more from
In a Circle Records
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

This Is America - An Anthology 2020​-​2021 (ICR023)

by Johnny Gandelsman

/
  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    "This Is America - An Anthology 2020-2021" Limited Edition Triple CD, with a 40-page booklet, beautifully designed by Christopher Kornmann, Spit + Image Design.

    Includes unlimited streaming of This Is America - An Anthology 2020-2021 (ICR023) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 14 days

      $40 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $20 USD  or more

     

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Johnny Gandelsman, 5-string violin
12.
Have you heard? Our muse left word No time to waste This is our great unlearn Dear friends Waste no time Take a step into the unknown Once in a while Make sure to see a sunrise Be sure to sing a song Consider A child A black girl playing Swinging in the park Be sure To protect her Look out For her brother Do we know how? Remember No false pretender Hushed voices Crescendo in resistance We should know That we just don't know Look, look, look Look what our comfort has sown How do we care? The sky above us Ground below us 360 support around us cut discursive thought The sky above us Ground below us 360 support around us cut discursive thought Can you hear what we've learned Through the years? That love Sweet love Reminds us What to listen for
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
Dólii A sweetgrass field, glistened with raw kerosene— fumes rising in translucent overlays of orchids —the heavens are thick with such illusory miasma; arsenic hot winds, an aching drouth, love’s inability to quell. The mothering of your nalii wasn’t picture book perfect; a river in need of un-dammed tributaries; torrents to trickles, floodplains to fallout, nest of the dried dead. The apples off the tree aren’t crisp anymore. The midnight deer have ceased visiting so I don’t dream of them and they desire less, the tree’s pruning. There isn’t any sun, there isn’t any fun, when rays and rains become absent. Look over at the approaching darkness, not a darkening storm wetting the horizon, but an all sleep forever silencing. Your light is waiting, the future waning, be cautious of promises. In the world before we washed up here humanity lay asunder. Beds of tinder thistle in a lion’s skull and the carcasses of bees; a hibernating queen, a deserted honeycomb. I’ll rest here and wait, strike up a forest and make a riverbed from the blindness of my eyes. When cool gusts precede the rains that you bring, and the weak branches of palo verde and mesquite have snapped, remember, please remember, the love you’ve brought belongs to no one remember, please remember, the love you’ve brought belongs to no one
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.

about

To say that 2020 was a difficult year for the United States would be an understatement. Covid 19 took the lives of 385,000 people. Racism and police brutality took the lives of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, igniting nationwide and eventually worldwide protests. In California, the 4.2 million acres burned in 2020 were the most in a single year since records were kept, and more than the previous three years combined. Vicious election cycle rhetoric was boiling over, and conversations dominating cable news focused on what this country was, is, or should be. Unemployment skyrocketed. People were isolated, sick, scared and exhausted.

In thinking about ways one person could make a small difference, it occurred to me that in many ways amplifying voices of others, whether it's those of centuries past, or ones of today, is an essential part of being a Classical musician. I decided to commission new works for violin from American and US-based composers, asking each one to reflect in some way on the time we were all living through. Some, like Kinan Azmeh, Christina Courtin and Kojiro Umezaki have been dear friends for decades; others like Maya Miro Johnson, Ebun Oguntola and Anjna Swaminathan were new connections; all were musicians whose artistry I respect and admire.

I reached out to presenters across the country, looking for commissioning partners. As more parties signed on, the project grew; 22 new works were funded, written and recorded; rising to the surface were themes like loss and uncertainty, but also joy, friendship, gratitude and love.

The process of getting to know these new works was illuminating. I found comfort in the works I knew how to approach; others required skills I wasn't good at, or never tried before, pushing me into directions I never thought I'd be exploring, and at times stretching my comfort level to what seemed like its absolute limits. My first reaction to those works was trepidation, and the old saying "you fear what you don't understand" rang in my head. I feel incredibly lucky to have had the composers gently guide me into their process, easing my worries with encouragement and allowing me to find my own way to bring their works to life. I'm definitely not a singer, nor can I play the guitar, but I'm glad I had the chance to try. I wish for all of us to experience that kind of thoughtful guidance when encountering things, people or ideas that we don't understand.

My dear friend Justin Messina's work is the most recent commission, delivered in early 2022 - and as such, is not included on the album - I simply ran out of time to record. Sorry Justino. However, three works which weren’t originally part of this commissioning project are included: Layale Chaker, Dana Lyn and Akshaya Avril Tucker wrote about isolation, climate change, and recovery in 2018 - these universal themes will undoubtedly resonate for centuries to come.

Over the course of the last 18 months I’ve come to think of this project as an anthology, a snapshot in time, documenting a tiny slice of the creative thought and output in this country today. I invite you to stop listening to pundits, extend your ears, open up your imagination, and trust the music to guide you into a challenging, complicated and thrilling sound world - This Is America.

Johnny Gandelsman

credits

released July 1, 2022

Johnny Gandelsman, violin
5-string violin (Tracks 11, 23, 27-30)
acoustic tenor guitar (track 12)
electric tenor guitar (track 18)
vocals (tracks 12, 18, 27-30)

Maya Miro Johnson, narration (tracks 14 & 16)

Recording engineers

Kyle Sanna
Ryan Streber
Alex Venguer

Recorded at Oktaven Studio, Mount Vernon NY
Recorded at Summercamp, Brooklyn NY (tracks 12 &18 )

Editing engineers

Christopher Moretti (tracks 23, 27-30, 32)
Charles Mueller
Ryan Streber
Alex Venguer

Edited at Oktaven Studio
Edited at Ootermind Studio
Edited at Immersive Music Project (tracks 23, 27-30, 32)

Mixing Engineer

Kevin Killen

Mixed at Studio 67

Mastering Engineer

Oscar Zambrano

Mastered at Zampol Productions

Art Design

Christopher Kornmann, Spit & Image Design

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Johnny Gandelsman New York

contact / help

Contact Johnny Gandelsman

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Johnny Gandelsman, you may also like: