Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet á Menningarnótt í Mengi

Megas ásamt Skúla Sverrissyni og hljómsveit flytur verk Gavin Bryars, 'Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet' í Mengi á Menningarnótt, laugardaginn 19. ágúst klukkan 19.

Aðgangur ókeypis.

ENGLISH BELOW

Árið 1971 var enska tónskáldið Gavin Bryars að vinna að heimildamynd um mannlíf fólks sem byggði svæðið í kringum Elephant and Castle og Waterloo lestarstöðina í Lundúnum. Einn af þeim sem Bryars og tökulið rákust á á meðan á tökum stóð var gamall umrenningur sem söng sálminn eftir óþekktan höfund um blóð Krists sem aldrei myndi bregðast honum. Hljóðritunin á endanum ekki notuð í heimildamyndina en varð hins vegar uppistaðan í verki Bryars sem hefur haldið nafni þessa afkastamikla og virta tónskálds hátt á lofti allar götur síðan. Verk Bryars byrjar í þögn, innan tíðar tekur mildur söngur gamla mannsins að hljóma, fyrst sem fjarlægur ómur, þróttmeiri þegar á líður, aftur og aftur syngur hann sálminn sinn og innan tíðar bætast hljóðfæri við í stöðugri og jafnri stígandi.

Verk Gavin Bryars var frumflutt í Queen Elizabeth Hall í Lundúnum árið 1974 og kom ári síðar út á vínilplötu hjá nýstofnaðri útgáfuröð Brian Eno, Obscure Records en þetta var fyrsta platan sem kom út í þeirri frábæru röð. Á meðal samverkamanna Bryars í upptökunni voru Michael Nyman, Derek Bailey, John White og fleiri. Sú útgáfa hálftíma löng, árið 1993 kom út plata með nýrri útsetningu Bryars, 75 mínútna langri, þar sem söngur Tom Waits blandast hinni upprunalegu söngupptöku.

Verk Gavin Bryars hefur ekki verið flutt opinberlega á tónleikum hér á landi en við fráfall Þorvaldar Þorsteinssonar, listamanns, árið 2013 var það flutt í Hallgrímskirkju af Megasi og Skúla Sverrissyni ásamt hljómsveit áður en athöfnin hófst. Þorvaldur var mikill áhrifavaldur að hugmyndafræði og stofnun Mengis og þykir okkur því einkar vænt um að geta boðið upp á flutning á þessu magnaða verki í túlkun frábærra listamanna.

Hljómsveitin skipa auk Skúla þau Gyða Valtýsdóttir, Ingi Garðar Erlendsson, Eiríkur Orri Ólafsson, Ólöf Arnalds og Borgar Magnason.

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Megas with Skúli Sverrisson and a band performs Gavin Bryars' 'Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet' on Reykjavík Cultural Night at 7pm, August 19th. Free Admission.

Performing:

Megas, Skúli Sverrisson, Ólöf Arnalds, Gyða Valtýsdóttir, Borgar Magnason, Eiríkur Orri Ólafsson, Ingi Garðar Erlendsson.

Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet is a 1971 arrangement by Gavin Bryars of a composition by an unknown composer. It is formed on a loop of an unknown homeless man singing a brief stanza. Rich harmonies, comprising string and brass, are gradually overlaid over the stanza. The piece was first recorded for use in a documentary which chronicles street life in and around Elephant and Castle and Waterloo, in London. When later listening to the recordings, Bryars noticed the clip was in tune with his piano and that it conveniently looped into 13 bars. For the first LP recording, Bryars was limited to a duration of 25 minutes; later Bryars completed a 60-minute version of the piece for cassette tape; and with the advent of the CD, a 74-minute version. It was shortlisted for the 1993 Mercury Prize.

Bryars says:

In 1971, when I lived in London, I was working with a friend, Alan Power, on a film about people living rough in the area around Elephant and Castle and Waterloo Station. In the course of being filmed, some people broke into drunken song – sometimes bits of opera, sometimes sentimental ballads – and one, who in fact did not drink, sang a religious song "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet". This was not ultimately used in the film and I was given all the unused sections of tape, including this one.

When I played it at home, I found that his singing was in tune with my piano, and I improvised a simple accompaniment. I noticed, too, that the first section of the song – 13 bars in length – formed an effective loop which repeated in a slightly unpredictable way [in the notes for the 1993 recording on Point, Bryars wrote that while the singer's pitch was quite accurate, his sense of tempo was irregular]. I took the tape loop to Leicester, where I was working in the Fine Art Department, and copied the loop onto a continuous reel of tape, thinking about perhaps adding an orchestrated accompaniment to this. The door of the recording room opened on to one of the large painting studios and I left the tape copying, with the door open, while I went to have a cup of coffee. When I came back I found the normally lively room unnaturally subdued. People were moving about much more slowly than usual and a few were sitting alone, quietly weeping.

I was puzzled until I realised that the tape was still playing and that they had been overcome by the old man's singing. This convinced me of the emotional power of the music and of the possibilities offered by adding a simple, though gradually evolving, orchestral accompaniment that respected the homeless man's nobility and simple faith. Although he died before he could hear what I had done with his singing, the piece remains as an eloquent, but understated testimony to his spirit and optimism."