At the two-day festival “Forbidden Songs,” attendees will hear long-lost music by Roman Palester and view an iconic film about how Warsaw’s street musicians fought the Nazi invasion, presented for the first time with English subtitles. Although Palester was one of the most distinctive composers of twentieth-century Poland, his compositions have been virtually forgotten, due in large part to censorship in communist Poland. “Forbidden Songs” brings Palester’s neoclassical and lyrical style to a new audiences and also explores his substantial work with film.

On the first day of the festival, the English-subtitled version of the film Forbidden Songs (1947) will see its world premiere at Swarthmore. The film tells the story of everyday life in Warsaw during World War II through popular “street songs” banned during the Nazi occupation. The film score was created by Palester and includes newly composed music as well as arrangements of the featured songs. Professor Barbara Milewski of Swarthmore College will introduce the film and reveal some of the hidden stories it has held since its creation. As she explains, “The film compels us to consider the tensions between personal and official acts of remembering—and forgetting—within the contexts of Poland’s historically oppressive regimes and the nation’s contemporary politics. It also gives us a glimpse into the ways in which music helped Polish Jews and non-Jews alike to reclaim notions of community in the immediate postwar years.” Mackenzie Pierce ‘11, a PhD Candidate in musicology at Cornell University, will deliver the Peter Gram Swing lecture earlier that day: “Beyond Historical Rupture: Classical Music and the Second World War in Poland,” which will place Palester in a broader musical and historical context.  

Day two of the festival will feature performers Xak Bjerken, Lucy Fitz Gibbon, Ryan MacEvoy McCullough, Susan Waterbury, and David Colwell in the American premiere of Palester’s chamber music and vocal works, which span Palester’s entire career from the 1930s to the late 1970s. Says Pierce, “In Poland today, memory of the Second World War is inescapable. By looking at music during the war and in its immediate aftermath, we can peel back some of these later political interpretations and recover the complexity and ambiguity of the heady postwar moment.” Pierce is particularly fascinated by the difficult choices musicians in postwar Poland faced: leave the country and work abroad, or stay and endure the risks of an authoritarian regime. Those who left often had their music banned and subsequently forgotten, like Palester.

Milewski and Pierce first met at Swarthmore as professor and student, but now see each other as colleagues with shared scholarly interest in the music of mid-century Poland. Both emphasize the great interdisciplinary value in this festival, which will draw people interested in European cinema and music, WWII history and politics, and Holocaust studies. On the significance of Palester’s life and work, Pierce says, “He had to overcome two authoritarian regimes: first, the brutal and terrorizing Nazi occupation and then the repressive communist government that rebuilt Poland from the rubble up. His compositions provide insight into how music creates a sense of continuity over rupture. They also remind us that every step towards war and censorship strikes at the lifeblood of an artistic culture.”

The Forbidden Songs Festival will take place on Thursday, March 22nd and Friday, March 23rd. On Thursday, Mackenzie Pierce will give his lecture on “Classical Music and the Second World War in Poland” at 4:30 PM in Lang Concert Hall. This event will be followed by the world premiere of the film Forbidden Songs at 8PM in LPAC 101 Cinema. On Friday, the performance of Roman Palester’s works will take place at 8PM in Lang Concert Hall. These events are free and open to the public. For more information, visit https://www.swarthmore.edu/music/concerts-events or forbiddensongs.org

Maya Kikuchi ‘20

Bo Lim Lee ‘18, a Chemistry major and Dance minor, came to Swarthmore with an eclectic background in dance. After suffering a foot injury in high school, she didn’t think she would be able to dance again. Despite this setback, Lee has become one of the most active members in Swarthmore’s dance program, taking part in a wide range of classes and performing at every opportunity.  Lee was originally trained in classical ballet, but became exposed to more modern and contemporary techniques high school. During this period, she also joined a hip hop dance troupe, an experience that motivated her to join the tri-college hip hop group, Rhythm n’ Motion, later on. She has continued to pursue a wide range of styles since coming to Swarthmore, and while she enjoys many of them, her favorite is umfundalai, a contemporary African dance technique that is made up of movement traditions from throughout the Diaspora.

