O body swayed to music...

Jeff Warner and Jeff Davis

When I was a kid and my parents would load three suitcases, a big cooler, some beach chairs and a mini travel grill into the Nissan, I knew that without a doubt - no matter where we were going - that it was time for folk music. I loved my cassette of "Old Time Songs for Kids" by Jeff Davis and Jeff Warner - a compilation of folk music (not really for children) accumulated and recorded by two first rate musicians. Sometimes we would all sing-a-long together, sometimes I would listen to it privately on my mini-walkman. Whichever the case, the music made the hours in the car fly by.

I hadn't listened to those songs for about fifteen years, until last summer when my dad made a CD of my now aged, beat-up cassette (shout-out to B. Whalen for the help). Listening to that folk music again for the first time in years brought back a flood of emotions, memories and now, understanding. The music moved me in a different way and it felt really comforting to have that old sound rocking my bones again. Now I take the music with me on my iPod when I ride my bike to work, sometimes I listen to it at home while I'm cooking or working on the computer; it's the same as a bowl of mashed potatoes - it's "comfort food" (but it nourishes the soul, rather than the belly). For me folk music communicates a pure and simple joy, connecting us to our ancestors and our community. It's a sort of "blood memory" as Martha Graham would say.

I've grown to enjoy Italian folk music just as much as American folk music, and even though Italian blood doesn't run through my veins, the music still moves me profoundly. When I was living in Florence in 2008, I made this video in Piazza Santissima Annunziata during one of the fierucole (autumn harvest festivals) when some improvised folk music (and dancing!) took place. The various vendors - cheesemongers, bakers, weavers, wood sculptors, etc. - kicked up their heels in the late afternoon, needing a break from the long hours passed standing behind their wooden tables. There was laurel and rosemary thrown on the ground of the piazza and the dancing created this fantastic aroma of herbs, wool and sweat. The way they danced and clapped and laughed with the music was so pure and natural. The blood inside them moved them automatically, effortlessly. This short video only captures the beginning of the dancing, because a few minutes later, these two dancers became about fifteen dancers (me included) and the bee keeper grabbed my arm and pulled me into their circle! It may have been the best performance that I've ever participated in and surely one of my favorite memories of my time in Italy.

                                          

"I feel that the essence of dance is the expression of man--the landscape of his soul. I hope that every dance I do reveals something of myself or some wonderful thing a human can be."

- Martha Graham, Blood Memory