Payadora, Toronto’s tango ensemble, shall be premiering The Legend of Carau, a brand new album based mostly on the Argentinian folks story, in a live performance on June 13. The CBC’s Tom Allen, who’s written a sequel to the standard story it’s based mostly on, will narrate.
Together with music efficiency by Payadora — Rebekah Wolkstein (violin, vocals), Drew Jurecka (bandoneon, violin, mandolin), Joseph Phillips (double bass, guitar) Mark Camilleri (piano) and Elbio Fernandez (vocals) — and storytelling, dance movies filmed by Canada’s PointeTango Dance Firm and a folkloric dance troupe from Argentina spherical out the multimedia undertaking.
The album and stay efficiency will debut, however The Legend of Carau can be a guide and a web-based undertaking you will discover right here.
LvT spoke to Payadora’s Rebekah Wolkstein, and Tom Allen, in regards to the live performance.
Rebekah Wolkstein & Tom Allen: Interview
The place did the thought come from?
“Rebekah involves this mixture of music and story fairly truthfully,” Allen says.
“The one factor I got here up with, how I got here up with the thought of wanting to inform a folktale,” Wolkstein begins. “I believe I used to be impressed by my aunt.”
Her aunt was the late Diane Wolkstein, an writer and folklorist who was additionally the official storyteller of New York Metropolis for a time. She was well-known for weaving obscure and infrequently forgotten myths into her tales, and left a legacy of many books and printed works. Rebekah remembers her telling tales in Central Park. “She spent an excessive amount of time in Haiti.”
At one level, Wolkstein was doing a little analysis with a view to utilizing it for not solely Payadora, however, amongst different issues, Schmaltz and Pepper, the klezmer fusion ensemble she co-founded. “I used to be doing a little analysis in Argentine folklore.”
That’s the place she discovered the traces of the story of Carau. “It’s very minimal, what exists on the market,” she notes of the supply materials she was capable of finding. Nonetheless, the outlines of the story intrigued her. “This has the bones of one thing that may be enjoyable to work with.”
She and fellow members of Payadora are intrigued by the tradition in addition to the music. “We love the folkloric music of the area, in addition to tango.”
The story permits for the thought of the principle character touring, which in flip permits for the inclusion of music from the assorted areas of Argentina. The album consists of unique music impressed by these various types.
What appealed to her was the multimedia combine which added dancers and an illustrator. “Increasingly, I actually like collaborating with different artists and artwork kinds,” she says. “It’s been a extremely thrilling alternative with the undertaking to really make use of different artists.”
Carau started as a COVID undertaking which initially emerged as a web-based story video. “That’s what I imagined what I needed this to be,” she says.
The dance parts included pointe tango, or a fusion of classical ballet and tango.
“And we’re classical and jazz musicians,” she factors out.
Payadora: The Legend of Carau On Stage
As Tom Allen relates, the live performance model got here collectively by means of conversations that befell on the highway whereas touring.
“He was within the van. He and Laurie would kindly drive me to all these gigs,” Wolkstein remembers. “They have been enthusiastic about what I used to be doing.”
“It began as a gig dialog,” Allen says. “Issues are likely to occur. Seeds get planted.”
“I stated, truly, it happens to me, would you be enthusiastic about narrating this story?” Rebekah says.
After trying out her proposal, Allen got here again with a constructive response. “It simply provides to the collaborative ingredient, which I like,” Wolkstein provides. “I used to be on the lookout for individuals who have been trying to have their very own voice.”
That features all features of the undertaking. “I bought lovely illustrations achieved by a Canadian illustrator.” Rebekah says she regarded by means of lists of OCAD grads, trying out their portfolios, earlier than selecting the appropriate particular person. “I needed any individual who needed to be inventive with it.”
She was thrilled with what the collaborating artists put into it. “It simply made me cry once I noticed it.” Wolkstein got here up with a samba, and the dancers went the additional mile to study the strikes. “I adore it a lot. It’s simply magical what they did with it.”
Along with husband Drew Jurecka, they progressively assembled the shifting elements they wanted, from a folkloric dance troupe to a horse for the video. “It’s fully obsessed each Drew and I for a few years.” It additionally took perseverance to use for and look ahead to funding.
“I’m actually excited to have this guide. I want my aunt was round in order that she might see I adopted in her footsteps.”
The Story
Particularly, the legend comes from the northeast area of Argentina. Within the story, a younger man’s mom is sick with a lethal ailment, and he’s despatched to fetch drugs for her. However, as soon as he units out on his method, he hears an accordion forward within the distance. Following its beckoning sound, he turns into extra enchanted with the music, and forgets his mission.
He dances with a lady, and will get carried away within the festivities. Nevertheless, after some time, somebody is available in with a message for him — My condolences, Carau, your mom has simply died…
Carau, nonetheless, thinks to himself that, since his mom has already died, he needn’t hurry house simply but. He stays on the celebration, and on the finish of the evening, seems to depart with the girl he’s been dancing with. However, she rejects him outright as somebody who doesn’t care about his personal mom
Carau’s coronary heart is damaged, and he lastly goes house in tears. However, a god sees what has occurred, and he’s remodeled right into a fowl with black feathers and a mournful cry in order that he can lament endlessly.
“It ends in tragedy,” Allen notes. “The gaucho has to face that he has been distracted by speedy pleasures and allowed his mom to die.” The cry of the fowl makes his shameful act everlasting. “The cry of that fowl is a cautionary story,” he says. “Rebekah stated, it’s sort of a tragic strategy to finish the present.”
In keeping with Wolkstein, it was Allen who recommended turning the tragic ending round.
“It’s all the time been a query in regards to the piece,” says Rebekah. “It’s thought upsetting. It’s contemplative. Tom stated, if there was extra to the story, what wouldn’t it be?”
Allen says he started to consider what Carau must do to redeem himself.
“He simply sat down and wrote this sequel,” Wolkstein remembers.
“Actually, I didn’t know if Rebekah needed to make use of it,” Allen provides.
Timeless Themes
Whereas it’s a really previous story, the themes are nonetheless relatable right this moment.
“For this reason mythology, myths or legends, stick with us,” Tom says. “The myths of humanity don’t change. They inform us one thing about ourselves,” he notes.
“He’s not an evil man, this gaucho,” he explains. He does make some questionable selections — however he’s additionally been dwelling with a mom who’s been slowly dying of an sickness. He’s younger, and might’t face the tough fact.
“Within the sequel that I crafted, he is ready to face among the horror that he’s achieved,” Allen says. That’s to not say he can return and repair it. “In any retribution, there are prices.”
It’s in step with the spirit of the music, of tango, for instance, which includes each pleasure and a darker facet.
“What’s fascinating in regards to the story to me is that his punishment is changing into a fowl,” he says. “It’s actually a query of him realizing what that present of transformation is for him.”
He’s wanting ahead to the efficiency.
“Elbio is only a thrilling singer,” he says. “They’re supremely ingenious.”
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Anya Wassenberg is the Toronto Metropolis Editor at Ludwig Van. Beforehand, she was a contract author with a specialty in tradition and journey for 3 a long time, and a inventive writing teacher for Ontariolearn.
