WINDBORNE AT TRINITY COLLEGE CHAPEL
Will Rowan, Lynn Rowan Lauren Breunig ,and Jeremy Carter-Rowan
`The austerity of Trinity College Chapel - a perfect acoustic for Windburn
No instruments (unless you count a drum – at the last minute) just four harmonic voices. Trinity College Chapel has surely seldom seen anything quite like it. Windborne are far flung from the kind of quartet the solemn, serious space so often hosts. Yet their sound was delicate and carefully honed.
Schooled and raised in the tradition of communal singing at every important event in their up-bringing, they have toured the world to find like-minded groups – and explore near extinct languages to perform in. To preserve the history of ordinary people is no small task – and Windborne have done it for decades.
“We believe that singing is powerful -as performance , with friend, or with strangers” they claim. I do concur. The long -ingrained collective of singing together obviously fades with the coming of every type of recording. Yet however accomplished that is, there is nothing -absolutely nothing - like singing yourself, together with others. “Singing songs of today” the group declare,” is connected with struggles of the past”.
We heard about those in a range of songs .The foursome began with a hearty Somerset wassailing number, closely followed by Time to Remember the Poor another little known Christmas tune rendered with great warmth and sincerity: The Song of the Lower Classes” – a Chartist anthem writte to fire up their fight for the vote, for fair wages and for equality. As Windborne claim, it’s to evoke a deep emotional response . . to link us’ with people places and ideas.”
Windborne is a subtle ensemble imbued with values sustained down the ages, from the Peasants’ Revolt in England to the industrial hardships of the workers of the United States under the brutal magnates of unbridled capitalism. It was not hard to discern their contempt for the present administration – and their call for solidarity – and compassion for the least well off there.
This American group are strongest with songs from their own tradition, Jeremy Carter -Gordon took us into the dark background of one its most famous anthems - and miraculously had the whole chapel singing“Which side are you on?” written by a wife of a persecuted Union man, a theme passed down the generations,made famous by Pete Seeger. Unsurprisingly, ( they are music lovers) the audience created a beautiful, modulated chorus.
Corsica’s tradition of collective singing is in full renaissance we heard – and with the help of their tutor, Windborne have mastered the complex baroque style. This was most difficult genre to follow I found,whilst their command of Occitan, the long neglected tongue of South West France gave us a brighter range of compositions an a brilliant song about the Devil and his fury when he hears the baby Jesus is born. Singing in that old language Windborne were well at home.
Their encore was a surprise. They adapted a lead miners’ protest song about their starvation wages- 4 pence a day – to the musicians’ own modern plight. Spotify pay” 4 cents a play”came the chorus in full harmony. So let’s get along and grab a CD – or a book of their works. Ancient exploitation is bad enough but ‘ 4 cents a play’ creates a contemporary poverty for today’s talented musicians. They all deserve much better.
