SOUNDTRACK: JULIE BYRNE-Tiny Desk Concert #788 (September 19, 2018).
Julie Byrne plays a quiet acoustic guitar and sings in a melodic whisper (almost). She reminds me of Nick Drake in many ways.
Even in an office in broad daylight, Julie Byrne sings with both a husk and a whisper as if she’s gone a long time without speaking – as if she’s been alone, as if she’s been traveling. Her opening number at the Tiny Desk, “Sleepwalker,” sings of the road as a source of freedom.
I lived my life alone before you
And with those that I’d never succeeded to love
And I grew so accustomed to that kind of solitude
I fought you, I did not know how to give it up
Byrne’s guitar playing sounds very full as is each string gets its own special attention.
Julie Byrne’s hypnotic fingerstyle picking conjures a sense of wandering, a style she adapted from her father and a sound she grew up with until multiple sclerosis robbed him of that companionship and comfort. She now plays her dad’s guitar.
After performing “Sleepwalker” alone, Julie Byrne was joined by her musical companions, Marilu Donovan on harp and Eric Littmann on electronics. Together they conjure an ethereal compliment to Julie’s love of the open landscape.
“Follow My Voice” begins with just Byrne. After a verse or so, the harp enters, making the song seem somehow even more delicate. And the keys are there just to add a bit more substance–but not to solidify this delicacy.
“I Live Now as a Singer” is just the keys and the harp. It reminds me a lot of Enya, with the washes of keys and Byrne’s deep but delicate voice.
[READ: January 5, 2017] “The Short History of Zaka the Zulu”
This story is set in a boys’ Jesuit boarding school in Africa. The narrator is relating the story of a boy they nicknamed Zaka the Zulu. The narrator explains that Zaka was always odd but that they had never expected that hew would be accused of murder.
He was a very smart boy and he succeeded very well–which made him a little unpopular. But he became even more unpopular when made head prefect. He was so upright and sincere; he would get boys in trouble for the slightest infraction. His worst punishment was when he made the younger boys stay for an extra period so that they could not watch the Mary Wards (the girls from Blessed Virgin Mary school) go for their weekly swim.
There were 40 or so Mary Wards every year. They didn’t live with the boys, of course, but they were all part of the same school–the girls got the best Jesuit education the country could offer. Only senior boys were allowed to mingle with the girls–particularly at the one or two dances each year. It was felt that the girls had a civilizing effect on the boys.
Zaka loved chess but felt that anything else (like literature) was pointless to “those of us who have aspirations for higher scientific ambitions.”
The story backtracks a bit so we learn how he got the nickname Zaka the Zulu (his real name was Zacharius and the Zulu part came from the cruelty of Shaka Zulu).
The only thing that helped the boys was Zaka’s friendship with Nicodemus. The two of them spent all of their time together and whenever Zaka had to mete out any kind of punishment, Nico was exempted. The boys would take advantage of this and make Nico something of a scapegoat so they would all avoid trouble.
The boys didn’t understand the pair’s friendship at all. Nico wasn’t a warm person. He had had only one friend, Gumbo. Gumbo had only been in the school for a half a year when he killed himself. Apparently he had forged checks from his mother and when she found out he killed himself.
Nico was smart like Zaka and they were both top of their grades. When Zaka graduated Nico was just as excited as Zaka’s parents were.
So it was quite a surprise a year later when they learned that he had failed university and was teaching maths in a town school. Even there, he lasted only one year before moving away. No one had heard anything else about him until he was accused of murder.
It is at a school reunion that the truth comes out. It’s quite a tale and expertly told.
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