CONTENTS

Geddy Aniksdal (Norway) - EVERYTHING HAS A SOUND

Meg Brookes (Wales) - FIRST

Roxana Pineda (Cuba) - HIDDEN IN THE BLOOD

Anette Röde (Sweden/Norway) - SILENT

Yamile Lanchas (Colombia/Spain) - JUST LIKE HOME

Bianca Mastrominico - Pina Cipriani (Italy) - MY MOTHER'S SONG

Helen Chadwick (Britain) - THROUGH THE CRACKS

Julia Varley (Britain/Denmark) - JOURNEYS OF SONG AND SILENCES

Rossella Viti (Italy) - CORALS

Natascha Nikeprelevic (Germany) - A UNIVERSTANDABLE SONG

Charlotte Vincent (Britain) - BROKEN CHORDS

Carmen Romero - Carmen G. Bandera (Spain) - PERSEVERANCE

Raquel Carrió (Cuba) - LANGUAGE, WORDS AND DRAMATURGY

Gaia Varon (Italy) - THE PERMANENT LIVE LINK

Julie Robson (Australia) - SIRENS AND TUNEFUL WEEPING

Beatriz Camargo (Colombia) - THE VOICES OF THE EARTH

Daniela Debald (Germany) - UNCHARTED TERRITORIES

The Open Page - OPEN LETTER

The Open Page - OPEN NEWS

Madeline McNamara (Aotearoa New Zealand) - IN MEMORY: SALLY RODWELL

The Open Page - SONGS FROM THE AUTHORS ON CD

 

 

EDITORIAL

Cherifa Kersit, a Berber from Morocco, appeared suddenly. She was singing. Her strong voice brought a landscape of mountains and deserts into the room. She was joined by Ni Nyoman Candri, who entered from the opposite side, introducing the Balinese sounds that accompany the temple dances of her lush tropical island. Then Luisa Calcumil, a Mapuche Indian from Argentina, came in. Dressed in her ritual costume, she carried a seed in her hand as a good omen that she wanted to share. Meanwhile, smiling and confident, she directed her song to everyone present. I added my introductory speech to their voices. This was the opening of the Transit 4 Festival in Denmark in 2004. The songs communicated beyond borders, language, cultural references and tradition, generating an emotional tie between listeners and performers.

 

Songs bring people together. A song remembers; it gives access to a place some call spiritual, others psychical or personal, and others still historical or social. Song is a poetic structure, a melodic expression, the music of everyday life. Song is rhyme, rhythm, composition and voice. Song belongs to the private sphere and to the space around us: it connects the intimate being to the outside world. Song belongs to that basic level of theatre that conveys energy, imposes presence, attracts or generates distance, creates space and evokes images, reveals and conceals personalities and feelings.

 

Many grandmothers and some mothers emerge in the articles of this issue, as if to indicate that songs had a stronger influence on our lives in the past. This is perhaps true in the personal sphere but at the same time the articles reveal how connected singing and speaking are and how strong is the impact of song in our craft. Two articles concentrate on dance as the song of the body in theatre. Other articles remind us how the dramaturgy of meaning depends on intonation as well as on words. Music is everywhere: in the sound of life, of instruments, of voices; material to be inspired by and an artefact to offer. The mythical sirens of literature and the seductive and dangerous sirens of our contemporary world continue to cry out against injustice and discrimination.

 

The Editorial Board of The Open Page decided to accompany this issue with a compilation CD of excerpts provided by the authors, to complement the written word with the aural sensation of the vibration of the voices and music. And while listening, we start working on an Open Page Publication under the title Theatre - Women - Letters, digging out from the past words exchanged on paper which mix personal and professional experiences and plans. Much of women's testimony in theatre history comes from letters, and up until ten or so years ago, when we all began to use e-mail for communication, these were still an important form of exchange for many of us working in international theatre projects. We would like to discover the secrets in these letters, secrets that might be useful for our future activities, in the same way as we have done with the songs which accompany, inspire, organise and reveal a sense of our work as women in theatre: an emotion-filled tide flying over the clouds to reach people in other continents and eras.

 

Julia Varley

Holstebro, August 2007

 

 

SONGS FROM THE AUTHORS ON CD:

 

1. Pina Cipriani

Canto delle LLavandaie del Vomero (Traditional Italian song, 1200 - Vocals: Pina Cipriani)

2. Anette Röde and Geddy Aniksdal

Seccond situation (Live track from No Doctor for the Dead - Vocals: Geddy Aniksdal and Anette Röde - Piano: Anette Röde Hagnell - Composer: Guttorm Guttormsen - Lyrics: Georg Johannesen)

3. Carmen Romero

Bailes de España: Malagueña (Traditional popular music from Malaga - Castañuelas and zapateado: Romero sisters)

4. Julie Robson

Come to My Table (Vocals and arrangement: Julie Robson, Catherine Mundy and Dawn Albinger - Composer: Julie Robson, 2007 - Sound engineer: Jason Zadkovich)

5. Rossella Viti

Zizoca (Live track from a performance for children - Vocals: Rossella Viti - Accordion: Roberto Giannini)

6. Natascha Nikeprelevic

AllEin - Rezitativ II (quasi un terzetto) (Vocals: Natascha Nikeprelevic - Composers: Michael Vetter and Natascha Nikeprelevic, 2001)

7. Daniela Debald

Para Que Quiero Yo Mas Vivir (Traditional Sephardic song - Vocals: Daniela Debald - Guitar: Jürgen Skambraks)

8. Julia Varley

Each to Each (Live improvisation - Vocals: Julia Varley - Violin: Frans Winther - Music: Julia Varley and Frans Winther)

9. Meg Brookes

Cofio (Vocals: Meg Brookes - Music and lyrics: Meg Brookes, 2006)

10. Daniela Debald

Es Führt Über den Main (Traditional German song - Vocals: Daniela Debald and Jürgen Skambraks - Guitar: Jürgen Skambraks)

11. Anette Röde and Geddy Aniksdal

Orphheus (Live track from No Doctor for the Dead - Vocals: Geddy Aniksdal and Anette Röde - Piano: Anette Röde Hagnell - Composer: Guttorm Guttormsen - Lyrics: Georg Johannesen)

12. Helen Chadwick

Return Message (Vocals: Helen Chadwick - Additional vocals: Xoli Norman - Composer: Helen Chadwick, 2006 - Recording: Jon Wilkinson)

13. Charlotte Vincent

Guitar Slide (Live tracks from Broken Chords - Cello:Alex Catona - Violin: Patrycja Kujawska - Composer: Colin Elliot)

13. Yamile Lanchas

Canto de Velorio del Chocó (Traditional Colombian song - Vocals: Yamile Lanchas)

 

 

CD compilation and sound engineers: Jan Ferslev and Bjarne Nygaard