Umfundalai means “essential” in Kiswahili. Its technique is centered around the idea of an “essence of African dance” that “lives wherever African people reside.” In this way, umfundalai situates its dancers both in the past and the present, creating a contemporary amalgamation of traditional styles that become representative of African movement in a wider sense. Several members of Swarthmore’s Dance faculty were trained in the technique and have brought their own artistic voices to its instruction. Despite their different approaches, they all place particularly high importance on the narrative component of umfundalai, which is something that Lee deeply appreciates: “I have fallen in love with the dance’s unique ability to intertwine narratives into the movements,” she says.

Lee was part of the tri-college group, Rhythm n’ Motion, during her sophomore and junior years. The group is made up of individuals from a wide range of backgrounds, and focuses on movement traditions from the African Diaspora, including jazz, salsa, hip hop, and African. They rehearse every weekend and perform two shows each year at the end of the fall and spring semesters.

Lee also had the opportunity to create her own pieces in choreography class. When she came to Swarthmore, she had not been particularly involved with choreography, and so appreciated how the class pushed her to “explore beyond [her] comfort zone.” Of the works she created for the class, she says that she was primarily influenced by “music and/or certain themes. “I can’t really choreograph from free-style so, I like having some structure to work with when I choreograph.”

Lee will be working as a research technician in a lab at the University of Pennsylvania over the next two years, after which she will attend graduate or medical school. She hopes to continue taking dance classes on the side.

Gabriel Hearn-Desautels  ’20

Since their formation at Oberlin Conservatory in 2006, the Jasper String Quartet has received a steady stream of recognition and praise. From prestigious awards at various music competitions, to residencies at Oberlin College, Rice University, Yale University, Temple University, and Swarthmore College, the Jasper String Quartet has traveled extensively to deliver both emotionally stunning performances as well as informative master classes. While in residency as a Featured Guest Artist at Swarthmore, the Jasper String Quartet has conducted a series of master classes, rehearsals, and workshops over the past few months with students in chamber music and composition courses, the Swarthmore College Lab Orchestra, and the Swarthmore College Orchestra.

When Andrew Hauze of the Music Program became acquainted with the Jasper String Quartet in 2010 through Astral Artists, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit, he recognized that the group was not only passionate about their art, but also eager to share their knowledge with younger students.

“I saw that not only are they terrific musicians and an amazing group together, but really fine teachers. One of the prerequisites for inviting people to participate in this featured artist series is that they are able to teach and interact well with undergraduate students who are not in a conservatory but who are really serious about music.”

Since the Jasper String Quartet is based in Philadelphia, it was fitting for the group to visit Swarthmore College a number of times throughout the academic year. Although still early in their professional relationship with the college, Professor Hauze has found their impact profound as they work with our students in both master classes and orchestra sectionals.

“After they work with us, the difference is immediate, and the sound, the way that we play, the kind of chamber music sense of playing together, is startling. We’ve had the opportunity for them to play alongside student musicians, so it’s not just a teacher-student relationship, but…playing together as colleagues making one musical experience.”

This ability to create unity and emphasize the importance of communication was a lesson that Jasmine Sun ‘18, a violinist at Swarthmore College who attended one of the Jasper String Quartet’s master classes, noticed and marveled at as well. “They helped us to harmonize our sounds and play more cohesively. They showed us how to listen more closely to each other [and] worked with us on using certain techniques to enhance our sound quality. It was a wonderful experience…to see how small changes they suggested really helped us to enhance our playing.”

The deep sense of awareness and intimacy that has propelled the Jasper String Quartet to such success serves a poignant reminder of the importance of music as a source of community. The Quartet’s exceptional capacity to listen and communicate so well with one another is something that Hauze is hopeful those who attend the Jasper String Quartet’s solo concert in Lang Music Hall on March 2nd will enjoy. They will be playing Haydn’s Quartet in D minor Op. 76 no. 2, as well as other works by Shostakovich and Mendelssohn. The concert is free and open to the public.

Marion Kudla ’19

When asked about his post-graduation and career plans, music major Asher Wolf ’18 replies without hesitation, “I want to be a rockstar.” On campus, Asher proudly displays his self-described “obsession” with music in many ways. He has written a classical piece performed last semester on strings by the professional Jasper String Quartet, as well as a choral piece to be performed this semester by the Swarthmore College Garnet Singers. He has performed on campus in various student bands and has branded himself under the moniker “Glom.” In all appearances, Asher “Glom” Wolf is well on his way to becoming a rockstar.

