Borderlands Project: Music on the edge and thriving
November 20, 2003
Everything you have ever believed about folk and choral performances is about to be challenged. Forget the formal and disciplined display of choirs singing - and only singing.
The Borderlands Project is a careful composition of Project Sing, a 22-voice female choral ensemble, and Sirens, an award winning Canadian folk group. The Project will be pure entertainment and will allow the participants to be wholly involved. They will sing, they will dance, they will use their whole body to sing the music.
"It is a real breaking of traditions," explains Jennifer Moir, artistic director. "By presenting it this way, it makes it more accessible to all people; especially for people who would not come to a choral concert or hear a folk group. We are hoping to be on the edge and thrive there."
In fact, being on the edge is one of the many themes explored in the 90-minute musical theatre performance. The Project is written with a strong undercurrent of narrative with underlying themes revolving around risk taking, change, connection, and interaction woven throughout the performance. The performance also includes sign language.
The first of its kind in London, the Project will premier at the Central Library’s Wolf Performance Hall, next Friday, Nov. 28.
"The goal of the performance is the pilot project for a cross-Canada tour and possibly a world tour; the ultimate goal is to make it as big and as far-reaching as possible to all communities everywhere," explains Donna Creighton of Sirens. "It is about life and people’s relationship to the world, to each other, to themselves, to God, to the universe and to angels. We all relate to these things to a certain degree."
Those involved describe it as beautiful music, visually stunning and thought provoking. They say it will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will make you catch your breath.
The music and lyrics of one of the song cycles in the performance, called Snow Angel, was written by 21-year-old Sarah Quartel of London. Part of the hope of the Project is that it will provide many other Canadian talents the opportunity to showcase their work.
"I have been involved with Project Sing for three years," Ms. Quartel explains. "I believe the goal of the Project is to bring different styles of music together to tell a story to an audience that can include children or adults."
"The song (I wrote) is all about angels. It starts with a prologue talking about the angels and their place and then we have a fabulous story about this elderly angel collecting light on earth to share with others."
The five-piece set was in progress for about a year and a half; Ms. Quartel wrote it while studying theory and composition at the University of Western Ontario. The material for the story is grounded in her love for children.
Ms. Quartel has been writing music since she was eight-years-old and says it is really wonderful to be working on commissioned pieces now.
"The music is contemporary; it has a cello and a djembe (a drum) and the music is a combination of different emotions. What I enjoy about it personally is that people can listen to it and interpret it the way they want."
The music is rag time, post-war swing, jazz, blues and many others are used to honour the triumph of the human spirit.
Only three shows will be seen in London, all on Friday, Nov. 28, at the Wolf Performance Hall. The first two, at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. are student performances. And, to make it more appealing for teachers to bring their students, the Project has created lesson plans for them which can be incorporated into the Grade 6 through 12 curriculums.
The third show is open to the public and begins at 8 p.m.
"The Project will go across the country and it will happen after the exams are over and it could be (the choir’s) summer job," explains Ms. Creighton. "If we are going to tour the world it will be the better part of a year."