Another Land Made of Water
Folks, a very special concert was held on Monday, February 11, 2008 at Camden Hills Regional High School in Rockport, Maine. Over 500 people braved the very cold weather to hear the magical story of an encounter with sea people on a small island, narrated by Gordon and Mary Bok, sung by members of the QuasiModal Chorus! and the choirs of Camden Hills Regional High School, accompanied by local musicians of all ages and directed by Glenn Jenks and Kim Murphy.
all photos were taken by photographer Marti Stone
Another Land Made of Water
There was the ‘I’ of the narrator, who seemed easy within the self he had, perhaps, laid down somewhere by the tide – and there were his eyes, open and interested, observant of houses and islands and storms and masts that moved away and other times and other peoples, moving in their own paths...and we began to look through his ‘I”s ...
and the second narrator spoke of ‘you’ and how the wind shaped the days it brought - and her ‘you’ was like an open window: shyly we stepped through it, into a life like that... And his “I” and her ‘you’ spoke in counterpoint, making a harmony greater than their sum... and their words were simple and vast, deep and clear like seeing sea bottom through sun-slanted water...
and there came the hes and shes of the singers and players moving into his dream and hers until it became also their dream...
and the music and words were a ball, a bouquet of flowers, a grand chain, a thread which they wove and passed, which they gave and received, as they spoke in tongues new or familiar, as they sang in silver or dark green voices or amber or deep blue voices, as they played with strings or winds or drum, as they stepped forward or back, as her hands wove, guided, gathered up and let flow away their voices...
and you all flung that thread, that net out to catch us all up, us and the rooftree we were sharing, the new moon, the stars and snowy earth, mountains and sea, harbors and islands, boats and their paths... and the winds moved in and out among the ‘all’ that we became, the all that we were only part of...
and the different songs, running along, danced hand in hand just like partners’ steps, which are not the same steps but which make a whole through their very counterpoint...
and all ages and stages of our journeys met there and were beautiful, they made beautiful, they honored beautiful together...
And it was not possible, it was not even desirable had it been possible, to single out one feeling, one experience - hope, sorrow, joy, darkness – no more possible or desirable than to nail one moving wave of the sea to a wall or to point to one young face, one lovely voice, one instrument and say “that one”... I neither knew nor cared where tears came from or what their name was but they healed and wholed ...
for this new land, this other land was made of water and it was moving, you were moving, we were moved, lifted up and out, set down again, changed.
Thank you.
one of your hearers speaking for many
- To view all the pictures of this concert, please go to Marti Stone's website: Marti Stone Photography. All photos are for sale, please contact Marti if you're interested in purchasing one.
- To buy the original CD, recorded in 1979 (re-released on the Timberhead label in 1994) please go to Timberhead Music, our online music store.
- Proceeds from this event went to the Maine Lighthouse Museum. Next time you're in Rockland, this museum is worth a visit.