Asher’s love for music began before he can remember, before he believes he had “formed a sense of self.” According to his parents, Asher was always drawn to the guitar and loved sad cowboy songs as a young child. Fast forward to today, and Asher can be found listening to anything and everything, absorbing as much music as he can. “I’m at the point where I have this skill to be able to hear music that’s unfamiliar to me, of a different style that I don’t know very well, and be able to enjoy it. Now I kind of just love everything.”

Asher attributes his open and diverse appreciation of music to his Swarthmore experiences. “The world’s kind of opened up to me with music since I’ve been here.” Upon arriving at Swarthmore, Asher had not yet chosen his major, nor realized his lifelong path in pursuing music. He remembers discussing his academic plans with a high-school friend who told him, “All you talk about is music.” At first offended, Asher reflected on the statement and came to a self-realization. “I decided to be a major then when I realized that it was obvious that I was totally obsessed with music, and that it would be silly to do something non-music related with my life.”

Although he claims to have taken on the role of “devil’s advocate” with the music department, expanding his focus to include folk, rock, jazz, blues, pop, bluegrass, and funk, Asher admits that he also loves the classical repertoire he studies. However, his passion for diverse genres has manifested in an interest in ethnomusicology within his music studies. When asked to describe his major, Asher explains, “The discipline of music theory is very internal. It’s about taking a piece of music and then burying your head in it and waiting for your eyes to adjust then looking around and figuring out how it ticks. Which is awesome and necessary for understanding music, but I also care about looking at music in a more contextualized way. So what that means for me is combining it with studies in sociology and philosophy, describing how music works the way it does and how musical meaning is conveyed.”

After graduating, Asher hopes to teach music in Philadelphia while performing and working on his songwriting. Although he is set on his ultimate goal of being a rockstar, he sees his path getting there as more unclear. “If [teaching] doesn’t work, then I’ll get some kind of day-job, hopefully something music-related like a music establishment, performance venue, or guitar store. If not, I’ll wash dishes or wait tables, something to free my brain up so I can do brain things while I make money. Basically, just somehow make a living until people…I don’t really know what happens after then, but maybe till people notice you and sweep you up to heaven?” More seriously regarding his goals for the future, Asher says, “I say ‘rockstar’ kind of facetiously, in homage to my twelve-year-old self, but I want to be a musician. I want to be an artist. I want to make original music and have people hear it and be the kind of musician that brings joy and substance to others’ lives.”

Maya Kikuchi ’20

If you know absolutely nothing about medieval music, perhaps it brings to mind images of weary monks singing gloomy Gregorian chants, or wannabe troubadours congregating at a Renaissance fair. Harder to imagine is half a dozen Swatties singing in Italian about orgasms. Welcome to the Early Music Ensemble, one of the newest classes born from the Fetter Chamber Music Program.

The Fetter program allows small groups of students to audition to form their own, small music ensembles. If accepted, they are given a coach from the Music and Dance Department and funded for a full semester, culminating in a final performance. This semester, one of these groups is the Early Music Ensemble, led by Professor James Blasina.

“I think it’s a very important opportunity for students to do music like this. Early music is still very influential today, in anything from pop to Western classical music …For example, you can’t understand Bach if you don’t understand Gregorian chants,” explains Professor Blasina.

Reuben Gelley Newman ’21 first heard of the Ensemble from a friend and has developed a deeper appreciation for Early Music since joining. “I love music and sang some madrigals in high school chorus…[medieval music] doesn’t get as much attention as more modern classical music from the traditional canon…people don’t do it as much, so it’s mostly smaller groups where we know each other better.”

Having a small, close group is essential to the early musical experience. As Professor Blasina explains, “[Much] early music wasn’t meant for performance, it’s really used in private or religious contexts, so we’re deliberately a smaller group. [Secular music] was often sung in private contexta— you might have a few after dinner drinks, gather up, and sing these polyphonic songs called madrigals. They often deal with romance and sex, sometimes very frankly.”

