SOUNDTRACK: ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF-“Funeral for My Children” (Field Recordings, November 4, 2013).
I remember exploring this Field Recording back in 2013 when it came out. There is something otherworldly and magical about the pipe organ, even if it is played in a rather fast and clearly secular way like in this song.
One of my [Bob Boilen’s] most surprising discoveries of 2013 is an artfully poppy pipe-organ record called Ceremony, by Swedish singer Anna von Hausswolff. Though she doesn’t consider herself an accomplished pipe organist, von Hausswolff quickly learned the instrument’s power, as well as some of its subtleties.
I talked about this song back in 2013 and felt that the percussion was more interesting than the music. I don’t feel that way now, although perhaps this live version is different.
When we learned that von Hausswolff was coming to New York City this summer, we started scouting for a church with a pipe organ that could accommodate a small video crew and some secular music. We found Christ Church, a United Methodist church on Park Avenue with a gracious staff who helped us make this work. [Anna Von Hausswolff Finds A Pipe Organ In New York City].
The recording opens with church bells and chimes, which Anna is playing gently on the organ (you can see the switches she presses to get sounds–how high tech!). Then the drum comes in. It is a simple beat on a floor tom–click click boom–a martial rhythm to offset the lofty pipe organ.
Once we were set for a location, we lit some candles and moved the pipe organ (not the pipes) into a position that allowed us get the best view of von Hausswolff while keeping percussionist Michael Stasiak distant enough so as not to bury the sound of her voice. In the process, we captured a beautiful rendition of “Funeral For My Future Children,” a song on Ceremony originally recorded at another church — this one in Gothenburg.
It almost comes as a surprise when Anna starts singing as you don;t often hear vocals with a pipe organ. But her voice has the power and inflection to match this illustrious organ and that thumping drum. I love when the sound of the organ changes about 4 and a half minutes in–the solo just adds a whole new depth to the piece. And when she hits a high not just before that, it’s amazing.
[READ: January 18, 2018] “Jack”
This is an excerpt from Robinson’s novel Home. It’s set in Gilead which is the title of a previous book of hers, so I assume it is some kind of continuation of the town, if not the family. I’ve never read anything else by her.
Since this is an excerpt rather than a short story it takes a long time for much to happen. But her writing is pretty great and everything that she writes is rather compelling.
The story opens with Glory, the youngest of six children arriving at her childhood home. She is greeted by her father who is shockingly frail and thin and… old. She is moving back home to take care of him now that he is by himself.
The story quickly flashes back to her childhood growing up in the house. A house that seemed somehow too large, too ungainly for the neighborhood it was in. How had it changed so much since she left?
By now most families in the neighborhood had torn down the porch that this house had retained. Most houses had sold off their property and allowed smaller houses (and roads) to be built there. But her father refused. Even when other yards were turned into blocks, his property stayed, unused.
And in the flashback, one of the neighbors took advantage of the property.
Mr Trotsky took a section of the barren land and planted alfalfa on it. Their father was furious but would never say anything He just wished the man had asked him. But Mr Trotsky never did. He planted and reaped the land of his own volition.
What upset her father even more was that Mr Trotsky and his wife were agnostic. Mr Trotsky engaged in trespass and Christians were obliged to forgive those who trespassed against them.
She and her siblings were always good kids. Partially just to be seen to be good–good-natured and helpful. All expect for their one brother, Jack. Jack was quiet, sullen and given to getting in trouble. Their father, a minister, always stood in to help out Jack, no matter what trouble he got into. And Jack would always pretend to make amends but would never actually do so.
One summer night, five of the six children were playing in the yard and their game spilled into the alfalfa. They pretty thoroughly mucked it up. Their dad was secretly delighted. But he made them apologize. Mrs Trotsky said that to destroy with no reason is terrible. One of her brothers, Teddy, dared to say, “This is out field, my father does own it.”
“Poor child!” she said. “You know no better than this, to speak of owning land when no use is made of it. Owning land just to keep it from others. That is all you learn from your father the priest! Mine, mine, mine! While he earns his money from the ignorance of the people!” She waved a slender arm and a small fist. “Telling his foolish lies again and again while everywhere the poor suffer!”
This outburst was shocking to them.
Finally Jack showed up and the woman recognized him as well: the thief, the boy drunkard. The oldest boy says she shouldn’t talk that way. If she were a man he would hit her. Ha. Yes, you good Christians, you come into my house to threaten violence.
Mr Trotsky began planting other crops and even built a small house for his brother on the property
When Glory was 16, she discovered that Jack had gotten someone pregnant. She was delighted at the thought of a baby–and what 16-year-old girl who didn’t know the realities of life wouldn’t be?
And then they stopped hearing from Jack. It had been nearly twenty years since anyone had heard from him
Back in the present, after being home with her father for some time they received a letter from Jack. Their first in decades. Her father was thrilled because Jack said he would be visiting them–the return of the prodigal son!
Of course being Jack, he took his sweet time getting home. Long after the freshly bought food had spoiled.
And the there was the reunion–he was quite surprised to find her there. But their dad was thrilled by his arrival (despite the obvious secrets he was keeping).
I am in fact quite intrigued by this story. I am invested in this family. And I love the Trotskys. I’m going to have to find this novel.
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