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| Event: | Music for the Black Madonna |
| Summary: | The Black Madonna is an image of the feminine
divine which links Christianity with earlier wisdom traditions.
Throughout the world, icons of the Black Madonna have been revered
for their spiritual power and mystical capacity for healing. Over
the centuries, innumerable miracles were attributed to the Black
Madonna, and she became the object of deep adoration and medieval
pilgrimage. A body of extraordinary music was collected to be used
by pilgrims to her and to Santiago de Compostela, where another
copy of her statue rests. These haunting songs, bound together
in the Llibre Vermell (“Red Book”)
of 1399 reveal a unique mixture of musical influences: Gregorian
chant, gypsy harmonies, Sephardic Jewish, and pagan melodies. The
music, like the Black Madonna herself, embraces life in all of
its contradictions, both secular and sacred, darkness and light. Pilgrimage: Music and Art in Celebration of the Santiago de Compostela and the Black Madonna of Montserrat
7:30 PM Pilgrimage and the Black Madonna, lecture and slides with Kayleen Asbo, Cultural Historian 8:15 PM Music for the Black Madonna, featuring the entire collection of Llibre Vermell pilgrim songs, with strings, drums bells, and voices, performed by Shira Kammen, strings and voice, Devi Mathieu, voice, and the singers of Vox Flores and Vox Terrae. With Annie Hallat's Black Madonna puppets and dancer Barbara Framm. |
| Admission: Order tickets |
$15 General Admission; $20 Preferred Seating *Admission includes all three events: lecture, concert & labyrinth walk. |
| Date & Time: | Friday, April 24, 2009, 7:30 PM |
| Location: | Church
of the Incarnation Directions (The lecture and concert will be held in the church and the labyrinth walk in Farlander Hall, just to the side of the church.) |
| Event Flyer: | Black Madonna Flyer |
| More Information: |
Shira Kammen has spent well over half her life exploring the
worlds of early and traditional music. A member for many years
of Ensembles Alcatraz, Project Ars Nova, and Medieval Strings,
she has also worked with Sequentia, Hesperion XX, the Boston Camerata,
Teatro Bacchino, Kitka, and is the founder of Class V Music, an
ensemble dedicated to performance on river rafting trips. She has
performed and taught in the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Israel,
Morocco, and Japan, and on the Colorado and Rogue Rivers. Shira
happily collaborated with singer/storyteller John Fleagle for fifteen
years, and performs now with several groups: a medieval ensemble,
Fortune's Wheel: a contemporary music group, Ephemeros; an eclectic
ethnic band, Panacea; as well as collaborations with performers
such as Anne Azema, Patrick Ball, and Margriet Tindemans. Some
of her original music can be heard in an upcoming film about the
fans of JRR Tolkien. Visit her at www.shirakammen.com.
She is currently performing in “The Flame of Love: the
Legend of Tristan and Iseult.” Devi Mathieu enjoys singing early and contemporary
music, and has performed in the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston,
Vermont, New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Spain. She sings and
teaches the music of Hildegard von Bingen, and played the roles
of Castitas and Misericordia in Hildegard’s opera, Ordo
Virtutem. Devi often joins Shira Kammen and composer and pianist
W. A. (Allaudin) Mathieu to form the trio Ephemeros, a contemporary
music ensemble that presents early music alongside new compositions.
Ephemeros has performed and recorded song settings of poetry
by Hildegard, Jelaludin Rumi, and Mary Oliver. For information
about recordings, visit www.coldmountainmusic.com.
Contact Devi about Hildegard workshops or future performances
at dmathieu@sonic.net. Kayleen Asbo is a professor at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a lecturer for the Osher Life Long Learning Institute at Dominican University, where she teaches courses on myth through art and music. She leads workshops and retreats integrating expressive arts and spiritual practice for individuals, groups and churches. As an Advanced Facilitator for the Veriditas Labyrinth Organization, she will be lecturing this summer in France on Medieval Music, Pilgrimage and the Labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral. A founding board member of the Numina Center for Spirituality and the Arts, Kayleen directs their monthly Fourth Friday Taize Caritas services. She can be contacted at kayleenasbo@yahoo.com.
The women of Vox Flores and the men of Vox Terrae came together as a part of the vision of the Numina Center for Spirituality and the Arts. We are devoted to the practice of sacred music and we offer its fruits for the benefit of all. Barbara Framm is a dancer, mother, scholar, and activist. She has performed and taught Odissi and Bharata Natyam styles of Indian dance for many years. Now studying in the Women's Spirituality M.A. program at Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, she recently completed a course in the Black Madonna taught by author and teacher China Galland. Inspired by this, she hopes to infuse the Black Madonna puppet with the spirit of the Dark Mother. |
