Sweden Aotearoa America—Hello World Music
By David Rothenberg, Safina Center Senior Fellow
One again it is hard to imagine going anywhere, and I am reminded of the last big gathering of musicians from all over the world I went to, WOMEX 2019 in Tampere Finland, when I happened to spontaneously record an album in my hotel room with a Maori musician from Aotearoa (otherwise known as New Zealand), and a singer from Sweden.
Rob Thorne. Photo courtesy: David Rothenberg
I had met Rob Thorne many years earlier, when he seemed chagrined that his homeland was becoming mainly known as the home of the movie versions of Lord of the Rings. “I didn’t grow up in Middle Earth mate,” he grumbled, while we were touring the remains of a hobbit village. “I know that Rob,” I assured him. “One day we must make some music together.”
The author playing clarinet. Photo courtesy David Rothenberg
WOMEX is an annual gathering of musicians, promoters, and labels in the world music business, which is loosely the kind of music that combines sounds from many cultures. I ran into Anna in the hotel lobby and I recognized her from previous such gatherings in Santiago and Las Palmas. “I’ve decided to change my life, change my music,” she announced. “Okay,” I smiled. You too are in the band then.” She had decided to go in a more experimental direction, trying out overtone singing and yoiking based on the music of the Saami of Lapland.
Anna Fält. Photo by Zoran Dokic
I set up a few microphones and interfaces in my hotel room (an imperfect location can sometimes lead to the best music), then we closed the curtains and began to play.
We brought our own languages to the mix, different tools, different sounds. We knew it was special, but we weren’t sure what people would make of it. “One thing I do know,” smiled Rob, “Steve Garden at Rattle will know what to do with it.” I’ve always loved the releases from Auckland’s Rattle Records, but thought you had to be from New Zealand for them to even talk to you. Not so, I learned. And now that music has become so virtual, it’s easier than ever to release things virtually.
Once Steve heard the recordings he understood, but this was only the beginning. He personally took the music to task, cutting and pasting, remixing, transforming. Because it was all created on the fly, we encouraged this, making the result more than that long ago moment in a dark Nordic hotel room, the heating ducts whirring, the snow outside swirling.
It’s all in-between, like so much of our uncertain world. The sounds come certainly from nature. Even the titles of some of the pieces are in remote languages most of us aren’t supposed to know.
Here’s how we talked about it a year and a half later, as we played remotely together in a newly sealed-off world:
Here’s the actual release. Let’s see if you can tell how much of the vast planet is here: