Every Migrant is My Fellow
Launched September 30, 2021
This album emerges from the current moment, characterized by large frightening shifts of populace and elements. It is a time of forced flights for survival, where the certainty of home is undermined by poverty, persecution, changing climate, famine and disease.
About 35 years ago, Marla found an old volume of poetry called “Songs from Vagabondia” in a used book store. Written by Canadian Bliss Carman and American Richard Hovey, it was one of 3 volumes of ‘tramp verse’ they wrote together between 1894 and 1900, the year of Hovey’s death. The poetry contained a care-free spirit and celebration of the natural world. It’s characters lived lives outside of conventional constraints.
Marla shared this volume with Bruce, and the two have set many of the poems to music, three of which are included here. We folded in other material that explores the topics of displacement, transition, migration…
Early in the pandemic, we soothed our own anxiety and isolation by performing a series of 40 concerts on FaceBook Live, which we called ‘Serenade In Place.’ To our great joy, we began to realize it soothed others as well, and many joined us quite frequently.
One of those was Anita White, whose paintings grace this project. Her way of processing experience is through painting, and we will be forever grateful that she has shared many of them with us, and for the connection we now share. Most of the images here she painted while listening to us play during those dark days.
We hope the music and art of this project bring some solace during this time, as well as some reassurance that we are going through this, and will emerge from this together.
Bruce & Marla
WHO DONE WHAT...
Produced by Marla Fibish and Bruce Victor
Engineered by Marla at Noctambule Studios, Larkspur California
Mixed & Mastered by Gary Mankin, Knob & Tube, San Francisco
Paintings and lettering by Anita White ©️2021 www.anitawhite.etsy.com
Photos by Alli Novak www.luzography.com
Package Design by Sam Pelgrift & Lindsey Rallo
All tracks arranged by Bruce and Marla, except where noted
THE MUSIC...
These musicians graciously add their wondrous talents to this project
Christa Burch, Nuala Kennedy, Liz Knowles, Tom Neylan and Rebecca Richman
Track 1. Murmuration
Music: Marla
Marla: Mandolin Bruce: Guitar (tuned CGDGCD)
At dusk, before roosting with the flock for the cold winter evenings, the starlings murmurate, creating dramatic, synchronized swirls of flight. Their thrilling caper warms them for the night while confusing their predators. It is thought that they continually rotate position so that none in their flock is left vulnerable on the outside more than any other. I attempted to capture the swirling joy in the tune — perhaps as accompaniment for this aerial ballet. -Marla
Track 2. Thousands are Sailing to Amerikay
Lyrics: traditional Irish
Music: Bruce
Bruce: vocals, guitar (tuned CGDGCD) & bouzouki; Marla: vocals & mandola; Christa: bodhrán; Tom: vocals
We first heard this traditional Irish emigration song from Andy Irvine and Dick Gaughan on their 'Parallel Lines' CD. This song retells the experience of both the emigrants and those left behind. I inexplicably got inspired to write a new melody, although I certainly attempted to emulate the heartfelt way that Andy rendered this song. We interweave this song with one of the Gin Cottage polkas. -Bruce
Track 3. Dreamer
Poetry: Don Blanding, Vagabond’s House 1928
Music: Marla & Bruce
Marla: Vocals, tenor guitar & mandolin;
Bruce: Guitar (tuned DADGAC); Christa: Vocals
Journeys of all sorts can stem from dreams of transcending the confines of one’s ordinary experience and, for the dreamer in this poem, entering the world of myth, legend, and ultimately greater meaning. We attempted to honor those vagabonds who feel this gnawing awareness of something more… -Bruce
Track 4. The Lanterns of St. Eulalie
Poetry: Carman & Hovey, Last Songs from Vagabondia 1900
Music: Marla & Bruce
Marla: Vocals, mandola and accordion;
Bruce: Vocals & guitar (tuned CGDGCD); Christa: Vocals
A wistful reminiscence of a beloved place and time.
