see, around and around it goes. In other words, their music resonates from artist to artist to artist along relatively similar patterns of theme, rhythm and resonance. Maybe this wouldn't be super duper interesting except for the fact that Dutcher literally sings into his piano and therefore, Dutcher seems to know how to conjure his loved ones in the spirit realm through the mechanisms of sound (music), therefore, Dutcher has made some very important waves in the realms of sound and spirit, which will lead to changes that are already in motion; as above, so below.
This mess with Trump in the Whitehouse bears no repeating but suffice it to say, his bullish*t has caused Canada to unite like never before and just yesterday, I watched a video of our newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney, announce a variety of economic initiatives, across Canada, which are intended to help sustain and reinvigorate trade and project development from coast to coast to coast. Importantly, the Prime Minister went on to highlight the consultation of our Indigenous Communities as even he can see by now, therein lies many of the answers we need to create a healthy and sustained country. Political debate aside, what I see happening is a strengthening and reawakening of the voice of our Indigenous Communities as well as a more united country, thanks to the highly questionable tactics of the current US president and if my personal experiences have any bearing on the interpretation of the ways in which this will play out in reality, I feel our Indigenous Ancestors have gone on before and provided a firm foundation for the next generations to enjoy solid footing as they walk upon this earth. Dutcher's footing is an example of one of many, many, many. It is rock solid, in my opinion. There are many many others, too. Some are dead, some are alive, some are yet to be born. Either way, it's the drum beat, the piano, the singing, that provides structures of sound which resonate for all time, in all ways that count. It seems to me that Dutcher was already on to this quite a few years ago, when he sung into his piano. It's his singing into the piano, in fact, which emboldened me to examine the things that I saw and the things that I felt along this journey. I really don't think my theories are too far fetched at all, in fact, with that in mind.
What this means is, there are some extremely heavy hitters on the scene in the realms of sound. Their intentions will carry us up above the din that tries to infect our ears, our minds, and our hearts. You cannot kill Nina Simone, nor Jeff Buckley and most certainly not Leonard Cohen. Just like our ancestors, they are out there, somewhere. I wonder what they have been up to all this time? I believe in these artists and I see things shifting in my mind's eye, thanks to people like Dutcher, who sing into the piano.
In this way, I feel Jeremy Dutcher is definitely the most important artist in the country because his art (music) will change everyday lives as it brings forth the resonance of the past on into the future and his music calls home those who were lost, just like it did to me. In fact, not too long before I discovered his music, I had almost crossed over myself and it is this brush with death that probably allowed me to experience all these things that I have. I sort of feel like I was able to dunk my head under the sea of time only to see that time is a wheel and all gears are set in motion to bring us to one conclusion: death is not the end, which is also the title of a Nick Cave album, incidentally.
Dutcher's is the voice of an artist, but also a warrior, and the battle rings out in ways we cannot see, if you ask me, but if this all happens to be all in my imagination? Well, everyone is putting on a mighty fine show.
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