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| Shannon Butcher |
A couple of weeks ago I was at Hugh's Room in Toronto for a fund raising concert with friends, one of whom was playing in the band. Two wonderful jazz singers were performing that evening, Shannon Butcher and Elizabeth Shepherd. Both performers were peerlessly musical, generous and engaging.
For me, at least, Elizabeth Shepherd was an amazing revelation. Both in terms of the content of her music and her way of communicating it, I was mesmerized. As much as I like to listen to music, I don't get easily bowled over.
There was something very profound in the experience and it is tempting to stay with the "I like it" part of it. I'm guessing this happens quite a bit in our celebrity constructed world. We can forget that fan means "fanatic" -- a continuing gaze at something. It can transport us but we can be seduced to stay put in our tracks. Nostalgia can work like that too and it applies not only to music, but sometimes even to our spiritual and religious sensibilities.
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| Elizabeth Shepherd |
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When profound things happen we need to gather them in and join them to the other treasures of our life, continuing to allow them to talk to us and open us up. When we talk about a performer being an artist, is that what we are really trying to say, that they want to communicate in a profound way? And therefore, aren't commercial? Like any other power we might have, the power to communicate through music is also a responsibility. It is a gift received in a rich way and it needs to be shared in a rich way. We can truly tremendously benefit the society in which we live by this means. But there is a temptation which can turn into a silent pact between artist and audience that says, "move me only so much."
I'm sure I will be reflecting on this experience for quite a while, and I am hoping that other transformative musical communications are still in my future. They are a gift when they happen.