Madrigals do not fit in with what we might imagine as Early Music- they are fun and playful and very often sexual.  Natasha Nogueira ’18, a member of the Ensemble, recalls one particular madrigal sang by the Ensemble. “[The madrigal] talks about dying a thousand times but it’s actually about orgasms — [it’s] very weird and fun to be singing that. My favorite is maybe ‘Sumer is icumen in’ (‘Summer is coming,’ in Middle English.) I heard it as a kid on a CD, and I’m really excited to be singing it now. It’s a kind of music everyone can enjoy.”

Gelley Newman’s favorite is based on a Latin poem, written to commemorate the death of Lorenzo da Medici. As Gelley Newman explains, it is “…a very sad song of grief and mourning, the only one of the repertoire that’s sad…there’s something very powerful in its evocations of grief, dark and mysterious.”

Professor Blasina’s favorite also deals with mourning – a Monteverdi madrigal recounting the grief of a lover at his beloved’s grave. “There are sonorities in these madrigals you don’t hear again until the 19th century…it’s anachronistic in the best way. Another great one, not part of our repertoire, is a Monteverdi duet aria, L’incorazzione di Poppea, the story of Nero and Poppea. It’s so beautiful, but we know the end of their story [Nero allegedly beat Poppea to death while she was pregnant], so it’s also creepy.  So you’re left feeling very uncomfortable. And it would have been sung by a female singer and a castrato, with very similar voices, so that opens the door for lots of gendered interpretations.”

Grief, love, lust, discomfort, all are brought to life by the Ensemble. It’s a far cry from what one might associate with the “Dark Ages,” and overturned my own preconceptions about Middle Ages culture and arts. The Early Music Ensemble’s final performance is scheduled in April; the campus and Swarthmore community is invited to come and experience how music over seven hundred years old can reflect experiences and emotions essential to the human experience.

Emilie Hautemont ’20

Janis Siegel, a nine-time Grammy winner, seventeen-time Grammy nominee, and founding member of the vocal group The Manhattan Transfer, will perform at Swarthmore College this Sunday, February 11th. In addition to her success with The Manhattan Transfer, she has also led a successful solo career, releasing almost a dozen albums that have garnered consistently high critical and popular praise. While working with The Manhattan Transfer, Siegel established herself as a dynamic songwriter as well as a skilled vocalist. She wrote five charts for the acclaimed Vocalese and seven charts for the Grammy-winning Brasil, as well as the charts for “Why Not?” and “Sassy,” both of which earned the group Grammys. In 1989, after recording and touring with The Manhattan Transfer for more than a decade, she released Short Stories with jazz pianist Fred Hersch, which Jazz Times ranked “among the most graceful, thoroughly heartbreaking efforts of the modern era, thanks to her rich, emotive vocals.” In 1993, she and the other members of The Manhattan Transfer received honorary doctorates from the Berklee School of Music, and in 1999 they were among the first class of inductees into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. She continues to tour with The Manhattan Transfer, as well as with her own band, and teaches master classes while remaining an active member of the music scene. Her recent projects have spanned several genres, from participating in improvisational vocal performances to curating CDs that feature such vocal legends as Lisa Fisher and Kellylee Evans.

Siegel helped usher in a renaissance of American vocal-based music. Her early work with The Manhattan Transfer came at a time when jazz music was primarily an arena for instrumental musicians. Siegel’s powerful vocals on The Manhattan Transfer’s first records forced people to rethink this assumption, while her solo career cemented her place as both a preternaturally talented vocalist and as a versatile songwriter. Through the years she has influenced not only jazz music, but vocal performance in general. She attributes this partly to one of the unchanging, transcendent characteristics of music: “I think people will always respond to emotion and to great songs sung well,” she says. “And I think the vocalists in particular will always be in demand. There’s nothing that approximates the human voice. In the end, when you come down to it, people want to feel something.”

Don’t miss Janis Siegel this Sunday, February 11th at 7:30pm in Lang Concert Hall.  She will perform with pianist John DiMartino, bassist Gerald Veasley, and tenor sax Andrew Neu, who is also Director of the Swarthmore College Jazz Ensemble. The event is free and open to the public. She will also be giving a master class in the Lang Concert Hall at 3:00 pm on the same day, and will be performing with the Swarthmore College Jazz Ensemble in April.

Gabriel Hearn-Desautels ’20