Review – Tanya Tagaq at the Centennial Concert Hall, Winnipeg, Feb 11, 2010

– by eugene osudar

she can’t be controlled

(read this in one long
fast
blast and you’ll understand
Breath)

she isn’t filtered

she’s childlike

joyfully
electric
breathing
fast slow
deep growl
and
suddenly
breathing slightly
shallowly
warmly
softly
as she builds
her breathing
her wind
her expanding swirling
herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
throat
singing
faster and faster
and quicker and quicker
and deeper and deeper
and harshly
into
barking
howling

wind
dogs
ice
North

Tundraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh,

she is The North
she’s the wind
the breath
lungs
and

the airrrrrrrrrrrr

we breathe her
and we stand
united

Tanya Tagaq

harks back to birth,
spirit woman
spirit mother

she Booms
when she wants to
and drives the stripped
down
orchestra
into a rocking frenzy
a climax
an orgasm
of music
of spirit

of joyful
sound

orchestra
wind
breath
movement
lungs
hearts
sweat
passion

Fire!

she’s infectious,

her joy is
sincere
is beautiful
is wondrous

astonishingly
jumping
into the arms
of The German
Conductor,
who looks like
Kevin Bacon

her feet are
bare
her evening dress
black
slit/cut
down side
her powerful
calves wrapping
around the stool
and suddenly
kicking her leg
as a child
as a girl
does
in her joy
in her breathing
her feeling
experiencing
the songs

of The North

of composer
Derek Charke
Canadian
who has lived in The North
he’s breathed the cold air
recorded the sounds
and
composed with the sounds
of The North weaved into the
soulful fabric of his music

he’s heard the songs
the throat songs

he’s listened
he’s learned
he’s Loved

13 Inuit Throat Song Games
and
Cercle du Nord III
his (breath/taking) compositions

circular bowing techniques
mimics
sounds like
Inuit throat singing

he’s brilliant

Cercle was for The Kronos Quartet
and re/imagined
Now
for
Tanya Tagaq

conductor
Andrew Mickelthwate,

watch his hands
like Tai Chi
artist
but his body
it’s rigid

O, last night
as Tanya breathed
fire and rhythm
his body
became rubbery
and soon
he was rocking
as hard as anyone
i have ever seen

he was moving
and
he was dancing

he was dancing

and he never even
knew it.

she makes you dance
swirling in your seat
her hands move like rapper
artist
her words are breath
her poetry
is wind
swirling around her throat

i’m a leaf

and i soar

up/up/up!

we’re swirling and twirling
everywhere
in The Concert Hall.

The New Music Festival.

her improvisation
shows us
her legacy
is young
and vibrant
is Now

her entire body
and spirit
Moves and Breathes
and feeds us
beautiful
sound

her breath
her soul
her Love

her voice cannot be controlled
by sound technicians
so she Booms
and Explodes and Pierces
when she chooses
too

and that is a blessing/
that is wonder.

and she drives
the otherwise
rigid
musicians and conductor
into a rolling
rollicking rhythm
of breath driven
soul
fire

she is beautiful.
she is joy.
i’ll not miss her
Ever
again.

take her now.

and dance.
like a

L
e
a
f.

now breathe.
now pause…

Eighth Blackbird
won a Grammy in 2008

they move
they circle
they even run
they change instruments
as the piece moves
plays
is felt

they play by memory

they play with space and sound
and they play with fire
and passion

Tim Minro is flutes
Michael J Maccaferri is clarinets
Matt Albert is violin and viola
Nicolas Photinos is cello
Matthew Duvall is percussion
is always moving
Lisa Kaplan is piano
and playing with tunings

Thomas Ades’s Catch is a chase
game
of children
Maccaferri running
about the stage
and behind the curtain
oh children

Steve Reich’s Double Sextet
is played to their own tape
so that their 6
can be
a double sextet.
brilliant.

The composition won a 2009 Pulitzer.

Gordon Fitzell’s
Evanescence
is a wonder
of movement
and space
and sound.

Yes,
a long evening
(it could have been two)
of beauty and wonder
Yes!
sound wonder
space wonder
breath wonder.

we rose
we cheered
we hooted
we hollered.

More.

This Is
New Music!

Tanya Tagaq
Eighth Blackbird
The Concert Hall
February 11. WSO’s
New Music Festival.