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SJA’s 2003-2004 Concert Series looked to the winter solstice for inspiration with Songs for the Season of Lights, a Christmas concert Sunday December 21st. Hosted by pianist/maestro Dan Chouinard, the proceedings began with some droll insight about the dark solstice. Though we may long for the extended hours of daylight, the simple gesture of lighting candles as a way to signify hope and to restore the balance can bring us comfort. Or a “good excuse to make music with Northern peoples,” concluded Chouinard.
And in Minnesota who isn’t descended from Northern peoples. The evening’s jewel of a lineup included Simple Gift that features founder singer-guitarist Billy McLaughlin, vocalist Carin Vagle, virtuoso musician Jeni-Lyn Starr and percussionist Billy Oehrlein. Our other featured headliner, however directly owns a distinct Northern flavor. Gifted Finnish singer-songwriter Diane Jarvi opened with the Ingrian ballad “Uni Tullee,” that means “swing, swing my little pine cone.” This “lullaby for Lilli” offered Jarvi’s stellar Finnish vocals and intricate playing of the Kantele, a five-string Finnish harp. Oh, so lovely and oh so quiet, her talents shone with beautiful playing and a voice as emotional and contemporary as Tori Amos, yet true to her Finnish folk roots.
Simple Gift followed with the traditional “What Child Is This?,” with sweetly direct vocals by Vagle, a moving low Irish whistle solo from Starr and Chouinard’s accordion accompaniment. Jarvi took over the rest of the first act with a stirring performance that included unique harp strumming and humorous bantering with host Chouinard. She returned with a medley of three Finnish songs “Church Bells of Carmachey/Bear Feast Polka/Winter Home” while playing with a 15 string Kantele harp that resonated calming tranquility. Her vocals became an effectively yodel-like warble, raw and emotional, on the Sami traditional “Aillohas” about a “wild child of the bitter winter.” Then Chouinard switched from accordion to piano, performing a contemporary style arrangement to Jarvi’s old world Finnish vocals and guitar playing of the Northern Lights Festival “Revontulten Leikki.” Jarvi responded to its theme’s bleakness with “gee whiz, it’s just dark all the time.”
Jarvi inherited sea hunger from her grandfather who raised four kids on his own but always stayed near the sea. Dedicating the song “Shiver Me Timbers” to him, I expected at first to hear the Tom Waits penned 1970’s ballad but instead was treated to a different tune that shared the same title and retained a similar gutsy passion for sea faring with nice accordion from Chouinard. Edgar Allen Poe’s poem “The Bells” received a musical arrangement by Phil Oaks and ample opportunity for Chouinard to impressively tickle the ivories imitating lovely bell-like sounds while Jarvi gorgeously sung Poe’s lyrics. Pablo Neruda’s poem “La Poesia” received a passionate musical reading as well. Completing the first act, Chouinard returned to his accordion while Jarvi offered some rich guitar playing and a fiery bluesy vocal diversion from her previously quieter vocal style with a tango for Finnish people “Saturmaa (Wonderland).” Who knew they tangoed in Finland?
Simple Gift led the second half of the show with old world meets contemporary style. “O Come, O Come Emmanuel/Mercy Street” a traditional with a tight arrangement by McLaughlin and “mercy” lyrics by Peter Gabriel, features a dazzling display of Starr’s deft ability handling various instruments-low Irish whistle, melodica, penny whistle and alto recorder-with lovely precision. If Jarvi displayed sea yearnings, Vagle returned the favor with “I Saw Three Ships,” a song that vocally casts her as Judy Collins of the sea and Starr, a jaunty atmospheric low Irish whistle player. Vagle’s finest moment of the evening came with “Breath of Heaven” where she made this song about the Virgin Mary’s uncertainty her very own. Her heartfelt vocal was so effectively genuine one could weep with her lyrical pleading for reassurance.
Starr showed off her mastery of the piano to great effect on her musical arrangement of “Sing We Now.” She began ever so softly like snow flakes gently falling then attacked with fluttering arpeggios that joyously danced right off the piano. A real treat. McLaughlin had a fun workout with his own guitar arrangement of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman.” Vagle delivered supple vocals with “In Judah’s Land,” a song about the infant savior in a manger and joined McLaughlin for some nice vocal harmony on “Angels We Have Heard on High.” The two got harmoniously funky with “Love Is Gonna Bring Us Back To Life,” an infectiously catchy ditty reminding us that they also mightily handle secular material. “Silent Night” received a lovely musical treatment that lingered in the memory long after its performance, partly due to the loving presence of a mother, Anna Vagle, joining her daughter Carin. Anna’s melodica accompaniment assuredly embraced Carin’s tender vocals like a warm comforting blanket.
Chouinard returned to the piano and delegated each performer the task of sharing their first Christmas experience away from their families. Chouinard’s account of being away in France meant feeling home sick and lonely while Jarvi’s memory of reading war diaries of her parents from World War II expressed romantic admiration. Carin Vagle admitted to never have been away from her loving “story book” family, while McLaughlin cited a rambunctious cat named Pinky who crawled up and toppled their Christmas tree.
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