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In which we start to tell you about

our Repertoire and Concerts

Beginning with the Current Year (2012)

Introduction

When we speak of our "repertoire" we mean two things. First, and obviously, we mean the "stories" we tell, which include prose stories of all kinds, poems, songs, and anything else we think will amuse and-or intrigue our audiences. Second, we mean the "concerts" that we create, which are shaped bundles of stories designed to make a whole greater than the sum of its parts. This section of our web site describes (or will when complete) both stories and concerts. It is arranged by year (see linked list at the bottom of the page), beginning with the most recent.

Our 2012 Concerts

Note: where no author or composer is shown, the material is our own.

Summary

We are mounting four concerts this year. We will feature two new concerts — Roads Taken and Sounds Like a Circus — in our regular schedule of Country Supper Storytelling Concerts on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings in season (mid-June to mid-September). We will present our Sabbath Balm concert (last year's version of our traditional Sabbath concert) for groups by special arrangement. And since we are planning some travelling in the off season, we have melded some old concerts into a new one called Paddle Song as our Travelling Concert. These are described in the above order on this page.

Roads Taken

Whether one travels in the spirit of Henry David Thoreau, Conrad's Marlow, or Yellin's Odysseus (to be or not to be confused with Homer's), or any of the other vigorous spirits who soar through this concert, or simply in the spirit of a vacation on Bruce Peninsula, the journey is always a metaphor for life or some part thereof. Our concerts are collages, an art form that perhaps best matches their metaphorical duties: life is not only one journey, collage the essence, "Bon voyage!" the only wish that covers everything.

Invocation The Pilgrimage as Worship … Alden Nowlan Storytelling Concert Walking (prologue; Paul) ... Henry David Thoreau Come Josephine in my Flying Machine (song; duet) ... Fred Fischer & Alfred Byan Poem for the Astronauts (poem: Paul) ... Milton Acorn Scoot! (story; Leslie) Salute the Route! (Song; Paul) ... music by Arthur Sullivan The Song My Paddle Sings (poem: Leslie) ... E. Pauline Johnson-Tekahionwake The Road Goes Ever On (song: duet) ... J.R. Tolkien & Donald Swann Meditation in Morse (song; duet) Intermission Return to Zion (story; Paul) ... Tamar Yellin The Road Not Taken (poem; Leslie) ... Robert Frost Heart of Darkness (story; Paul) ... Joseph Conrad Urge for Going (song: Leslie) ... Joni Mitchell Journey of the Magi (poem: Paul) ... T.S. Eliot Four Strong Winds (song: duet) ... Ian Tyson Home on the Bruce — our candidate for Bruce Peninsula's Official Song

Cover Image: Swan Hills in Northern Alberta, taken by Paul when he travelled that country frequently, back in the 1970's and 80's.

Sounds Like a Circus

And speaking of metaphors, the circus is another good one, as are all environments where one may find clowns, fools, tricksters, fellow spectators and a world of wonder. This concert is designed as a reminder that the word "amuse" contains a Muse (actually more than one), and that "intrigue" has a double edge.

Invocation The crowd at the ball game … William Carlos Williams Storytelling Concert High Wire (story; Paul) ... E.L. Doctorow Peanuts, Popcorn! (song: Leslie) ... from Mindy Carson Carousel Tune (poem: Paul) ... Tennessee Williams Circuses and Chautauqua (story: Leslie) The Kallyope Yell (poem; Paul) ... Vachel Lindsay Manzini: Escape Artist (poem: Leslie) ... Gwendolyn MacEwan The Man on the Flying Trapeze (song; duet) ... Gaston Lyle & George Leybourne Goliard Galliard (song; duet) ... from Carl Orff Intermission The Bull that Thought (story; Paul) … Rudyard Kipling A Carnival of Animals (Leslie) ... mostly Hilaire Belloc Whatever Else Poetry is Freedom (poem; duet) ... Irving Layton The Circle Game (song; duet) ... Joni Mitchell Of the Clients of Barnum (poem; Paul) ... A.M. Klein Strike the Tents (song; duet) ... tune by Henry Clay Work Home on the Bruce — our candidate for Bruce Peninsula's Official Song

Cover Image: "Sounds Assembling" by Canadian (Manitoba; Toronto) artist-author-poet Bertram Brooker (1888-1955),

from the collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Brooker was a pioneer in Canadian abstract art, and a man of many talents.

Sabbath Balm

This concert is by far our most enduring, and shows no signs of wearing out. We reshape from time to time, and occasionally replace parts, as we have this year, but always in the same spirit.

Invocation Sabbath Blessings Storytelling Concert Shalom Aleichem — Israel Goldfarb & Gil Aldema The Wooden Sword — Hasidic tale Bread & Teeth — Boris Bruser Nigun Talmudei Besht — Ben Steinberg Wandering Jews — anecdotes of Canadian Jewry Tshiribiri — Yiddish nigun The Dying Rabbi — story of unknown origin Dona, Dona, Dona — Aaron Zeitlin & Shalom Secunda Intermission Wonderful! — traditional tales of Elijah and the Baal Shem Tov Cuando el Rey Nimrod — traditional Ladino song Coat Tale — traditional story The Age-Old Question — Yiddish song Prayer — A.M. Klein Eli, Eli — Hannah Senesh & David Zahavi

Cover Image: "Angel Leading Elijah" by Marc Chagall (1887-1985)

Paddle Song

Our Travelling Concert for 2012 blends some from previous years such as Wet and Wildness (2002-2003), Water Flows (2004), Flowing Moz-Art (2006), Chordelle (2008), and Canadian Riverscape (2010)

Storytelling Concert Canadian Boat Song — traditional song adapted by Thomas Moore How To Talk Bear — on canoe trips you may encounter wildlife, with sometimes surprising results The River of Life — not all good river songs came from the voyageurs The Song My Paddle Sings — heard first hand and written down by E. Pauline Johnston Tekahionwake Low Tide on Grand Pré — ah, those memories of courting in a canoe! — music by Franz Schubert helps Charlotte Small: Woman of the Paddle Song — the wonderful tale of David Thompson's wife and survival mentor Ti-Bleu and the Chasse-galerie — when the wily trickster-voyageur meets the devil, who will prove the wilier? V'là l'Bon Vent — traditional song Intermission Voyageur Song — the True Story of the voyageurs, with accompanying songs illuminating their Way of Life The River Song of Maria Simpson — a classic tale of love and tragedy on the Great Canadian Canoe Route A Voyageur's Guide to Talking Canoes — it is not known whether voyageurs talked to their canoes; some poets know that canoes may talk back Midsummer Voyageur — a love story, up to a point The Voyageur — by Phillip Child Chickadee Perdriole — a new, nonetheless rousing take on an old song

Cover Image: Chasse-galerie (1929) by Franz Johnston, a member of the original Group of Seven.

Links to Concerts from Other Years

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2002

Earlier Concerts

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Voyageur Storytelling, May 2012

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