The lanterns in the apple trees serve to light a path home
for those who have lost their way. -- Marla
Track 5. Every Migrant is My Fellow
Poetry: Spring Song, Carman & Hovey, Songs from Vagabondia 1894
Music: Marla & Bruce
Marla: Vocals, tenor guitar, mandolin; Bruce: Guitar (tuned CGDGCD) & vocals; Christa: Vocals; Nuala: Whistle
The coming of Spring brings the return of the migrants - in this case the birds - and the stirring of nature and all its creatures. The poem captures the optimism of the season that brings renewal, and the chance to ‘make (ourselves) over’ from the ‘ragbag’ of our pasts. - Marla
Track 6. Cecily’s Waltz
Music: Bruce
Bruce: Guitar (tuned CGDGCD); Marla: Mandolin
Amidst the life transitions forced by separation and displacement, there are births. This is a waltz that planted itself in my head following the 100 Day Naming Ceremony of my youngest cousin Cecily. Upon its arrival, I looked up at the ceiling of his motel room and said "Excuse me, you clearly meant this for someone else, I don't write waltzes"; a voice (that, to my ear, sounded like Koko Taylor) replieid "shut up and pick up your guitar". At that point, I decided not to argue with disembodied voices in a motel room. -- Bruce
Track 7. May & June
Poetry: Carman & Hovey, Last Songs from Vagabondia 1900
Music: Marla & Bruce
Marla: Vocals & tenor guitar; Bruce: Vocals & guitar (tuned CGDGCD)
But what of those left behind by those who leave? This lovely and evocative poem captures the hope, expectation, and excitement of those awaiting the return of the loved one (eagerly “set(t)ing his place at hearth and board”), and then the sadness and pain when the loved one fails to return. - Marla
Track 8. Tiocfaidh An Samhradh / From Sandwood Down to Kyle
Tiocfaidh An Samhradh - traditional Irish
From Sandwood Down to Kyle © 1970 David Goulder, Robbins Music
Bruce: 12-string guitar (tuned CGDGCD) & vocals; Marla: Mandola, tenor guitar & vocals
About five years ago, I first heard the Bothy Band version of Tiocfaidh An Samhradh (Summer is Coming) and was instantly totally enamored of it. What I hadn’t counted on was that I had no idea how to read or pronounce the Irish lyrics (umm, why is Tiocfaidh pronounced Chucky?) Declaring defeat, we decided to play it as an air. We follow it with From Sandwood Down to Kyle, a longtime favorite of mine written by David Goulder, and popularized by John Renbourn. As the Autumn nears, the song’s protagonist knows that, like the birds, he “cannot stay behind.” I would add that this song was the precipitant for my learning DADGAD tuning, in turn, sparking ceaseless “wandering” into multiple other alternate tunings. - Bruce
Track 9. Lonesome Robin ©1973 Bob Coltman
Marla: Vocals, mandola and accordion; Bruce: Vocals, cittern & guitar (tuned CGDGAD); Tom: Vocals
I have sung this song for years, with it's evocative and often enigmatic lyrics, written by Bob Coltman, adding to the great body of Robin Hood songs, which so capture the imagination. This one does not celebrate Robin’s exploits, but marks his lonely death -- the narrator invoking Robin to ‘speak from his wounds,’ inviting us to join in the rousing refrain, ‘No more, Robin, No More. Your outlaw days are over!” - Marla
Track 10. A Sigh in a Gale / The Eagle’s Whistle
Lyrics for Sigh in a Gale are excerpts from Dana Walrath's verse novel about the Armenian genocide, Like Water on Stone (2014)
Music and additional lyrics by Marla
The Eagle’s Whistle - Traditional Irish
Marla: Vocals, tenor guitar; Bruce: Vocals, cittern
Rebecca: fiddle
Dana Walrath’s “Like Water On Stone” is a literary imagining of the
author’s grandmother’s flight as a child from the Armenian genocide,
told by characters who speak their stories in beautiful lines.
Among the characters is a protective eagle who is bound to the
family through shared loss, and through his quill, which the father
uses to play the oud. I was captivated by the book and selected lines
spoken by the characters to form the verses of the song, adding a
simple refrain. We pair it with a traditional tune, The Eagle's Whistle,
echoing the Eagle’s spoken lines in the song,
“We eagles sing no soothing songs. Our throats can only whistle.”
- Marla
Track 11. Murmuration Full Flight
Music: Marla Arrangement: Marla, Bruce & Liz
Marla: Mandolins; Bruce: Guitar & Cittern; Liz: Hardanger fiddles
We thought it fitting to settle down for the night with
another murmuration, this time graced with the beautiful,
inspired hardanger fiddle playing of Liz Knowles.
