There's music that flows and drifts in work by Montreal harpist Sarah Pagé, by Irish composer Linda Buckley, and by the late Sudanese musician Hamza El Din, as played by Kronos Quartet.
Voda, the latest record from Montréal’s exploratory harpist Sarah Pagé, drifts and flows, revealing murky depths and phenomenal tenderness, and while there is harp, the music also incorporates electronics, oak branches, water bowls, waterphone, and koto.
Also, listen to music by Irish composer Linda Buckley, who draws on the water witches and sea witches of Celtic folklore. Water witches possessed magical abilities connected to the ocean and could summon storms and control the weather; a sea witch could manifest as a magical being such as a siren or selkie- her hypnotic voice could lure sailors to their deaths. In a work for piano & electronics premiered at New Music Dublin in 2023, Andrew Zolinsky performs “Water Witch” by Linda Buckley.
Hear Kronos Quartet in work by the late Sudanese musician Hamza El Din, Hamza El Din (1929-2006), was a master of the oud, a vocalist, and played tar (frame drum). Listen to one of his most famous pieces, Escalay (The Water Wheel). There’s also a piece by the same name from the chamber band Oregon, featuring guitarist Ralph Towner and reed player Paul McCandless. Plus, hear a selection from a career retrospective collection of work by Ohio-born “unguitarist” Rick Deitrick. - Caryn Havlik
Program #4762, Water Works (First aired 6/15/23)
ARTIST: Sarah Page
WORK: Vers les Abîmes [1:09]
RECORDING: Voda3
SOURCE: Backward Music
INFO: sarahpage.bandcamp.com/album/voda
ARTIST: Andrew Zolinksy, piano & electronics
WORK: Linda Buckley: Water Witch [16:09]
RECORDING: The Studio, National Concert Hall, Dublin, April 2023
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: lindabuckley.org | newmusicdublin.ie
ARTIST: Sarah Page
WORK: Vers les Abîmes [1:09]
RECORDING: Voda3
SOURCE: Backward Music
INFO: sarahpage.bandcamp.com/album/voda
ARTIST: Kronos Quartet, with Hamza El Din
WORK: Hamza El Din: Escalay (The Water Wheel) [1:00]
RECORDING: Pieces of Africa
SOURCE: Nonesuch 79275
INFO: nonesuch.com/albums/pieces-africa
ARTIST: Oregon
WORK: Waterwheel [6:30]
RECORDING: Out of the Woods
SOURCE: Discovery 71004
INFO: Available at Amazon.com
ARTIST: Rick Deitrick
WORK: Waterwheel [2:44]
RECORDING: The Unguitarist: Complete Works 1969-2022
SOURCE: Tompkins Square Records
INFO: tompkinssquare.bandcamp.com